My fifth wheel sits about in the middle, why would I need to slide it to the front or back? Is it a ride difference or weight difference, because I was told by this guy that it did not do anything for weight.

 

Sliding it to the front shifts weight from your drives to your steers, and sliding it back shifts weight from your steers to your drives.
When I drove the Freightliner Century and Columbia tractors, pulling a trailer which didn't have sliding tandems (be it a tanker, flatbed, or end dump), I would always keep the fifth wheel slid all the way to the back, because the fuel tanks on those Freightliner models were so far forward, that all the weight from the fuel was put on the steer axle, which made it much easier to be heavy on the steer, naturally.

 

He is wrong. Moving your fifth wheel forward will put more weight on the steers and less on the drives, whereis moving it farther back will take less weight off of the steers and more on the drives, vs moving the trailer tandems forward will put more weight on the trailer tandems and less on the drives, and moving the tandems back will take weight off of the trailer tandems and put more on the drives. Ultimately there is a sweet spot on the fifth wheel that you should never really have to move it at all unless you get a load that is right there at 80,000 and you are having trouble getting it distributed correctly. I had a load like that once, where I just had to keep my fuel lower then 75 gallons to stay even barely legal.

 

Well the rig I have is a 05 Century with 2 100 gallon tanks and I do some heavy loads sometimes but it seems to weigh out , so it haves nothing to do with the ride? I guess I should leave it where it is?

 

Actually, that's what I said, albeit with slightly different wording...

If there's no real need to, I don't see why you would.

 

Yeah we posted at the same time, when I started writing no one had posted yet :P

 

Generally if you are feeling anything, your weight is not distributed correctly. If your weight is heavyer on the trailer then the drives, you will got a bumpyer ride.

 

Ah, alright then. Good thing you posted that, because I was preparing to settle this with a battle rap. Fear my skillz!

 

Ya when i do heavy loads its not to bad , I dont remember the exact numbers but I was like 11,600 on the steers and mid 33,000 on the drives and tandems, so I guess I,ll leave it where it is.

 

I drive an '07 Volvo VN 670 and I never have to slide my 5th wheel.... even when I pull 46,000 lb. loads. I found a sweet spot for it last year right after I got the truck and made a few runs. It's been in the same position ever since.