towing fiver with 6 1/2 foot bed

Redwing 64 wrote:
I have a 94 26 foot carri-lite that I currently pull with a 96 F-350 diesel supercab dually with the fifth wheel mounted 2 inches ahead of the rear axle on an 8 foot flat bed. The trailer also has a pin extender that moves the pin location about a foot forward. So, the current set-up has tons of cab-to-trailer clearance in every direction.

Although the truck is in nice shape and has never let me down, I get a little nervous about getting stranded a thousand miles from home in a 20 year old truck.

I have been looking at half ton trucks with claims of trailer towing ability reaching 11,000 pounds. My trailer loaded gets close to 9,000.
It seems that all these trucks with extended cabs have 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 foot beds. Even with 6 1/2 foot beds it seems it would be difficult to get the trailer pin over, or ahead of, the truck axle, much less the problems I imagine would be encountered with cab to trailer clearance.
The fifth wheel on my flat bed is a slider that I have bolted in the forward position.
Is it common to tow fivers with 6 1/2 foot beds? How do you do it?

There are a =lot= of short bed trucks towing FWs.

I have no issues towing my very square-front FW with my '02 D'max with short bed and don't have any desire for a slider hitch. ALL FWs will hit the cab when backing up, at some point. Modern 1/2 ton trucks have a lot more capability than before, but you're likely to have 2,000 lbs, or more, on the pin, which may be too much for a 1/2 ton truck. I'd be much more inclined to go for a 3/4 ton, just to be on the safe side. There are a =lot= more options for equipment for towing that kind of weight and you might want to get a bigger FW at some point, so a heavier truck would be necessary.

Lyle