Camco Eaz-Lift 48855 Fifth Wheel King Pin Tripod Stabilizer

If you own a fifth wheel, you already know the move. You unhitch, you climb inside, and the whole coach rocks back and forth every time somebody walks toward the front. That motion comes from the king pin, the front of the trailer that used to be sitting on your truck's hitch. Once the truck pulls away, the landing gear holds the weight but it doesn't do much to stop the rocking. That's exactly the job the Camco Eaz-Lift 48855 was built for.

This is a king pin tripod. It sets up under the pin box at the very front of the trailer, spreads its three legs out for a planted stance, and takes the front-to-back sway out of the coach. Three feet on the ground beat one skinny landing leg every time. You feel the difference the first evening you're parked, when the trailer stops shuddering as you move around the kitchen.

It's rated for 5,000 pounds, which covers the king pin load on the front of just about any fifth wheel you'd tow with a half-ton or three-quarter-ton truck. The whole thing is steel tube construction, so it's not going to flex or wear out after a few seasons of setup and teardown. And it ships fully assembled. Pull it out of the box, set it under the pin, snug it up, and you're done. No bolts, no instructions taped to the frame, no fighting with parts in a gravel lot at dusk.

Fitment is straightforward. The 48855 is designed for fifth wheel coaches with a king pin height between 39 and 50 inches, measured from the ground to the underside of the pin box when the trailer is unhitched and level. That range covers the vast majority of fifth wheels on the road. If you're not sure where yours lands, drop a tape measure from the pin box to the ground before you order. The unit stands 49 inches tall at its working height.

Setup takes about a minute once you've done it once. Position the tripod under the king pin, extend it to meet the pin box, and lock it in. The 48855 includes hooks and straps that anchor the tripod to the landing gear, so it stays put and works with the trailer's own legs instead of drifting out from under the load. It's lockable, too, which keeps everything set once you've dialed it in for the night.

One thing worth being clear about. A king pin tripod is a stabilizer, not a leveling jack. It's not there to lift the front of your trailer or replace your landing gear. You level and set the coach the way you normally do with the landing gear and your leveling blocks, then the tripod adds a rock-solid third point of contact at the pin to take out the bounce. Think of it as the difference between a table on three legs and a table on four. Both stand up, but only one stops wobbling.

Who's this for? Anybody who spends more than a night or two parked. Full-timers, seasonal campers, folks who set up at the same spot every summer, hunters and anglers who base out of the rig for a week at a stretch. If you've ever been annoyed by the coffee sloshing when your partner walks to the bedroom, this is the fix. It's also a nice piece of security peace-of-mind, since a locked tripod under the pin makes the trailer that much harder to hitch and roll away.

Camco has been building RV gear since 1966, and the Eaz-Lift line is their stabilizing and towing hardware. The 48855 is a simple, honest piece of steel that does one job and does it well. Rig it up once, and you'll wonder how you camped without it.