valhalla360 wrote:
It is unclear which problem you are talking about:
- If you jackknife the trailer far enough, the main body of the 5er can hit the cab of the truck. Two solutions: Get a long bed or get a sliding hitch. You can still hit the cab but you have to do a pretty extreme turn.
- If the truck bed is too high, the 5er overhang will be too close to the bed rails. If the trailer wheels on one side drop into a hole, the overhang can hit the bed rails. Usually, you want at least 6" space. The simple solution is to adjust the hitch and pin box to maintain at least 6" space. The problem is if the truck is too high, the trailer won't ride level. The solution to this is to put the axles under the leaf springs. If that doesn't give you enough to level the trailer, you are looking at full on frame modification and at a point, the trailer is just too high.
- The other possibility is during a sharp turn while backing, the pin box could hit the bed rail. Never had an issue with it but could see if the trailer is at a 90 degree angle to the truck and the trailer is dropping down as it leaves the roadway. Not sure how to fix but not a common issue.
The problem I was asking about was the pin box hitting the rails, but you mentioned a general rule of thumb that will be useful to me and anybody else shopping for a fiver: 6" clearance between the rails and fiver. How does one make sure of this
berore they purchase? Are there measurements that can be made of the fiver, pin, hitch, truck bed height, rail height? That's the question. What can be done before buying to avoid problems?
