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take a better picture of the TOP of the bed to show what the orientation of the holes looks like. If there were 5th wheel rails installed before then there will be 4 holes....one at each corner making a box shape in the bed. (A mounting point at each end of both rails.)
If in fact it was, that was kind of stupid to take the rails out and leave the frame brackets. Usually that all comes together in a kit. But you might be able to buy the rails separately and the hardware kits can be found on ebay or Amazon.
35 inches apart from side to side in 22 inches front to back.
That's what I figured about the rails having to sit around the same area.
My Curt rails are 40.5" across. That's measuring the bolt holes. There is a mount hole that can be used that gives the spacing of 22" right on the money. I am on the other side of the bed rail making slightly longer but would still bolt in giving the correct distance. Measuring the available unused holes across the hitch It can be bolted in at 37". If you have elongated holes in the top of the frame mount it might fit.
I'm on my way to a customer's house, when I get there I will take a picture of the bed. There is four holes. I was saying from side to side and from end of bed to end of bed lengths on the bolt holes. For the time being I did a drive-by picture of the mobile home that my uncle is going to give me. It doesn't look like anything special as you can see and it does not look like it would be all that crazy heavy.
Based on the pictures that your rails have, it looks to me like you would need eight bolts instead of four correct? Two on each end of the rail? I only have four holes in my bed. Do you reckon it was for a gooseneck plate?
Beware of the phrase " A leak or two that needs to be addressed ". Know beforehand what you are getting into. From experience I can tell you that leaks that were not promptly repaired correctly will have horrible results years later. Mold, de-lamination, rot, etc... I don't even want to get into it on this site. I have repaired several TT and you can get in over your elbows in repair issues. Just inspect it carefully perhaps with someone who is very familiar with older models. Don't want to discourage you in any way, just be informed.
Appears to be a 5th wheel RV but that little CUV is parked in a perfectly bad spot for our purposes.
They were not awake and I wasn't going to stop wake them up anyway. I'm on my way to a customer's house so I don't have time to stop the picture but it is a fifth wheel. That picture was only intended for you to see how big the thing was. Sorry about the poor picture
Beware of the phrase " A leak or two that needs to be addressed ". Know beforehand what you are getting into. From experience I can tell you that leaks that were not promptly repaired correctly will have horrible results years later. Mold, de-lamination, rot, etc... I don't even want to get into it on this site. I have repaired several TT and you can get in over your elbows in repair issues. Just inspect it carefully perhaps with someone who is very familiar with older models. Don't want to discourage you in any way, just be informed.
I understand what you are getting at. He has been fixing it up since he got it. He doesn't want it anymore because it is too cramped for him and his wife and his family that likes to come over every now and again. He has adapted it to have a full size toilet as well as redone a lot of the floors with new flooring. He has also done some work on the roof. The leaks are where the extendable sides are. It is leaking in through the seals. Thank you for your input. It is much appreciated!
Conventional 5th wheel hitches have ‘rails’ in the bed that the hitch attaches to.
The ‘rails’ are bolted through the bed and attach to the truck FRAME with brackets. There are many variations of brackets.
The HITCH is easily removed from the bed by pulling pins that attach it to the rails.
These conventional ‘rails’ stick up into the bed and create speed bumps for sliding things in and out of the bed. My guess is that someone removed the rails to eliminate this obstacle.
I cannot see the brackets very well in your dark pictures, but it’s possible all you would need are new rails and a conventional-type 5th wheel hitch that fits those rails.
All of that said, probably the best plan is to replace the whole get up with a new 5th wheel hitch designed to bolt into your truck.
Be aware that older 5th wheel campers don’t tend to play well with ‘lifted trucks’.
This can be an expensive rabbit hole to go down. The hitch, modifications to camper (flipped axles, etc), fixing up an old camper (almost never ‘worth it’) and ultimately being too big/heavy to pull with your SRW truck. Just because something is free or cheap doesn’t make it a good deal.
Conventional 5th wheel hitches have ‘rails’ in the bed that the hitch attaches to.
The ‘rails’ are bolted through the bed and attach to the truck FRAME with brackets. There are many variations of brackets.
The HITCH is easily removed from the bed by pulling pins that attach it to the rails.
These conventional ‘rails’ stick up into the bed and create speed bumps for sliding things in and out of the bed. My guess is that someone removed the rails to eliminate this obstacle.
I cannot see the brackets very well in your dark pictures, but it’s possible all you would need are new rails and a conventional-type 5th wheel hitch that fits those rails.
All of that said, probably the best plan is to replace the whole get up with a new 5th wheel hitch designed to bolt into your truck.
Be aware that older 5th wheel campers don’t tend to play well with ‘lifted trucks’.
This can be an expensive rabbit hole to go down. The hitch, modifications to camper (flipped axles, etc), fixing up an old camper (almost never ‘worth it’) and ultimately being too big/heavy to pull with your SRW truck. Just because something is free or cheap doesn’t make it a good deal.
His camper is really not in that bad of shape. Of course I haven't taken anything apart to really look at it though. Other than some leaks around the slide outs I will figure all of that out when the time comes. Worst case, I haul it off for him and get rid of it. Or on the flip side I get it and find out it's in pretty decent shape and end up with a nice little camper. The customer I'm working for right now says that he has a fifth wheel already and, will move it for me when I get it. That being said, I don't have to commit to setting up a fifth wheel in my bed until I decide if I want to keep the camper or not. So, the best course of action is, I will figure it out when I get to it I'm not planning to do any of the stuff in this thread anytime soon. Could be a year could be two.
I was unaware that these style campers did not like lifted trucks. Would you happen to know any specific reason? Just so I can understand it a little better. This whole thing is new to me so I was unaware of all these problems. I live in the kind of area you'll see a little Toyota Tacoma pulling a car trailer with vehicles on it. Basically a bunch of people that do what they got to do. I would never do such a thing but I am around it all the time. I do things different than everybody else I like to do things properly. If It is unsafe I will not do it. All of that being said, I will figure out how my truck likes the camper when I get it / if I get it. Thank you for taking the time to inform me on all these things that I do not know about. I appreciate it!
Based on the pictures that your rails have, it looks to me like you would need eight bolts instead of four correct? Two on each end of the rail? I only have four holes in my bed. Do you reckon it was for a gooseneck plate?
Only 4 bolts for the one pictured. The other bolts just go through the bed and tighten onto sheet metal. More for looks.
Looks like the hole near the tape measure had the bolt break off so that might be a fun one to get out, but yeah all you’d really need is a pair of rails and a hardware kit to be back in business. If there was a trailer shop nearby I’d be very tempted just to let them fix me up. If the guy who owns the trailer has a 5th wheel hitch he can let you use that would be ideal but they’re not hard to find used for a good price on Craigslist.
If it’s been parked under the snow roof for most of the time that’s a good sign. Sun and water exposure don’t do these any good and they can be expensive maintenance headaches as others have said, so make sure you have a good reason for bothering with this in the first place
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