Short Box + 5'VR = Disaster????

Yamaki wrote:
I'm a little confused. Well, more than normal I should say. ;)

I have a short box truck and am considering a 5'VR purchase but I've seen some disastrous results of this pairing, specifically the the front of the trailer smacking the pickup cab.

I've also read that slider hitches are the way to go but you can't really tow the trailer down the road with the slider set towards the rear. And it appears that you can use the slider with it set towards the rear for short distance maneuvering, such as backing into your parking spot.

Am I wrong in coming to the conclusion that short box trucks and fifth wheels really don't do well together?

Or do they work as long as a slider is installed and used only for backing?

If this is the case, what happens when you have to make a tight turn? Is the cab still at risk?

ughhh...maybe it is easier to consider a standard box truck, eh?

With the front end design on the new trailers short beds work fine. It's extremely hard to hit the cab when going forward, I guess if you cranked the wheel hard to one way and kept going in circles sooner or later it would hit because of the trailer tracking inside the truck.

The main problem is when backing and it's easy to get the trailer at over a 45 deg angle to the truck. It's when you approach the 80 deg mark you will maybe need a slider but you will need to watch carefully.

If the trailer you are looking at has a flat nose, get a slider. If sculpted, maybe. The other thing is some trucks now have a short short bed.

I have a slider and a short bed and never needed it for parking.