How to Grease 5th Wheel | Trucking Smart

Greasing 5th wheel must be done periodically to ensure safety & proper maintenance. It is important to maintain proper lubrication of the 5th to prevent the trailer from binding and potentially causing the unit to go out of control.

Rather than applying grease to the entire surface of the plate, a moderate amount only needs to be applied on both sides, at the rear of the 5th wheel.

Greasing a 5th Wheel

5th wheelThis fifth wheel is dry and what happens when the fifth wheel gets dry up underneath the trailer it binds on the bottom the trailer apron that is also steel and also has as you can see here on this bare spots of steel that this fifth wheel actually has been unhooked from the trailer for a few days and has been sitting out on the weather and has begun to rust. You need to lubricate the fifth wheel so that there is smooth movement between the trailer apron of the semi-trailer and the fifth wheel.

Especially in the winter time when it gets cold and it freezes up, it will begin to bind on the fifth wheel and when you turn if you're going at any speed in those two things begin to lock up if you let it get dry enough the fifth, the trailer rather will actually push you through a turn it is imperative that you keep the fifth wheel on the tractor properly lubricated to ensure your safety and the safety of the road users on the roads which are traveling because if the trailer binds up it could potentially cause a crash.

How to Apply Grease

I'm gonna show you how to do that. One of the things that you can use is just go to the truck stop if you're out and you realize that the fifth wheel has gotten dry is just buy a tub of grease. What happens is a lot of people who lubricate fifth wheels lubricate the entire surface. You don't have to lubricate the entire surface. Put the grease right here at the bottom on both sides. When you go underneath the trailer and pick up the the trailer and then push into the kingpin, it will push the grease forward on the fifth wheel, and when you turn it will move in across the top up the plate. So it's... You don't have to spend all your time and energy greasing the entire fifth wheel you just have to put the grease down here.

OK, so I got my bucket of grease here. I'm just gonna put some grease on the back of the fifth wheel on both sides at the bottom. And then I'll hook up the semi-trailer and I'll show you how this works. So what I'll do is I'll move the camera and I'll get a better shot of this but you can see I haven't put very much on both sides. You don't need a lot of grease. It just needs to be lubricated with a nice thin film of of grease over the entire fifth wheel.

And as I said when you hook the truck up to the trailer the trailer apron plate will push the grease forward on the fifth wheel and as it turns it was smooth it over the whole thing. So, you don't have to spend your time greasing the whole fifth wheel, okay. I'll take a better shot & show you how much grease I've put on there and than I'll hook it up to the semitrailer. I'll drive the semi-trailer, and I'll unhook it & I'll show you how it's moved around.

Lubrication

So as you can see here, the tractors been driven around. It's been underneath the semi-trailer. I've pulled it back out from under the semi-trailer and you can see there's a nice even spread of the grease over the entire surface of the fifth wheel. and there's a nice shiny sheen. You can see the whole surface of the fifth wheel has been lubricated So again, the method to put the grease on the fifth wheel is not too cover the entire thing, but rather put it in the back on both sides when you push underneath the trailer it'll push it forward and when you turn with the semi-trailer, it'll spread it out and you get this nice even lubrication of the entire fifth wheel surface, which will keep you safe on the roads.
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[thomasreed]

Thought you needed graphite grease to be sure of good electrical continuity.

[czaplinPL]

Very nice work and informative video. Especially for rookie drivers. I know a lot folks that were not properly trained.

[Bendigo]

A note for anyone with newer trucks. Before greasing the 5th wheel, make sure it does not have the built in low friction pads, they do not need greased and actually should not be greased. You can tell if you have them if there are plastic-looking pads sticking up slightly from the 5th wheel plate. If you have them. It is better to keep them clean than to apple grease.

[Edenssunlight]

Like magic... Truck goes from red to white for the drive then back to red!! Lol

[johnysilver]

You need to clean old grease inside channels on 5th wheel when it gets old and dry and put there fresh one

[SlackerU]

'Red' is usually High-temp grease so how are you getting any lube if the grease isn't releasing oils at low temps... Moly-grease uses graphite for low-temp friction.

[thadiesel]

Is that lucas red and tacky that you're using?

[SD-bnzl]

Thank you for posting, it is very informative

[mortalocean]

What is the best way to use pneumatic grease gun is it from glad hand or from air tanks with some kind of quick connect ?
Please share your thoughts on the the subject. And best way to do it. is it pneumatic or electric cordless
I really would like to know about pneumatic grease gun setup if possible. Is it enough psi or cfm whatever in semi truck for this application and what other things or tools we can use our air tanks for beside filling the tires .thank you.

[shaedbuech]

My problem is trying to keep grease, I do a lot of drop hook throughout the day with heavy wagons and all are over 20 years old. Soon as it rains and everything gets wet I shear most of it off in one drop n hook, know of any good stuff that will stay on

[fraagrindr]

What about the jaws that secure the kingpin? That's the problem I'm having - spending an hour to release my kingpin and the shop tech doesn't know what I'm talking about.

[bigchue]

I got this grease that's says 3% moly grease is that ok to use?

[darylp]

I stepped on some 5th wheel grease and some got stuck on my boot. then I noticed it after making tracks on my carpet. does anyone know how to remove it? thanks in advance

[TONOCLAY]

My problem is mine is zero grease left and a company too incompetent to bring out some grease.

[angelgalvan]

Is not that seam tuck one is red and one is white

[gschady]

do you have to spend a long time doing the entire plate? .. ;^))

[canadiantimberwolf]

Finally some who has it right. I'm 42 years behind the wheel, and I stopped wasting grease 2 years into my trucking career, after a mechanic told me the best way to grease a 5th. And that is what you did. Now could you do me a favour, and clean up that excess grease over the sides and front. I hate seeing messy 5th's .

[jesuschristislord]

REPENT AND FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST BEFORE ITS TOO LATE

[michaelpage]

Why does everyone say semi-trailer. It's a trailer. The tractor is a tractor. The combination of which is tractor trailer. How can a trailer be a partial entity?

[truckerboots]

Thanks for the quick learning tip great knowledge I'm about to be a new driver.