When RV’ers are considering a quinto rota trailer they often ask if it will feel more stable on the road than a travel trailer or a motorhome. Fifth wheels are very stable on a highway and are rarely affected by cross winds or passing trucks. But when you look at a fifth wheel’s design, it would be easy to wonder how they could be stable at all.

Qualitas JSK quinta rotae fundens 37C

Centrum gravitatis quintae rotae altissimum est, area lateralis ad capiendos ventos crucis ingens est, plurimae unitates suspensiones folium fundamentales habent, dum pauci absorbtores concusserunt. Quintus rota Crispi non complicata est. Constat puncto simplici undi, qui est circiter quattuor pedes supra terram, sedens super basic suspensio axungia viventium.

Swivel pixides acus radios 90 graduum infigi convertunt, sed aliqua stabilitas in velocitatum viarum amittitur.

Compared with travel trailers, which can have a very low centre of gravity and a pivot point much closer to the ground (with weight distribution and sway controls), there is no contest between the two. When we do slalom and lane change tests, it’s obvious travel trailers handle much better. For example, a good handling travel trailer and tow vehicle can run through a 100-foot slalom close to 80 km/h. With a fifth wheel, the tires start leaving the road at 60 km/h. So, if I find myself in a situation where I need to manoeuver quickly to avoid an accident, I will take a properly set up travel trailer any time.

But fifth wheels do have their merits. Going straight down the highway on a windy day, it’s hard to match the driving ease of a fifth wheel in tow. This is due to one key advantage. Of all the measurements we conduct when assessing a tow vehicle for a trailer, a key element we have to consider is the amount of rear overhang. We look at the overhang as a percentage of the wheelbase. For instance, if the vehicle has a 100-inch wheelbase with 40 inches of rear overhang, the overhang is 40 percent of the wheel base (which would not be ideal). The best vehicles are around 30 percent.

But, with a fifth wheel, the overhang is 0 percent of the wheelbase. From a driving perspective, this trumps most other factors I previously mentioned about fifth wheels. Even when making an emergency manoeuver, it’s easy to drive up to the point where the fifth wheel’s centre of gravity becomes the issue. In the slalom, I have had the wheels of a fifth wheel come a couple of feet off the ground and it felt completely stable in the cab. The only thing that made me realize that the wheels were off the ground was a quick glance in the side-view mirror.

Historically, a factor that contributes greatly to the stability of a fifth wheel is the pin or hitch weight was always a higher percentage of the total trailer weight – usually 20 percent. On a travel trailer, it’s normally 10 to 15 percent. This allowed the fifth wheel to have a longer distance from the pivot point to the axles, which makes any trailer more stable. For example a transport trailer with tandem wheels almost at the back of the trailer carries close to 50 percent of its weight on the tractor.

Swivel acus pixides plerumque utentes quintarum rotarum offert easdem conversiones notas peregrinationis sex. Sed si nimium acrem verteris, quinta rota in raedam plaustri incurret, damnum utriusque vehiculis.

In viverra Ritus automatico Crispi labens.

Today, many fifth wheels are geared to tow with a half-ton, which means the loaded for travel pin weight needs to be less than 1,500 to 1,700 pounds. On many of these fifth wheels, the pin weight is 12 to 14 percent rather than 20 percent. The first time we had one of these lighter pin weight fifth wheels, I was quite concerned about what effect it might have on stability. On the lot we had two 10,000 pound fifths of the same brand and size – the only difference between the two models were the interior layouts. One unit had 1,100 pounds of pin weight and the other had 1,780 pounds.

Towing them back to back in heavy winds on the same truck and run them through the same tracting course, he could not percipere differentiam in tractando. In theoria non debuit. Limitationes tractationes a centro gravitatis impositas existimo exoriri multo ante differentiam in pondere clavo.

Cum quintae rotae in foro introductae sunt, omnes aliquet octingenti pixides pedis habebant cum axungia posteriori digitorum 54 digitorum a tergo cab. Hoc permisit rotam octingentos pedis latam quintam partem facere ut turn 90 gradus ad plaustrum versaretur. Hodie plerique aliquet quinque pedites habent, sex pollicis vel sex pedes, capsulam sex pollicis cum axungia 30 ad 40 digitos post cab. Ita, si nimium acrem verteris, quinta rota in raedam plaustri incurret, damnum utrique vehiculorum.

Prima solutionis huius problematis inductio fuit hitches illae, quae manually clavum positio post axem posticum labatur ut permitteret ad cursum humilitatis arctius convertendum. Haec efficacia probaverunt et saepe adhuc usi sunt. Beneficium est quod brevissima capsula cum Crispi illapsa est dramatice difficilius quam capsula longa. Quintum rotam pedis 35-pedalis in stricto campo cum brevi capsula emittere possum multo facilius quam cum 28-pede quinto rota cum cista longa.

Abhinc circiter XV annos Ritum excute auctoratus Crispi labens automatic et Demco nunc unum bene facit. Hi hitches tractant ut quintam rotam conventionalem Crispi ad celeritatem viarum, sed sponte elabi retro ut facilius decurrere patiantur. Latera descendentia sunt $800 ad $1500, cariores sunt quam Crispi fixa seu manualis labens qualitatis similis. Tunc solum iterum oblivisci debes movere lapsus manualem semel et extra sumptus servaveris.

A few years ago a swivelling pin box was introduced on the market, which features a fixed hitch situated over the axle. The pin box doesn’t pivot in the hitch, but rather is locked into the truck portion. A 20-inch bearing is built into the pin box located behind the axle where the trailer turns. While it allows an impressive 90-degree turn with the truck, some stability on the highway is lost. Though the pin weight of the fifth wheel is still placed directly over the axle the side to side pivot point is 20” behind the axle or to put it another way your truck now has a rear overhang equal to 15% of the wheelbase. Ultimately you wind up with the disadvantages of a fifth wheel and disadvantages of a travel trailers without the benefit of weight distribution or sway control.

When the swivelling pin box was introduced on the market, I asked the developer what kind of testing was done to determine how much stability is lost. The developer said there wasn’t any loss. I said there had to be and the conversation went downhill from there. It never concerned me a great deal as the product was rarely seen. But now I am seeing some manufacturers offering it as an option and doubt they understand how handling is affected with a swivelling pin box.

Nuper tentavimus capsam clavum rotundum videre, quanta differentia 20 unciarum re vera immineret. Arcam acus elaboravimus ut inter Crispi labens et cistam acus volubilem in eadem compositione sex salsissimus vir vivens flectere potuimus.

In nostro examine die, qui levium ventorum et via lenis constabat, difficile erat dictu utrum Crispi super axem an viginti digitos post se traheret. Autem, cum cruces ventorum recalcitrant vel cum dolor nos transiit, sentire potuisti sequor impellendo plaustrum circumferre. Minus erat quam expectavi, sed erat certe ibi.

Per ambages decurrere, sicut subitae lane mutationis, cum 0 centesimis imminere prorsus stabiles fuimus. Sed multo plus pugillorum cum 15 cento imminente factus est trailer.

Ad 0 percent, trailer statim post ieiunium venellam mutationi directa est, sed cum 15 centesimis imminens duo aversae extra latus ad latus erant. Cura est ut consilium hoc Crispi, cum levioribus clavibus ponderibus coniunctum, in situ instabili provenire possit.

Sunt notae quaedam gratae cum capsula piratica. Simplicior est quam latae lapsus ac facilius coniungere. Modo scito te aliquam salutem ac stabilitatem mercaturam esse ut illas lineamenta capias.