Our Mission
Fifth Wheel Street is dedicated to promoting recreational vehicle safety by providing educational materials, simplified weighing worksheets, web-based and mobile device RV safety apps with weight safety reports to assist truck camper owners and all who tow fifth wheel, gooseneck and conventional towables.
Our Vision
To aid in the reduction of tow vehicles exceeding weight safety ratings to the level of 30% by 2025. (This is half of the 2014 RVSEF records.)
Our Hope...
Is that our self-help website information and tools will assist future and current RV owners with a better understanding of several aspects of RV safety so that all will be able to make the safest decisions with their investment.
Founder's Philosophy
"As an RV safety educator, I consider my primary responsibility to be to provide sufficient learning material for individuals to work out safe recreational vehicle use practices—not to provide a drive-up window service."
Fifth Wheel Street is 100% independent and has no sponsors.
Fifth Wheel Street is Dave Gray's brainchild, who lives full-time in his 2009 Cyclone 4012. He saw a need not being satisfactorily met. After working through the night, Dave's website debuted with the first five web pages on April 18, 2011. Initially, Fifth Wheel Street primarily supported fifth wheel trailer owners. Today, the website provides over 260 articles and safety information documents available for all recreational vehicle classifications.
Dave has developed three essential weight safety calculator apps for recreational vehicle owners, buyers, and dealers. They are RV Tow Check, RV Weight Safety Report, and Conventional Trailer Weight Safety Report. Additionally, Dave hosts the Truck Camper Load Check calculator developed by W. R. (Bill) Johnson of Alberta, Canada.
During Dave's career path in the U.S. Army, his occupational jobs included Metal Worker Specialist (44B), Fire Direction Control Specialist (13E), Chaplain Assistant (56M), and lastly, he retired as a Decentralized Automated Service Support System (DAS3) Repairer (34C), a mobile mini-mainframe computer system built in a 40-foot trailer.
After Dave's military retirement, he went on to work for Loral Space and Range Systems, Vandenberg AFB (SFB), California, as a Field Technician (Satellite Tracking Operations & Maintenance), then onto Delco Electronics, Goleta, California, as a PC Technician for about a year. Lastly, he retired from the US Postal Service (USPS) in Goleta, California, as an Electronics Technician (PS9/P).
Due to Dave's solid analytical research skills, he received numerous monetary awards for equipment and operational improvements. Dave received hundreds of hours of safety training covering a broad spectrum throughout his career path. One of Dave's career highlights was when he was recognized and received the US Postal Service Pacific Area Safety Award on the Dodger Stadium infield before the game.
Dave has written and contributed RV safety articles to the Escapees Magazine and Heartland Highlights. He has been a guest speaker at RV rallies. Dave’s press releases were several times in the RV Daily Report and the RV Business publications. In April 2016, Dave was interviewed for podcast number 98 by Greg Gerber, editor and founder of RV Daily Report, and it is available here.
Dave loves the line in Hidden Figures by Katherine Johnson, played by actress Taraji P. Henson—"Numbers don't lie." In his career experience, he learned that it is evident that applied mathematics will always uncover the truth.
Driving safely on the road, it is crucial for all who are towing to know if their vehicle is towing safely. You may be an overloaded traveling hazard if you do not know your towing weights. The primary reason for Fifth Wheel Street is to emphasize the importance of towing safety by knowing your vehicle's weight. The Fifth Wheel Street website provides information and apps to simplify this task. Fifth Wheel Street provides simplified worksheets and online calculators. Mobile apps are available for Android, iOS, and Amazon Fire.
So what's different? There are other sites online that have towing calculators. They work, don't they?
Yes, sort of. Those other calculators do provide information. Well, that is if you understand how to work them. What makes Fifth Wheel Street superior is the simplified flow and ease with which it gets results without requiring a digital calculator. It made no sense to Dave when he attempted to use the calculators on other sites to complete math calculations before data was entered into the online calculator. For the novice, other glossary pages must be read and understood before entering the required data. It is evident to Dave why so many RVers are not weighing their vehicles. The whole process appeared to be quite daunting. One of Dave's goals is to eliminate intimidation when weighing your vehicles. At Fifth Wheel Street, Dave wants the tasks of weighing your cars and trailers as easy as eating apple pie.
According to RV Safety & Education Foundation statistics, too many overloaded fifth wheel, gooseneck, and conventional trailers are on the highways. Please take 30 minutes to weigh your vehicles at the nearest truck scale. If one or more of your vehicles are overweight, take the necessary actions to eliminate the excessive weight. After weighing your vehicles and correcting any load problems, complete Step 4, inflating your tow vehicle tires per the inflation recommendations.
Dave would love to hear from you. Ask a question or offer a recommendation. Dave will even listen to your complaint if you have one. More importantly, he hopes you will tell him how Fifth Wheel Street services or apps have helped you.
Have a great day, and foremost, travel safely!
"My Creed" by Dean Alfange
I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon—if I can. I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this I have done. All this is what it means to be an American.
David W. Gray
Fifth Wheel Street
Founder, RV Educator & Consultant
Dave is the founder of Fifth Wheel Street, the premier
self-help RV safety website providing the only 13
Point Weight Safety Report and answers how to weigh
your RV and other towable vehicles. Fifth Wheel
St. provides tow ratings, web based and mobile app
towing weight calculators, printable worksheets
and reports for RV and trailer owners.
Mountain View, Arkansas
73560
USA
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