New Fontaine Armor™ Yard Truck Fifth Wheel

Fontaine Coupling Solutions has introduces Armor™, a fifth wheel designed from specifically for yard trucks.

The company states that the “Armor fifth wheel is stronger, easier to maintain and better protected from kingpin damage than other terminal tractor fifth wheels, providing increased uptime and lower total cost of ownership.” It can be ordered on new trucks or fitted to existing competitor brackets in the aftermarket.

From its research, Fontaine learned that terminal tractor or ‘yard truck’ fifth wheels may be coupled and uncoupled up to 300 times a day vs. just once for most over-the-road trucks. These extreme operating conditions lead to high maintenance costs as customers have to frequently rebuild and replace fifth wheels that were not specifically designed to handle these tough applications. Of note, the Armor fifth wheel’s unique lock design simplifies maintenance — critical locking components can be replaced from the top side, reducing rebuild time to as little as 15 minutes.

The Fontaine Armor fifth wheel can handle 80,000 lbs. vertical load and 200,000 lbs. drawbar pull. Plus it’s backed by a one year warranty, double the length of the standard wheel used in this market.

“The Fontaine Armor fifth wheel addresses all of the yard truck customer ‘pain points,’” says Steven Alldredge, product manager. “It cuts rebuild times, reduces maintenance and provides an overall lower total cost of ownership for customers in virtually any yard truck application. We’re really proud to introduce such an innovative new product.”

Category: Equipment, General Update