Wife and I just traded our bumper pull trailer for a 5th wheel travel trailer, and the guys at the lot wanted $1800 to install the fith wheel hitch. LOL They told me I needed a slider 5th wheel hitch. Is that necessary to tow the 5th wheel? Or just recommended?
Reason I ask is this, my truck already had 5th wheel rails installed when I bought it, and if I can buy just a regular hitch and call it day that would save me some cash. BUT......on closer inspection of the 5th rails in my truck, they are installed nearly 4" behind where they should be. Putting the center line of the pin, about 4" behind the axle center line. What's the deal? I read that is a fairly common practice for people to avoid getting the slider hitch. Is it safe to use that setup? Or should i pull all this crap outta there and put an entire new setup back there. I'm really leaning towards this, just for the piece of mind that everything is right... Any opinions?
The slider hitch is not needed for towing but for giving a sharper turning radius. Depending on the size of the 5th wheel hang over, you could be ok with a standard hitch. Does you 5th wheeler have a pin that protrudes forward of the trailer or is it centered underneath?. Some smaller 5th wheelers have this type setup to also accomplish a sharper turning radius. Hope this helps.
Our 5th wheel has the extended hitch pin off the front of the trailer. Seems to me like it would be OK even for sharper turns. But hard to tell without actually getting the trailer first and checking it out.
I guess my only concern really is, do I need to move the previously installed rails up to make sure the "pin" is centered on the axle? I don't know why the previous owner did that? weird.
Like you said earlier, I think this is a pretty common practice. I think it will all hinge on the trailer you bought. I would get a hitch, heck borrow one if you can, and try it out in the position it's in now. If the 5er is not too heavy, it may pull just fine like it is.
I towed a 27' 5er with a SB for several years without a slider. It had the extended pin and I could turn sharper than I can with a TT. You just have to be real careful when concentrating on backing into a tight spot, that you don't forget to watch your clearance. You can bend sheet metal or pop a back glass in a hurry.
my dad also installed his 5th wheel unit further back than wheel center with his crew cab short bed F350 and everything works out fine no worries.
i say, connect everything and see if you get any rear sag from the weight, if so then move it up.
with my dad's F350 and the 5th wheel in that location pretty much made the truck sit level instead of looking like it was jacked up in the rear.
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The slider hitch is so you don't turn sharp with your fifth wheel and smash into your cab. On short box trucks this is not hard to do. I work at an RV dealership and have seen it happen many times. The slider hitch only costs about $200 more than the conventional. $1800 is WAY TO STEEP! If the rails are already there there is nothing to install! Just sit the hitch down and put the pins in. The installation they are charging you for is to install the rails which have to be drilled and bolted to the frame. You should be able to get a slider hitch for around $750.
Oh and having the rails 4" behind the axle center may not be noticeable on smaller trailers, but with the bigger ones it acts like a lever and bounces the front of the truck up and down more.. Hope this helps!
To gain all the handling benefits of a 5th wheel, you MUST have the pin centred over your rear axle or up to 3 inches forward of the centre of your rear axle. People out there will be able to explain the science of this principle better than I can but in a nutshell a properly installed 5th wheel hitch makes your two units feel like one big unit on the highway, completely impervious to side sway. I have towed a fiver from the Canadian border to the Mexican border many times and you don't know they are there. Many times we would drop off the rig at a Campground and head back down the freeway empty to get groceries and you look in the rear view and......No trailer !!!.
Scares the heck out of you for a second, and then you remember dropping it off, what a relief!
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Had to go dually to get the payload of Ford F350 SRW but like the truck so far..... my ugly duckling!!!
I tow a 26ft 5er with a short bed truck. You can have the pin on the trailer replaced with a extended hitch. Will give you some help on backing. If you are carefull you will be ok with a short bed.
I tow a 30 ft fifth wheel with my short bed 250 I have a manual slider (Reese) and wouldn't be without it. Most of the time I don't need to slide it , but I'm still glad its there if I get into a place, such as a fuel stop that makes you park facing the store, then crank a hard turn to circle the pumps. Its also great in parks with tight turns into campsites. Jspafford is right when he said the slider is only a couple of hundred $ more than a regular hitch.
Did they know you had rails? Maybe they wanted to sell their brand of hitch. If it's Reese rails, they have a slider that will install in it, and I suggest it. If you don't have a slider, you will need it at some point.
Camp grounds get tight sometimes and when you need it to slide is when you are stuck trying to go around some trees and pinned in.
Get the slider...
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Enjoy,
Bill
'73 F-350 Trailer Special
Replaced by:
'04 F-250 XLT V-10 4X4 ,3.73 LS, LB, Sport Package, 6820 lbs empty, all stock so far
Last edited by CmprSpecial; 07-11-2005 at 08:28 AM.
i have a o5 350 sb and pull a 3612 raptor with a super glide...no problems at all.. great hitch.. negative side is expensive and takes an engine hoist or 3 men and a boy to remove from bed...
On the Pullrite Superglide hitches, is the piece that attaches to the trailer easily removed if someone else were to tow the trailer? What if you were to tow a trailer w/o the piece?
Has anyone ever used one of these things? I was wondering how much strain they would put on the pinbox and the area of the trailer where the pinbox attaches. EXTENDER
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