Need quick hook up and reliability, upgrade to a 5th wheel?

[Radio]

I have 5th wheel and my brother has a TT.

He can hitch about as fast and easy as I can because of the back-up camera mounted just above his license plate and receiver. Cost him about $100.

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by MSRockyblue

As far as towing goes, I just have the basic WD hitch and friction sway bar. If I find out, it's going to sway more than I like, would one of the nicer dual cam systems be a good buy? I've seen them, and they say they eliminate sway, but I'm always skeptical until I talk to someone that's used something. Is there anything else that might help, besides weight balance, etc?

I've spent hours looking at anti-sway discussions and other info from the "inner web". This quote is from a thesis written by a guy studying for a masters in engineering. The thesis a very involved, actual testing with a number of sensors and extensive analysis of the results. (anti-snaking = anti-sway - the study was done in Brittan)

"As mentioned in 2.2.7.1, anti-snaking devices incorporating a friction damper at the tow ball provide a fixed level of coulomb friction. This means that there is a constant level of energy dissipation per oscillation cycle, which implies that the equivalent linear damping decreases as the amplitude increases. There is a clear danger here, that the friction level will be sufficient for low amplitude stability but insufficient for high amplitude stability. The possibility arises that the coupled combination will become unstable as an immediate consequence of a particular disturbance. It can be expected that the driver’s control behaviour will be based on experience of small amplitude oscillations, so sudden larger-amplitude oscillations following a chance disturbance will be hazardous..."

I take this as ALL friction and probably cam based anti-sway hitches only reduce sway. The friction of two pieces of ungreased metal sliding against each other turn the energy into heat and sound. If the sway causing force is great enough, sway can get out of control. Only by eliminating the tow ball as a pivot point can sway be eliminated. The only US based TT hitches that do this are the Hensley and ProPride units. Yes, they are more expensive. The design makes a TT behave like a 5er.
Hitching and unhitching using one of these units IS different from other hitches. Understand why and using them will be every bit as easy.
YMMV.

[CaptnJohn]

Had a Hensley and the last TT went back to Equalizer. Saw little different. NO TT , no matter the hitch pulls like a 5er.

[Leonandpandora]

After traveling 25 odd years on the road and staying in just about every hotel chain known to man I bought a trailer. I'm now on my second. The crew I travel with is about evenly matched TT to 5er.
Sometimes finding camping spaces can be a pain and you may need to make a longer commute but the good outweighs the bad.
I know I sleep better at night in my own bed.
Keep the TT.. Invest in the 2nd air.
The per diem savings really adds up more quickly than you would realize.
Wife and fur kids happier also.
Wish I would have done this 20 years ago. The last 5 have been great.

[RSchleder]

Think about it--the difference between hooking up a 5th wheel and a bumper pull is what, maybe 10 minutes, or 20 minutes on the outside. You're not a fire truck or an ambulance, so is 10-20 minutes really worth going into debt over? I really doubt it!!!!

[CaptnJohn]

Hitching is faster and easier. There are more important reasons for a 5ee though like ease of towing. There are many reasons to keep what you have as if a 2nd ac is needed on your TT it will be on the 5er too.

[rockfordroo]

5ver next to me this week took 10 min to get hooked up. Took me about 3 min.

[SeaDog]

Set up or take down time is not as important to me as getting it right. it very expensive to pull away with a jack down or backup to hookup with the tail gate up. each unit has its + & -

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

Set up or take down time is not as important to me as getting it right. it very expensive to pull away with a jack down or backup to hookup with the tail gate up. each unit has its + & -

The auto level system easy to retract and would be very expensive to fix. The tailgate on my truck with the step and camera is said to be about $1500. Mine is in storage and a 5er tailgate installed. I suppose it can be damaged too but less than $600 to replace . Best not to hurry coming or going but the 5er is easiest and quickest especially with the memory on the auto level system.

[rockfordroo]

This is turning into diesel vs gas.