5th wheel hitch questions

I would go with a PullRite auto slider with their under bed rail system.

Frank,

We pull a Reflection 5th wheel with a 6.5' 2500HD without a slider and have no problems whatsoever (Andersen Ultimate). One thing that we discovered and I would caution you about is this: with a diesel 2500, you will run out of payload capacity for pin weight on the rear axle and tires LONG before you reach the max towing capacity of the truck. Fifth wheels typically put 23 - 25% of their GVWR (not empty or curb weight) on the pin when loaded. With your added fuel capacity and a 200+ lb. PullRite auto-slider, you may be surprised at what you have left over for pin weight. For example, our truck scales at 7,520# (3,080 of that on the rear axle) with our 36 gallons of fuel, a driver, and the 37 lb. Andersen hitch. That leaves me with 3,120 to spare on the axle (3,310 on the tires) before hitching up. The last pin weight on the trailer across the scales was 3,200 lbs., putting us just 110 lbs. below the rear axle ratings (but 560 lbs. over on the truck as a whole).

That said, I'm extremely happy with the Andersen Ultimate (which saves me over 150 lbs. in weight and is easy to remove) and a Demco Glide Ride pin box. Bilstein 4600 shocks and Timbrens round out the truck package.

Rob

OP, the official payload rating is meaningless on your particular truck. Class max 10k GVWR and a heavy diesel make for a silly official rating. Stay in your axle and tire ratings and you'll have no issues whatsoever.

Find a CAT scale in your area, fill the truck with gas plus people, dogs, camping gear, etc, as if you were about to hook up and go camping. Weigh each axle of the truck separately. Then subtract the weight of the rear axle from your rear axle rating, and also subtract it from the total of your rear two tires load capacity.

The lesser of those two numbers is your absolute maximum safe payload for your pin weight when the fifth wheel is fully loaded, ready to go camping.

I started out with a Pullrite SuperGlide 2900 auto-slider and realized I didn't need it. I upgraded to a Trailer Saver BD3 when we traded trailers. When I purchased the BD3, I still wanted a slider, so I paid the extra $500 or so for the Simple Slider. It has been sitting in the garage ever since. With both hitches, I was able to get the trailer close to level, but on both I had to run the pinbox in the shortest setting.

If the fifth wheel had a squared off cap, like an older Nuwa or Cedar Creek unit, then you would absolutely requite a slider. If it has one of the newer, rounded corner caps like my two 5'ers have had, it is optional. I cannot turn a full 90 degrees with my current setup, but can get to about 83 degrees without touching. You can only get to that angle when backing, and at slow speeds, so I just keep an eye on it. In all practicality, it isn't a limitation at all. I did accidentally crush in part of my cab when messing around with it one day trying to determine how sharp I could go, then spent a few hours the next weekend pulling the dents out with a paintless dent puller I found on Amazon, so be careful. But a slider isn't needed, and isn't worth the extra space it takes up in the bed.

Hitches come in all different grades. For us, it was worth investing in a premium hitch like the BD3. For many others, the B&W Patriots are good enough and also have a premium-type jaw.

Be cautious about rear tire weights on a SRW, especially if you have 20s. They are the weak link on our trucks so everything is derated appropriately. I had to make major upgrades to my suspension and go to 19.5" tires to safely pull my trailer with the way I have it rigged out, but you should be okay with a lot of 5'ers and your stock truck. The aux fuel tank you have is one of the things that made us go over, though, so keep that in mind.

There is no best brand hitch....or truck..... or trailer..... or wife :).

A. No a slider may not be necessary for several reasons.
..GM trucks has the longest cab to rear axle (CA) dimension of the other truck brands. Many GM owners report they do not need a slider (6"-10" clearance while backing) with a particular trailer profile.
.. The trailer may have a notched/rounded front corner profile designed for short bed (6 1/2') trucks.
..pin located zero over the trucks rear axle...all the above are a player in determining if a slider is needed.

B. too many variables to say any brand hitch will have enough height adjustment. I always buy the trailer I want and make mods top the truck or trailer for a level trailer.

And then there is the Sidewinder pinbox, so the options are many.

Since your goal is to be ready when THE DEAL comes along, I suggest that you do want a slider. Just a manual one, and then it won't matter whether you actually needed it or not. It doesn't hurt anything to have a manual slider and not use it.

I would also suggest you go with an inexpensive slider, like a Reese for example. It may not be the hitch you want forever, but it will get your new trailer home and get you started on your first few years of towing. Easy to sell it off if you later decide you want to upgrade. You can also remove the slider base and swap in a fixed base, if you find you don't need or want it.

Frank thats an awesome truck you have, but when looking at 5er's I would stay under 13k gross weight.
I've been looking at the Duramax's lately also.

garyp4951 wrote:
Frank thats an awesome truck you have, but when looking at 5er's I would stay under 13k gross weight.
I've been looking at the Duramax's lately also.

I have a 2015 2500HD, and made the mistake of buying too much trailer (15.5K) for the truck in stock form. I have been through several iterations of modifications to get it to my personal satisfaction. I'm happy with it now, but wouldn't do this all over again. It was expensive, labor intensive, and stressful. I'd buy a DRW from the start.

With a 60 gallon tank already in the truck, the op is going to be severely limited if he intends to run it full. I have the 51 gallon version of the same tank. My stock pin weight is 2485# and then I wanted the 290# generator and the 160# washer/dryer options that sit right up front. Payload goes fast. Op needs to watch out and stay well under 13K gross if he intends to run that tank full. I was overweight for the 20" wheels (had to change stock tires and risk wheel itself being overloaded, or go to 18s) with the tank full and my old 10k#, 2k# pin 5'er once loaded. My solution with that trailer was to upgrade the tires to 275/65r20, which gave me 3750# tire capacity, and plan around a 3400# capacity for the wheels based on an educated guess from similar aftermarkets. I was within those limits. Going to some factory 3500HD 18" takeoffs would have the same increase in tire capacity. Other than that, the overload leaf is the only thing mechanically that changes between the 2500HD and 3500HD SRW, so a set of helpers gave me the theoretical capacity of a 3500HD SRW.