medium size disaster yesterday-could have been worse though [Archive]

OCDUNE

03-23-2009, 02:19 PM

Coming back from Glamis, in a caravan with my Dad and brother, my Dad had his superglide hitch fail and drop his 37 toy hauler in the parking lot of a gas station. Surprisingly there wasn't too much damage to either the truck or trailer. I will have some pictures up shortly showing the truck and trailer and the associated damage.

It took us a while to get the trailer raised up, the elec jacks wouldn't move but we were able to get it to go up manually. The pin had sheared off on the slave jack though right where the rod turns it so we had to use a bottle jack off of the truck to raise the other end.

The other hurdle was the capture plate that the pin box had welded on, we didn't have another trailer with a superglide, we ended up finding a good samaritan who brought us a grinder to cut the capture plate off. I was able to move the trailer to the side with my truck until we could get another truck to haul it home.

This could have been worse however had the hitch failed going down the road.

I'll have pictures shortly showing the trailer on its belly and the damage to the hitch, truck and trailer.

I won't speculate in public on why the hitch failed yet.

blksmok

03-23-2009, 02:53 PM

Glad no-one was hurt!

Interested to hear more on this along with pictures. I had a superglide, so I'm very familiar with the locking mechanisms etc, and can't see how one would fail when properly hooked up... I'll be interested to hear more.

James Hess

03-23-2009, 02:55 PM

i would definatly be contacting the company if it turns out to be a failure of the hitch due to manufacturing :mad:

TheHoov

03-23-2009, 05:11 PM

This happened to my friends pull trailer a while back. It poped right off the ball. I think his dad forgot to lock it but it was also in a parking lot.

Post pics as soon as you can!
Thankfull no one was hurt...

OCDUNE

03-23-2009, 05:13 PM

will do, I made sure to take about a dozen pictures as it sat but the nearest camera belonged to my parents so I have to wait for them to email me the pictures.

OCDUNE

03-23-2009, 05:32 PM

Here is two for now, the first shows the truck bed where the trailer hit. You can't tell without looking that something even fell on it. He has bedcaps and a rail that holds his hard tonneau cover, they must have provided enough extra strength to soften the blow. His tailgate is U-Shaped though ):h

blksmok

03-23-2009, 06:23 PM

Man, that second picture is sickening.

hondarider552

03-23-2009, 06:49 PM

i have a superglide, and it looks like the inner rails of it arent greased. superglide told me thats the number one failure point on them.

OCDUNE

03-23-2009, 07:15 PM

i have a superglide, and it looks like the inner rails of it arent greased. superglide told me thats the number one failure point on them.

I am curious what exactly fails when that happens, is it the slide rails that bind up? This had been greased at the beginning of the trip, the only concern about the grease is that Sat/Sunday had nasty windstorm with blowing sand/dust. If I was a superglide owner I wouldn't be too concerned about this yet, hopefully I'll have more info shortly.

rgullett83

03-23-2009, 08:46 PM

Wow glad that happened in a parking lot and going down the road.

wkndwaryrs

03-23-2009, 09:16 PM

X2 to that. Glad no one was hurt

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 09:15 AM

I think he turned too sharp and overextended the hitch beyond 90 degrees. For those of you that haven't seen the superglide, the pinbox on the trailer has an adapter with a giant keyway that fixes it to the hitch so it can't turn separately. All of the movement is in the hitch itself. The corner of that keyway was crushed and the whole hitch was bent up.

He had just done a tight U-turn in a gas station parking lot and I think he turned too sharp. I would not have believed that you could go beyond 90 degrees going forward but that is the only explanation that makes sense, especially as the hitch failed just after.

With a normal 5th wheel hitch the limit on the amount of turn is when the trailer contacts the truck, but the superglide is different. This was his 2nd trip out and he had never towed a 5th wheel before so I think he was just overconfident.

I'll post some pictures of the pinbox and hitch later today, I have them on my other computer.

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 11:22 AM

Here are two pictures showing the pinbox and the hitch. Notice the corner of the keyway on the capture plate is crushed and there is still a part of the locking jaw stuck on the pin.

Turbotug

03-24-2009, 12:50 PM

Tight turns are something that hitch mgf.s have to take into account when designing a product. Is it stated in the instructions/manual that you can only make a 45* turn?

I'd be on the phone with Superglide.

8shot

03-24-2009, 12:53 PM

wow, he must have turned way too sharp, to twist it off like that. Never thought that would be possible.

MMLMM

03-24-2009, 01:02 PM

Ummmm......Are you sure it was hitched correctly, like locked in? It looks to me like it never got fully locked, and lucky it came apart in a parking lot and not on the road....

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 01:42 PM

Ummmm......Are you sure it was hitched correctly, like locked in? It looks to me like it never got fully locked, and lucky it came apart in a parking lot and not on the road....

He had been driving with it for 80 miles or so. If it had simply released the whole assembly wouldn't be twisted up and the latch jaw wouldn't still be around the kingpin. It doesn't seem plausible to me either but there is no other explanation that I can think of.

MMLMM

03-24-2009, 01:46 PM

He had been driving with it for 80 miles or so. If it had simply released the whole assembly wouldn't be twisted up and the latch jaw wouldn't still be around the kingpin. It doesn't seem plausible to me either but there is no other explanation that I can think of.

Maybe a sharp turn, and some good body roll of the trailer binded it up when pulling it the station.

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 01:50 PM

I watched him pull into the station, it wasn't anything remarkable, there was articlation but he was absolutely crawling at the time and there was no odd noises, the place was busy and so I was standing right next to his truck.. I wish I could have witnessed the U-turn he made so I could say how sharp it was.

blksmok

03-24-2009, 01:52 PM

The hitch can go a full 90° in either direction but not more than 90°.

Looking at the damage and being familiar with the hitch it looks like Kelly has a good idea what happened. Only thing that doesn't make sense to me is I've done U-turns with that very hitch on a 40ft 5er and the only way I could get it to go to the 90° point is if I stopped and actually backed up in an effort to jacknife the trailer. I could do U-turns all day and turn the truck as tight as it would go and the trailer would follow right along and never get to the 90° stopping point.

The pictures sure look like that king pin was pryed out of the locking mechanism, and it didn't want to give up...

blksmok

03-24-2009, 02:14 PM

Kelly, the capture plate damage and your theory would suggest that his truck was at more than a 90° angle, with the trailer to the passenger side of the truck. Was the U-turn done prior to the incident making a hard right hand U? Did he ever back up to make the turn a little tighter?

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 03:21 PM

Dave, he says at no time did he back up. ***edit I see what you are saying about it appearing it was a right hand turn, I need to look at the plate tonight again***

He had been hitched up since we left Mesa, he went all the way to Glamis, camped, and was back to Quartzsite to fuel up again. He fueled up at the pumps, did a U-turn (why, I don't know because there was room to pull through) and just as it got straight the whole thing came apart. This was the 2nd time he had used the hitch and trailer and he has never owned another 5th wheel so he can't say exactly when it felt "wrong". He said there was maybe some binding on the corner but of course a triple axle toy hauler tends to do that!

I agree completely that it seems impossible to do without backing up. I didn't see any of the actual incident so I am left piecing this together like you. I am going to contact Pullrite as well and see if they have some opinion on the matter.

blksmok

03-24-2009, 05:13 PM

If you are saying that at no time during this trip, he backed up in an effort to jacknife the trailer (or go the full 90°'s) then I would say the hitch got bound up in the turn and did not slide properly, causing the damage to the capture plate and then prying the king pin out of the locking mechanism on the hitch. Is there any indication of strain on the square tubes the hitch slides on? If the hitch stopped sliding somewhere in the turn and then got bound up by the increased strain enough to pull the locking mechanism apart, I would suspect to find some sort of indication on the rails. Is this hitch in Mesa Kelly? I wouldn't mind coming over and checking it out.

Unless he backed up into a jacknife past a 90° rotation at some point during the time it was hooked, I think this is a hitch failure. Going in a forward direction, you should be able to turn as tight as you want and the trailer will follow right behind without problem.

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 05:25 PM

yeah, it is in Mesa, around Val Vista and University. I'll call you here in an hour or so when I am leaving work.

hondarider552

03-24-2009, 05:57 PM

What model is it? whats his max trailer weight? I ask this, because when we bought our superglide, they really stressed about the 16k hitches failing, which is why we bought the 24k one for our 16k trailer.

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 05:58 PM

it is the 18k hitch

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 06:14 PM

One question about the rails being greased, what do you do in a windstorm? He greased his rails before the trip, we were in a bad windstorm on Sunday leaving the dunes. I would hope that Pullrite wouldn't say that their hitch is not useable in those conditions.

Honestly guys I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the reason for failure on Sunday. The station was really busy and the wind was blowing like crazy all day. Our primary concern was to get the trailer lifted and out of the way. Once I did that I headed home as I didn't see the point of waiting for 3 hours for another truck to arrive. I will go home tonight and look at the hitch in person again and see what I can make out of it.

hondarider552

03-24-2009, 06:23 PM

I would grease mine every time i would fill up, but thats just me.

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 06:32 PM

I am glad I don't have one if they take that much maint., that sounds worse than having a manual slider to be honest... Over on RV.net there is someone that had theirs fail and pullrite said it was from not being greased. They ended up replacing it though. I emailed Pullrite but haven't heard back yet.

trailwhale

03-24-2009, 08:06 PM

Stop using grease. Use Slip Plate coating like Pullrite now suggests over greasing. It is a dry graphite based lubricant that your spray or brush on to the way tubes, allowing to dry B4 usage. It does look like something bound up - also curious about the way tube condition.

We have a Superglide 18K for our 14.4K Ragen. Definately would contact Pullrite as they are very interested in how the product performs....and concerned about product reliability / safety.

Trailwhale

OCDUNE

03-24-2009, 10:20 PM

Dave, obviously I didn't get to call you today...

I did look at the hitch closer tonight, the roller that sits in the lower channel fell off, the bearing came apart. I don't see any damage to the slide tubes but they were definitely gritty from blowing sand. Sooo, I would concede then that lack of lubrication probably caused or contributed to the disaster. Either the roller came off separately and contributed or was just a symptom of the same problem by breaking the bearing under increased tension from binding up.. I don't think there is a way to lube that bearing on the roller so that isn't a maint. issue.

From what I can see, he would have made the left turn, then the hitch locked up coming out of it and that is why it appears to have failed on a right turn.

I would still like to see what Pullrite has to say about the incident, I'll make sure to post their response when I have it.

While I agree that the slip plate coating may be superior, the white lithium grease is definitely on the approved list for lubrication and following the directions of the manufacturer shouldn't cause a failure.

hondarider552

03-24-2009, 10:24 PM

Interesting kelly, thanks! Keep us updated on what pullrite says.

blksmok

03-24-2009, 11:02 PM

I really think you are looking at a failed hitch through no fault of your own. I don't think some dirt in the grease would keep the hitch from sliding and since the hitch was virtually brand new, even with complete neglect it should last longer than two pulls. I think something caused the hitch to bind up in a turn and if the truck keeps moving, the trailer is gonna come around. Something in between has got to give. Thats the hitch.

blksmok

03-24-2009, 11:03 PM

Keep us posted on what Pull rite says.

BTW, which hitch was it? 24K or 18K I hope...

hondarider552

03-24-2009, 11:11 PM

it is the 18k hitch

Keep us posted on what Pull rite says.

BTW, which hitch was it? 24K or 18K I hope...

;)

trailwhale

03-25-2009, 10:46 AM

I do grease the bottom roller bearing. Been using Belray WP grease. Also Slip Plate spray the Y channel the roller follows. Also, use threadlocker on the roller nut because I don't trust cut/split type lock washers. Especially on systems like this one that are inverted.

Trailwhale

OCDUNE

03-25-2009, 12:18 PM

The nut/bolt for the roller was still in place and tight, the roller just popped off of the end and the bearing came apart.

Pullrite request more pictures and I'll be sending them some tonight.

DEERE3594

03-25-2009, 03:42 PM

Glad there wasn't to much damage. I have lost a trailer before do to hitch failure and watched in my mirror helpless less as it slammed into a tree :mad:

OCDUNE

03-25-2009, 10:37 PM

Anyone interested in seeing more pictures? I took these to show to Pullrite

http://picasaweb.google.com/ocdune/ToyHaulerFailure?authkey=Gv1sRgCNTemf3zhZOTQQ#

Mike

03-25-2009, 11:27 PM

I hope your experience with these folks stay positive. In the past I've found public post to responses ( particularly their words ) complicate matters. In one case of my own: I meant every respect to a company but, my simple public post created huge friction. I was taken care of but, my later dealings with this company were tested.

I hope this company is able to determine what has happened. I want a Super Glide pretty bad :)

Dave, obviously I didn't get to call you today...

I did look at the hitch closer tonight, the roller that sits in the lower channel fell off, the bearing came apart. I don't see any damage to the slide tubes but they were definitely gritty from blowing sand. Sooo, I would concede then that lack of lubrication probably caused or contributed to the disaster. Either the roller came off separately and contributed or was just a symptom of the same problem by breaking the bearing under increased tension from binding up.. I don't think there is a way to lube that bearing on the roller so that isn't a maint. issue.

From what I can see, he would have made the left turn, then the hitch locked up coming out of it and that is why it appears to have failed on a right turn.

I would still like to see what Pullrite has to say about the incident, I'll make sure to post their response when I have it.

While I agree that the slip plate coating may be superior, the white lithium grease is definitely on the approved list for lubrication and following the directions of the manufacturer shouldn't cause a failure.

blksmok

03-25-2009, 11:32 PM

How have they been thus far Kelly?

Man that hitch got F'd up!

OCDUNE

03-26-2009, 12:34 AM

I have only emailed them, so far they have just asked for more information so it is too soon to tell how they will be treating us.

blksmok

03-26-2009, 10:55 AM

I don't want to mess up a deal with them, so post when/what you are comfortable, but I would sure like to hear the outcome when ever you feel the time is right to update this.

Thanks,

OCDUNE

03-26-2009, 12:23 PM

No worries, everything will be public regardless of the outcome. I have no idea whether Pullrite reads forums or not but it doesn't matter as we have nothing to hide.

Edzzed

03-28-2009, 01:03 PM

that sux. have you ever seen what happens when following a semi at 65mph in the dark and the trailer comes off. there is one whole lotttta sparx. i have seen footage of a tank getting hit by a missile and the ensuing fire and sparks created and thought the trailer had been targetted. Ed

Mike

03-30-2009, 11:43 PM

Any word on this Kelly?

James Hess

03-31-2009, 10:57 AM

blksmok

05-30-2009, 12:32 AM

Kelly?

porthole

05-30-2009, 08:46 AM

Now that I actually have an 18K Superglide in my truck this has more then a passing interest to me.

Initially, looking at your pictures, I would think no way could that happen unless the truck trailer were more then 90 degrees to the right.
The hitch absolutely stops at 90 degrees. Anymore and something will break.

But how do you get 90 degrees without backing up? Not possible with my Sierra.

But when you look at the bearing - if the bearing failed, and the pin for the bearing, (photo 19 of 34) bound up in the frame of the hitch then I think you would end up with exactly this result.

The rails "look" OK in your pictures. Only thing I see is the the trailer tried to swing and the hitch stopped sliding. Either at the end of it's travel (normal) or somewhere in between like your Dad says.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_l9TwOeYKwu4/ScrSl9LQG0I/AAAAAAAADbg/eWm5FtN4yQo/s720/IMG_8139.JPG

amsoiltek

06-24-2009, 02:36 AM

Mike

06-24-2009, 11:54 AM

blksmok

06-24-2009, 01:12 PM

Hey all, new to this list I followed this thread from RV.net. I own a SG 14k on a 08 2500 Dmax pulling a 07 Cougar 286BHS. I really like the hitch and I make sure that I lube the ways every time I pull. I going to subscribe to this thread and follow the action.

Rory
:welcome:
Welcome aboard. :Handshake:

Any ideas on the cause of distruction for this one?

Kelly, (the OP) was in talks with Pullrite (makers of the superglide hitch) last I heard. Hopefully he'll get back on here and let us know a status update.

amsoiltek

06-25-2009, 03:14 AM

For the warm welcome. Camping all of the rest of this month and next at our owner/member campground in Popett Flats,Ca

Rory

porthole

07-12-2009, 01:47 AM

bumping

Any answers - ideas yet?

Olympic Fox

09-16-2009, 02:39 PM

bumping

Any answers - ideas yet?

I was wondering the same thing.

porthole

09-16-2009, 02:59 PM

blksmok

09-16-2009, 04:04 PM

I now have 1500 trailer miles on my superglide and am quite familiar with it's operation.

Unless there was a structural failure (doesn't show) this looks like the only way it could have happened was by exceeding 90 degrees.

The saddle absolutely will not go past 90 without causing extensive damage.

Agreed to a point. If something were to bind and prevent the hitch from sliding while the head continued to rotate with the trailer, it could have caused the same result without reaching the full 90°.

I have sent Kelly (OP) PM's both here and on other forums and asked if there was anything new, but have thus far been unable to get a response...

nijode

08-10-2010, 02:32 AM

blksmok

08-10-2010, 11:12 AM

Does anyone know if there was ever a decision as to why the hitch failed? Did PullRite ever replace the hitch? Any information will be appreciated. I too have begun to see problems with my 14K Super Glide.

Unfortunately no. The original poster has never come back to this thread to update it.

Pure speculation on my part, but I tend to think a settlement was reached, but as part of the deal he's not allowed to go public with any information. :( Again, pure speculation on my part...

BTW, :welcome:

What are you seeing with your hitch?

nijode

08-11-2010, 04:55 AM

Last w/e I began to hear something like a creaking sound as I maneuvered into our campsite. Upon inspection the glide rails had all the black graphite lubricant scraped off a on the areas closest to the front. There were also some scratches and the surface of those parts of the rails and had been scraped free of whatever coating was on them. I have used lots of the graphite lubricant since the very first day and still spray them before every day of towing. I have a 14K and originally owned a 7500 lb trailer. We just recently bought a new trailer which will top out at about 11000 lbs although I doubt that it is much more than 10,000 lbs as of yet. I sprayed the rails real well and drove home a few days later. The whole mechanism seems ‘looser’ than before. I am not sure what is happening, but I am concerned. We are planning a two month trip next month. The manual says that some wear on the glide rails is normal. I’m thinking that I will take it to an authorized dealer for an evaluation being the relatively newbie that I am. The hitch is only a year old and has less than a 1500 total miles on it. What do you think? Any ideas?