5th Wheel Hitch Advice

Cdash wrote:

jerem0621 wrote:

mtofell1 wrote:
Love my B/W slider hitch with my 6.5' Ram bed. I'm not in the auto-slider camp for one reason - sometimes you want to slide it back and have it stay there. This would mainly come up when pulling in/out of a driveway or camp spot with a quick and abrupt change in levels that causes the 5th the tilt and clip the back corners of the truck.

Sliding the 5th back changes the angle and gets you the necessary clearance but with an auto-slider you are out of luck. I realize the scenario I describe is rare but it happens to be the case in my driveway. My current truck and 5th have plenty of clearance but with my old setup I couldn't slide a piece of paper between the 5th and truck bed while backing beside my house unless I was slid back.

Even aside from the rare case I give, I'd never own a short box truck and tow a 5th w/o a slider. To me, I'm into my truck and 5th about 75K. I just can see trying to save $700 and having to worry and wonder.

I can't envision the scenario you are describing...the auto sliders are "always" moving back away from the cab while you are turning, forwards or backwards, if you turn the hitch is sliding back. If you can hit your cab going forwards then there are other issues at play.

Thanks,

Jeremiah

I'm envisioning it as break over angle. Imagine holding a hitched truck and fifth wheel. Trailer in left hand, truck in right hand. Twist the truck so that the front of the truck is going down and the rear of the bed will smack the underside of trailer. Having the hitch further back will help that case.

As poster said, I expect that this isn't common for most of us, but sounds like he has a need for it given his specific conditions.

Yep, Cdash has it - basically, it's the rake of the trailer with respect to the back corners of the truck bed. My driveway slopes down from the street. The problem came about as the 5th's wheels are down the slope heading behind my house and my truck's rear wheels hit the peak of the driveway apron. It put the back corners of the truck bed against the underside of the 5th. Sliding the 5th back moved the slope of the underside away from the back corners of the truck. Again, this a somewhat unique situation but I'd sure be frustrated if my slider didn't give me the ability to lock it back if I ever needed to.