not sure, but probably due to spare wheel(fifth wheel) used to
be kept in pickup bed, which is where fifth wheel hitch goes. ==Not
quite == In the days of horse-drawn wagons, the fifth wheel was a
wheel placed horizontally over the front axle of a large wagon to
facilitate turning. Basically, it allowed the front axle to pivot.
Today, the coupler of a tractor-trailer truck is called the fifth
wheel, mostly because it's round (somewhat) and is vaguely
reminiscent of the wagon's fifth wheel (which much more closely
resembled the wagon's other four wheels).