Building a 5th wheel bucket hitch.

[lc12]

I need to move a 5th wheel camper about 30 feet, on level ground.
And before you ask, no, I do not have a hitch on my truck.
Camper was delivered to farm and not moved for seven years.
Now I am building a shed, and of course the camper is in the way.
So.....
I have a 5th wheel hitch that I bought used.
I am planning on removing the "legs" of the receiver and set on top of two 3" square tube that is framed with 3" x 1/4" angle on the ends.
This will leave me just the 5th wheel plate and frame sitting in the bucket and will be chained in place so that the hitch cannot move.
This will be placed in the bucket of my L4701HST.
I will have my 6 foot brush cutter attached for ballast, and my tires are fluid filled.
The camper will not be moved far, and is on level ground.
Do you all see any problems with this setup?
I have searched on here, and on the net in general and have not found much info.
Those that commented against the idea was never with the use of a 5th wheel hitch receiver being used.
Some just wanted to move the trailer only by placing the kingpin in the bucket.
I know my tractor has the pulling power, and confident that it has the lifting power.
And I am not concerned about my bucket as I have the Ratchet Rake Forestry model attached to the bucket which significantly adds strength to the bucket.
Am I over confident in my thinking?
I just cannot find anyone that will come over for such a short move as my farm is quite some distance from those that I know.
Thank you in advance, and I appreciate all of the information that is provided by this group!

 

[RonBoyBX25D]

I picked up a transformer from Omni manufacturing, it has a 5th ball mount adapter. It goes on the 3 point and not the bucket. Here is a link to the version I have, didn***8217;t need a 5th but did get a skidding attachment that works great.

https://omni-mfg.com/TRANSFORMER-Platform-with-Integrated-Weight-Rack-P2403664.aspx

Good luck with the building.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Unless your needing to really maneuver it around you could have just picked it up with the bucket, but your idea sounds fine.
Leave the jacks down and just try and pick it up, if it does it then you should be fine.
When you move it leave the jacks down, just pick it off the ground buy a couple inches, and move slow.

 

[vic gerbasi]

my trailer supplier did the following:
made a plate with two holes 1/2 inch welded a pipe to the top of the plate inside diameter of the pipe large enough to contain the connecting piece of the hitch of the trailer
two holes were made in the top of the bucket bolted the component to the bucket and voila drive tractor under the hitch of the trailer lift bucket gently and move the trailer slowly works for me when i need it good for small moves for my horse trailer 5th wheel trailer and hay trailer simple and not very expensive good luck

 

[Bulldog777]

Buy a used set of pallet forks, attach the 5th wheel hitch to those, you can "un- attach" the fifth wheel hitch and use the forks afterwards.
You can weld a plate to the forks, attach the hitch using the pins that came on it by cutting holes in the plate. Then you resale the hitch later if you want.

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[Ramos]

I move mine all the time with a plate and pipe bolted into the bucket, much like vic mentioned. The open-top pipe is just large enough for the trailer king pin to fit inside. I made my pipe 14" tall so I could make tighter turns without getting the sides of the bucket into the front of the trailer.

Flat plate (3/8"), vertical pipe, four bolts through the bucket. I did add gussets for piece of mind since the taller pipe receives some leverage.

On Edit: My pipe sits almost a foot out from the front edge of the bucket. Again, tight turns. The trailer is 30-32' w/ two slides. Tractor is 60hp with lots of ballast.

 

[lc12]

This is what I came up with.
Timbers are lagged and bolted, forming a frame that will sit in bucket, spreading the weight load, and chained into place.
Hitch is also lagged to timbers.
Chains will wrap around timbers and hitch, preventing any movement

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Oh! And I only have $80 invested in the whole thing.
Probably a bit overkill.

 

[bxray]

Is there anyone in the area that has a hitch and can help?

May be cheaper and easier?

Ray

 

[lc12]

Is there anyone in the area that has a hitch and can help?

May be cheaper and easier?

Ray

It is hard to work around everyone's schedule, and I am two hours away, and if they don't show I have wasted a trip.
Easier just to do it myself.

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[lc12]

It is hard to work around everyone's schedule, and I am two hours away, and if they don't show I have wasted a trip.
Easier just to do it myself.

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An update.
Used my 5th wheel rig to move camper and it worked OK.
Fairly "light" in the rear, but manageable.
The L4702HST had the "oomph" to lift it.

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[nickelplated5s]

Doesn't any one else see the humor here?

 

[armylifer]

Doesn't any one else see the humor here?

I don't see any humor. Please enlighten me.

 

[Ramos]

I don't see any humor. Please enlighten me.

Stumped me, as well. I either missed something or nickel posted in the wrong place. Can't wait to find out.

 

[baronetm]

An update.
Used my 5th wheel rig to move camper and it worked OK.
Fairly "light" in the rear, but manageable.
The L4702HST had the "oomph" to lift it.

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Good to hear you moved the RV safely and devised a way to attach the 5th wheel. I would have looked at this issue a little different.
1. Inside a cabinet in the RV there should be a placard that will give you some useful weights, one being the pin or tongue weight.
2. Does this exceed the lifting capacity of your FEL with the 5th wheel attached as close to the pins as possible.
3. How much counter balance do I need? Your brush cutter obviously supplied enough weight and also extends the fulcrum point from the lift point to multiply the weight rating, but being light it was still not enough.
4. Am I traveling over uneven or soft ground that will make my vehicle or load unstable, hence this will be exaggerated by a light counter balance.
Why do I stick my nose in with my two cents, many years of rigging experience and seeing some errors made. I have seen the results of a fellow workers assumptions lifting a $500K piece of new equipment weighing in at 15K lbs. from a trailer, and assuming the fork lift with a weight rating of 20K with 8’ forks would lift and move the equipment with ease. WRONG, due to the width of the equipment and its weight distribution, once the load was clear of the trailer and the operator tried to lower the load it took a nose dive doing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the new equipment and the trailer, also giving the operator whiplash. All subsequent delivery of like equipment we unloaded from the opposite side, proper weight distribution and never having the safety issue again. I have seen the same thing with fork trucks and jib rigs, always worked lifting the same load until the operator used a different jib that extended 12” further, nose dive, the loads fulcrum point exceeded the lift capacity of the fork truck. A short distance of 12” multiplies the load weight X fold. Thanks for listening to my experience.

 

[lc12]

Good to hear you moved the RV safely and devised a way to attach the 5th wheel. I would have looked at this issue a little different.
1. Inside a cabinet in the RV there should be a placard that will give you some useful weights, one being the pin or tongue weight.
2.Does this exceed the lifting capacity of your FEL with the 5th wheel attached as close to the pins as possible.
3.How much counter balance do I need? Your brush cutter obviously supplied enough weight and also extends the fulcrum point from the lift point to multiply the weight rating, but being light it was still not enough.
4.Am I traveling over uneven or soft ground that will make my vehicle or load unstable, hence this will be exaggerated by a light counter balance.
Why do I stick my nose in with my two cents, many years of rigging experience and seeing some errors made. I have seen the results of a fellow workers assumptions lifting a $500K piece of new equipment weighing in at 15K lbs. from a trailer, and assuming the fork lift with a weight rating of 20K with 8’ forks would lift and move the equipment with ease. WRONG, due to the width of the equipment and its weight distribution, once the load was clear of the trailer and the operator tried to lower the load it took a nose dive doing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the new equipment and the trailer, also giving the operator whiplash. All subsequent delivery of like equipment we unloaded from the opposite side, proper weight distribution and never having the safety issue again. I have seen the same thing with fork trucks and jib rigs, always worked lifting the same load until the operator used a different jib that extended 12” further, nose dive, the loads fulcrum point exceeded the lift capacity of the fork truck. A short distance of 12” multiplies the load weight X fold. Thanks for listening to my experience.

Good information!
The rear end lifted only because of a stubborn wheel chock.
Once removed, all was OK.
I only moved tbe RV 30 feet on a flat, level, graveled drive.
I used the FEL to raise the RV to remove the tripod support, and then slid the "bucket hitch" onto the pin.
All was good with the world.
Thank you for your concern and knowledge!

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