Next time your fifth wheel needs greasing, don’t use grease. Instead, use Gear Head Lube’s soy-based lubricant pads, the company says. Place a 3- by 3-inch pad on either side of the fifth wheel plate and let the sliding motion between it and the trailer’s upper coupler plate distribute the lube evenly.
Using Gear Head’s pads takes just a few minutes – much quicker than finding a grease gun, using it, maybe running out, and running to grab another tube, then securing the gun and stowing it, according to Brian Walker, director of sales and marketing, who studied the usual methods of lubing fifth wheels. Using a spatula is messy and wastes grease because there’s no measurement except a “that’ll-do” call by the guy who’s laying it on.
Excess grease works its way off the fifth wheel plate and falls along roadways, and eventually makes it way into ditches, streams and rivers, degrading water. Petroleum grease gets thinned out but doesn’t break down, which is hard on the environment.
Gear Head’s soy-based lube is nontoxic, can be touched and handled with no gloves, and eventually biodegrades. The lube is made from soybean oil produced by American farmers. Users report the product lasts longer than grease so fifth wheels need lubing less often.
Gear Head Fifth Wheel Pads are sold in boxes of six each for a suggested retail price of $12.50, Walker said. More information is at GearHeadLube.com. LL
