short bed - sliding hitch vs sidewinder?
Newbie to 5th wheel arena. I'm in the throes of figuring out my next rig. I'm planning to go with a short bed "half-ton" (nay-sayers, please hold your tongue this time...already hashed that out ...
Forum Discussion
JeffPritchard wrote:N-Trouble wrote:
I assume by short bed your talking 6.5" and not the little 5" beds you seen on some of the newer 1/2 tons?
Sliders are heavy and you likely don't need one with most new 5ers have tapered nose caps. The Andersen hitch moves the pivot point back ~5-6" which gives some additional clearance vs a non-sliding hitch and in most cases will get you to 90" with a 96" wide trailer.
For you application I would highly recommend the Andersen Ultimate Aluminum hitch which comes in at only 30lbs,
Finally googled this thing. Very unusual. Lots of interesting good features.
I wonder though...how difficult is it to get that ball lined up perfectly enough when you're docking? On the one hand, you would be able to see it out the back window...but on the other hand it looks like a less sloppy connection than a typical ball hitch. Any troubles with that?
Backing up to the coupler is not difficult since its raised and you can see it out the back. It is not as forgiving as a traditional 5er hitch but you have a couple of inches in each direction you can still be off and it will still drop on the ball. With a little practice its not difficult. As for the connection it is very solid and you don't get any of the bucking/chucking you can get with some traditional 5er hitches. You also never have to worry about high hitching or dropping the 5er on your truck bed. You KNOW when its on there and there is no second guessing. There are lots of discussions on this forum in regards to this hitch with MANY happy owners. The aluminum setup would be perfect for your application IMO.
