Karen, beautiful truck and trailer combo. Well thought out.

 

The same hills that you crested in 3rd gear at 50-55 mph will now be 4th to 5th gear at 65 mph! The worst I have seen on the highway in the mountains is 62 mph in 4th gear with 15,000+ lbs behind me. I have 3.55 gears but also 20" wheels with larger than stock tires. There is no question that even 3.31 gears are going to far exceed the performance of your 6.0.

 

Sold my 30ft Coachmen travel trailer so now looking at fifth wheels. Not in a rush to get one. Dealer has a 2009 Carriage 36MAX1 that looks nice.

 

First off, all great looking set ups. My wife and I are wanting to get our first 5er. I have a 2015 6.7 CC SRW FX4 with 5th wheel prep package. With all the confusion with what you can and cannot do with the shortbed, I figured you guy's were the best source to get answers. We are looking for something not to big, maybe 30' or 32'. We have looked at the Montana's and really like them. My first question is regarding a hitch. What hitch can I use with the shorebed and the prep package? Also, I know there's a lot of variables depending on truck configuration, but what kind of overall 5th wheel weight would put me in the ball park of being within in weight limits? I'm in Cali and I don't want to get pulled over. I'm just looking for a starting point, so I have a little info before I start talking to dealers.

 

go weigh your truck. (cat scale or something like it)

get the front & rear axle weigh ratios and GVWR from the door tag at the drivers door. lookup you GCVWR from the Ford towing spec book.
and the tire max load at max pressure. (read the info from the tires)

when U have the scale numbers, then you can do the calculations of capacity.

this page gives u a quick output
Towing Calculator after getting weighed - Towing Planner

Tire*2 - RAWR will tell you how much extra tire capacity you have at max load.
the RAWR - the actual rear axle weight will tell you your actual carrying capacity.
the GCVWR - the GVWR will tell you the most the trailer can weigh.

for FW, the range for hitch weight is 15-25%

I had a 2012 F250 SB, 4x4, and was in the same spot a year ago.
all the trailers we liked would have put us over the GV* numbers and rear axle weights
found a good deal on a 2012 F350 DRW (with less mileage)..

 

I towed a 32 ft Cardinal with a short f250 for six or seven years so here's what I learned. You must deal with the problem or it will bite you. The bite may come in the florm of a broken rear window or worse, a big dent in the truck cab. I took out a window on the second trip. The slider was forward but in normal driving you can do almost everything with the slider forward. However, we were in a truck stop and I was in a hard right turn, we drove over some elevated manholes, that caused the trailer to lean in and BOOM there went my window. What you can do on level ground is different from what you can do on unlevel ground.

The Best hitch for a 5th wheel behind a shorty is an automatic slider. They are equipped with a number of cams and levers that will move the hitch forward or back as the operation of the truck demands. No thought required from the driver. However they are very pricey. I haven't looked lately but I'm thinking around 2500. The one in use by most folks is a manual slider. You get out and slide it to the rear when you intend to manuever in tight quarters. I had a Reece slider and it served me well once I learned when to slide it back. And from time to time it would bind a bit and require blocking the wheels to get it positioned. There are also some swing away or swing hitches that people use. I'm not quite sure how they work but I've seen some around. And there are extended pin boxes that push the front of the trailer back but keep most of the pin weight over the axle. They all work, I guess. The sliders work, I know.

As to weight you want to stay away from the real heavy units with single rear wheels. It will handle the heavy trailers but it's not the best way to go. Not comfortable. Since CA has a lot of government that the rest of us don't enjoy it may be different there but no one cares how much weight you are towing if you are not a commerical operation. You will hear all kinds of storys to the contrary but ask them to cite you a case where a non-commerical RV hauler was ticketed for weight. Now if you hook a 40 foot toy hauler behind your ford ranger you will get a ticket but it will be for unsafe operation or something like that. As a rule of thumb I would say you can tow any 32 foot 5th wheel out there and more if you want.

These threads can get wraped around the axle pretty quickly with people getting all kinds of numbers out there but in a fifth wheel towing situation just make sure the weight on your rear axle does not exceed the weight limit of your rear tires and you will be good to go. Now a bunch of people will likely come on here and tell you all the stuff I have wrong. I'm not gonna respond. Been there done that. Hope this helps you. Oh yeah, one last thing, when you are figuring weight on that rear wheel do it on a scale. Don't take the dealers or manufacturers word for what the pin weight is. Good luck and welcome to the 5th wheel family.

 

I'll be the first to tell you you were wrong....but only in that you thought we'd all jump in here to tell you that you were wrong

I totally agree on the slider, buy it once and never worry again... (Have moved mine to two trucks (so far!)

it's somewhat like 4 wheel drive, better to have it and not need it, the need it and not have it !


and the problem with extended hitch pins is that even though they move the front of the trailer back so you can turn, then you have the problem of the hitch pin pivot itself MAY hit the side of your pickup truck !!

Especially if the stoopid rv mfg mounts things on the back of the hitch pin like the electrical connections, etc...

 

You may want to spend a little time on this forum:
Towing, Trailers & 5th Wheels - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

I was not even aware that you could get the fifth-wheel prep with a short bed.
According to my dealer, the only 5th wheel hitch that will work with the factory prep is the Custom Reese hitch available only through Ford. It is the hitch I have in my truck also.

 

The turning radius and pin box on your fifth wheel is even more important than the type of hitch you get. We have a Heartland and it has an 88 degree turning radius. We had a Curt slider on our old short bed, and in 4 seasons, never once came close to needing to use it. This truck, we opted for the below the bed rails, installed the Ford 5th wheel prep ourselves and got a B&W fixed hitch. Both B&W and Curt now make a base that will fit with the Ford OEM prep. B&W also allows you to turn the base to give you more cab clearance if needed.

Here is a link to the B&W
B&W Companion OEM 5th-Wheel Hitch for Ford Super Duty Prep Package - Dual Jaw - 20,000 lbs B and W Fifth Wheel BWRVK3300

And the Curt:
Curt Q20 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch with Ford OEM Legs - Dual Jaw - 20,000 lbs Curt Fifth Wheel C16530-16017

You can get the Curt adapter legs and use with any of their heads.

We have hooked up, but not towed yet with our new setup, but you can believe we will be watching that cab very carefully when backing. We had the old truck jacked pretty tight backing into our driveway and it never was a problem with the corner cap design on the Heartland. And that 88-degree radius was one reason why we bought Heartland in the first place. Most other Heartland owners will also tell you they have never needed a slider with a short bed.

 

Thanks for the info on the other hitches.. I ended up with the Ford unit which is rated for 26.5k# and has a massive single jaw. Seems to work well for me so far.

Regarding sharp turns - if at all possible, I would like to limit my maneuvers to no more than 45 degrees as that tears up the tires bad enough with side scuffing.. I guess with enough patience, I might even manage to do that although with a long bed, I don't think I have much to worry about unless I get beyond 90 degrees. ((YIKES!!!!))

 

For whatever it is Worth: Good simple approach/information....

 

I am in the market for a 5th wheel hitch too. I also feel I will be going with an autoslide. Several people really love the Demco autoslide from different fourms I have read. Demco UMS Under-Bed 18K Ford Prep Package Autoslide Hijacker It can be had for under $1200.

 

I had a reese 18K signature series slider in my short bed. I think it has been replaced by the elite series.


I'd recommend the reese as it is built well. But they are manual sliders.

 

Correct. Also keep in mind the "Factory Ford" hitch is a Reese Elite series available from any Reese dealer, and will msrp for less. When I bought my truck Ford only offered the 25k version (not sure if thats changed) and Reese offers an 18k as well, which imho is better matched to srw trucks.

 

I got the 18K from ford when I bought my truck. It is light enough I can put it in and take it out by myself.


My 5er comes in around 15500-16K so that was big enough of a hitch for me.