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Old 07-27-2015, 01:27 PM   #1
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Kicking/Slipping with Reese Revolution in Reese Titan 16K hitch

Hi,

First time 5er owner.
I just picked up my new Rockwood UltraLite 8281WS at the weekend, towing with a new F250 with a Reese Titan 16K hitch, with the Reese Revolution unlocked, so as to use the Revolution's functionality.

I'm feeling some kicking when braking/accelerating after the first few miles.

It feels like the king pin is probably sliding back and forth in the jaw somewhat, though that's a little surprising since the Titan 16K has the dual serrated jaws.

When I picked up the 5er at the dealership they did have a little trouble getting the hitch lock to move into place at first (and I'm not completely sure what they did to resolve that).

Is there some adjustment to the Reese Titan hitch that I should be making to ensure that the jaws are tighter around the king-pin ?
Would better grease make a difference (the stuff they put on seems pretty poor) ?

The 5er has a fairly heavy pin-weight (for a "half ton towable") at near 1500lb, so I'm pretty sure it's not too light on the pin weight.

The 5er appears to be towing level (measured on a very slight incline, and the internal floor of the 5er seemed to be at exactly the same fractional slope as the road).

I haven't yet checked the level of the truck when towing. Unladen the back of the bed is higher than the front by about 2" and the back definitely dropped at least a couple of inches when towing, but it looked reasonably level (just by eye).

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
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Old 07-27-2015, 02:08 PM   #2
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You can adjust for fit by hooking up, loosen the wedge bolts, slooowly pull forward with trailer brakes on. This puts the pin tight against the jaws.
Now park and get out without allowing truck to move forward. (Emergency brakes on.) Push wedge plate as far forward as you can. Tighten and torque per owner's papers in TT manual pack.
This takes some play out of the hitch by moving the wedge as tight as you can.
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Old 07-27-2015, 02:25 PM   #3
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You can adjust for fit by hooking up, loosen the wedge bolts, slooowly back up with trailer brakes on. This puts the pin in the forward most part of the hitch.
Now park and get out without allowing truck to move forward. (Emergency brakes on.) Push wedge plate as far forward as you can. Tighten and torque per owner's papers in TT manual pack.
This takes some play out of the hitch by moving the wedge as tight as you can.
Interesting suggestion, however I'd have thought that pushing the wedge forwards towards the king pin would effectively be pulling the king-pin back towards the rear of the TV, so you'd want to hitch up, lock the hitch jaws, pull forward slightly to pull the king ping against the back of the jaws, then push the wedge plate in fully to hold it there, and stop it sliding towards the front of the TV when braking.

That way the wedge plate should in theory stop the king pin moving forward towards the front of the truck when braking. (however I'm not sure how much load I'd expect the wedge plate to take without moving, even when properly torqued).

The initial Revolution setup was done entirely by the RV dealership, so I might have to double-check the adjustment and torque myself.
(they did make a mess out of the locking bolts when removing them, not that I plan on ever using them again, but it looks like they used the wrong socket for removing them so that they got chewed up ... not confidence inspiring)

Alternatively, is there any way to adjust the hitch to just close the jaws tighter ?
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Old 07-27-2015, 03:30 PM   #4
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Yes. I tried to remember from reading this 2 years ago. You have the idea right. Take the slack out. I have Reese 16 k hitch and never heard of adjusting the jaws. Good luck.
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Old 07-27-2015, 03:33 PM   #5
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My wedge worked loose after dealer install and I had to reset and torque it after a few trips.
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Old 07-27-2015, 08:31 PM   #6
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I'll be heading out for a "local" (160 mile) trip on Thursday, so I'll head over to the storage place early and try to adjust the hitch/wedge then, before bringing the 5er home and then heading out.
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Old 07-27-2015, 09:16 PM   #7
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Good. Report back so we know if it helped any.
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Old 07-28-2015, 09:21 AM   #8
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NVHD-10K22SW.pdfThis may help
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Old 07-28-2015, 02:21 PM   #9
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Suggest that you watch the on line video on the Reece. I shows how to install the wedge and tork it correctly. I had a lot of issues with mine because of my experience level. None. But eventully I learned to make sure the pin box was straight and that a little grease on the wedge edges and on the pin box plate and hitch would allow a good connection. Also, it there is the least amount of tension between the truck and 5er when you unhitch it won't work until you back into the pin box tightly and then apply the brake to hold it until someone can pull the pin. Is the kicking and slipping due to the bias on the trailer brakes?
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Old 07-28-2015, 03:14 PM   #10
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Suggest that you watch the on line video on the Reece. I shows how to install the wedge and tork it correctly. I had a lot of issues with mine because of my experience level. None. But eventully I learned to make sure the pin box was straight and that a little grease on the wedge edges and on the pin box plate and hitch would allow a go od connection. Also, it there is the least amount of tension between the truck and 5er when you unhitch it won't work until you back into the pin box tightly and then apply the brake to hold it until someone can pull the pin. Is the kicking and slipping due to the bias on the trailer brakes?
That's certainly possible. I didn't have much issue adjusting the brakes on my old pop-up, but the F250 had two settings, bias and force.
I didn't seem to be getting much braking force from the 5er, so I adjusted the force from low to medium, but left the bias at the default of 10.
Since it kicks slightly when braking, and again when pulling away, it seems like the truck must be out-braking the 5er, which would mean that is need to increase it more, and the bias is at max (unless the bias number means the inverse of what would seem logical to me)
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Old 07-28-2015, 06:13 PM   #11
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I have the Reese 20k and while towing last weekend it acted like it was loose also , every time I would go to take off at a light or stop it would slap back so I'm gonna check out adjustments also . I do know the dealer did not do any what so ever when it was installed and when I go to hook up and back in the the pin it has never latched it's self like I know most do
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Old 07-28-2015, 06:27 PM   #12
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The wedge must be pushed forward and the slots filled with steel to prevent it from moving and then torque.
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Old 07-31-2015, 01:12 PM   #13
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The wedge must be pushed forward and the slots filled with steel to prevent it from moving and then torque.
You mean the slots in the wedge itself ?
That's not mentioned in the official install guide, but is a nice suggestion.
Do you have any specific recommendation on what to use to fill the slots ?

I don't have a big workshop or anything, and my tools are limited, but if it's something I can cut with a dremel or jigsaw then great. Any suggestions appreciated as always
Thanks
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Old 07-31-2015, 02:48 PM   #14
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You mean the slots in the wedge itself ?
That's not mentioned in the official install guide, but is a nice suggestion.
Do you have any specific recommendation on what to use to fill the slots ?

I don't have a big workshop or anything, and my tools are limited, but if it's something I can cut with a dremel or jigsaw then great. Any suggestions appreciated as always
Thanks
I think the thickness of the slot material is either 3/8" or 1/2", all you have to do is find a bolt (under the head) that is the length of the slot to the 5/8" bolt and insert it. You can glue it in place with silicone, etc. The slots should be filled on both sides of the 5/8" bolts(front bolt and back bolt and on both sides of both bolts) so the wedge cannot move frontwards or backwards.
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Old 07-31-2015, 03:35 PM   #15
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I think the thickness of the slot material is either 3/8" or 1/2", all you have to do is find a bolt (under the head) that is the length of the slot to the 5/8" bolt and insert it. You can glue it in place with silicone, etc. The slots should be filled on both sides of the 5/8" bolts(front bolt and back bolt and on both sides of both bolts) so the wedge cannot move frontwards or backwards.
I'm guessing that you've had, or know of others that have had, real issues with the wedge moving even when torqued correctly ?

If so then it sounds like a better wedge design is needed.

I'm sure I can get a couple of bolts of a suitable diameter and cut them to length with dremel etc, to fill the slots, tho' I'm not particularly keen on fixing them in with silicone etc, since that sounds messy and not particularly reliable. I'll try to think of an alternative.

Do you agree with the principal of using the wedge to stop the king-pin moving in the hitch jaws, or do you think I need to shim the king-pin/hitch itself ?
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Old 08-03-2015, 08:05 PM   #16
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Here is something I got from Reese
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Old 12-03-2015, 03:25 PM   #17
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Just a little update to this.
I bought the Revolution/Sidewinder wedge specifically for the Reese Titan hitches, which helps with hitching up somewhat, but doesn't make any difference to the kicking/slipping.

I'm now convinced that the majority of the kicking/"chucking" is because there is a fair bit of front-to-back movement between the (removable) hitch head and the hitch frame, so even if the king-pin is tight in the hitch jaws the head itself will still move back and forth on the hitch frame.
I'm not sure if there's anything I can realistically do about this. It seems like the hitch head is designed to be loose on the horizontal front-to-back 'pins' on the frame that it rests on.
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Old 12-03-2015, 03:40 PM   #18
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I'm guessing that you've had, or know of others that have had, real issues with the wedge moving even when torqued correctly ?

If so then it sounds like a better wedge design is needed.

I'm sure I can get a couple of bolts of a suitable diameter and cut them to length with dremel etc, to fill the slots, tho' I'm not particularly keen on fixing them in with silicone etc, since that sounds messy and not particularly reliable. I'll try to think of an alternative.

Do you agree with the principal of using the wedge to stop the king-pin moving in the hitch jaws, or do you think I need to shim the king-pin/hitch itself ?
Silicone would only be used to hold it in place if you don't have access to a welder. I would cut a steel shim to remove the slack in the hitch head to the framework itself. I had to make shims to put under all legs to remove the slack there. When I get home, I will tack weld them in place(provided CRS doesn't kick in again) which I should have done 3+ yrs ago.
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Old 12-03-2015, 04:03 PM   #19
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Silicone would only be used to hold it in place if you don't have access to a welder. I would cut a steel shim to remove the slack in the hitch head to the framework itself. I had to make shims to put under all legs to remove the slack there. When I get home, I will tack weld them in place(provided CRS doesn't kick in again) which I should have done 3+ yrs ago.
Hmm, only thing I can think of to remove the slack would be something like a couple of large diameter washers, one with a larger hole, welded together, with a screw sitting recessed in the larger ID washer screwed into the frame ...

or some kind of shim in the head itself (but I'd have to take a look at how I'd attach that)
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Old 12-03-2015, 05:11 PM   #20
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Hmm, only thing I can think of to remove the slack would be something like a couple of large diameter washers, one with a larger hole, welded together, with a screw sitting recessed in the larger ID washer screwed into the frame ...

or some kind of shim in the head itself (but I'd have to take a look at how I'd attach that)
A few pictures would help provide some idea of the problem you are encountering/fighting.
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