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I'm buying an F350 and have a question. At some point in the future I am getting a fifth wheel camper for retirement fun. Is there any advantage in selecting the optional Fifth wheel/gooseneck trailer prep package?
Hi Michael.......
I believe the advantage is a neat/clean install.
With the Ford under bed system you will never need to bolt rails on to the bed of your pickup. When you are ready to tow.........you can buy a 5th wheel hitch from B&W (my choice) or Reese that connects to the under bed structure. When you are not towing......your bed floor is clear.
Study the B&W system too. They have an under bed structure system also. It is purely aftermarket. I have used this system on two trucks.....Love it !!
The truck I have on order right now, I am going with the Ford under bed system and the 3rd party B&W 5th wheel hitch. I believe it will be easier to install and uninstall.
The big advantage is that it is prepped at the factory. Nothing to do but drop in hitch or ball, hook up to trailer and go. Pretty slick setup. I had the B&W turnover ball in my previous truck, which is also good, but I had to install that myself.
Mike, I have the factory gooseneck fifth wheel puck system on my 2013 F-450. I mainly pull gooseneck but bought a 43' toy hauler last year. With their puck mount system the fifth wheel hitch mounts in about 1-2 minutes. I always leave my gooseneck ball in the mount under the 5er hitch and drop my breakaway cable on it. Nice clean bed in 1-2 minutes when its out. Love it
I bought the full meal deal from Ford on my rig... Probably paid too much for the hitch, but it is rated well over the 18k max weight of my trailer at 26.5k
Another positive on the Ford hitch is that they also wire in the plug in the side of the bed.
It was all plug and play for me..
I have gone the BW option in the past, but with my last truck I went back to the old time rails in the bed standard. I can still have my hitch installed in a matter of minutes or taken out for that fact.
And yes I do have two rails that run across the center of my bed between the tire wells. But, these very often also provide tie down strap anchor points for cargo that I may carry in the bed of the truck.
I guess this just shows that we all have preferences and priorities that vary with design, function and needs.
I went with the same factory set up that Bigfoot (Randy) has pictured above. I've been towing fifth wheel trailers for about 12 years now, always had the rails mounted on the floor of the bed. My new truck is the first one I've ever had that will have a flat floor, 7-pin plug in bed, and a mounted hitch that I actually like. I always hated the set ups I had but just had to live with it. I actually like the new one so its a welcomed change for sure.
I bought my truck without the OEM hitch prep kit because I couldn't find one that had it. I installed the Reese kit and a set of Firestone bags in about 4 hours with the help of a younger, skinnier co-worker.. Then traded archery lessons for the Reese 18K Elite hitch to match it.. If I get another pickup anytime soon it will have the hitch and prep kit in it from the factory.. its a clean package and the hitch is easy to remove even for a 65 year old, fat guy with bad knees. I can easily do it without any help, by popping the hitch plate off and unloading it in two pieces.
There's lots of good advise here. I also have the factory under bed mount and bought the B&W hitch which is excellent (my first 5th, so limited experience). The downside is the factory mount limits your hitch choices to the vendors that offer the puck mount option on their hitch. Reese has an adapter, I believe, that is puck on the bed-side and standard rail on the top. So in theory you could mount any hitch you wanted.
If you are getting the short bed start thinking a sliding hitch. My B&W is not a slider and I broke the back window making a U-turn. My 5th is a '13 Jayco which has the "trimmed" corners on the front cap but I can still make contact in a tight turn.
I'm super cautious about turning now.
We love the 350 and the PS is excellent. It's an OX and it loves to pull.
I have the underbed puck system and went with the Hijacker hitch since I'm old and don't always remember to watch the tight turns, it fit right in and works great.
My next truck will have the factory option. I was trying to save a few hundred dollars by installing the rails. live and learn, what I don't like is the 10 bolt holes that I drill into the truck bed.
When I purchased my 2012 I had it narrowed down to 2 F350's in stock. I still had my contracting business so ordering a truck was out of the question.
Both F350's were equipped the same, except one had snowplow prep and one had 5th wheel prep. I bought the one with snowplow prep because I wanted heavier front springs, etc.
If I had it to do all over again I would have purchased the truck with 5th wheel prep package instead.
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