Truck for 5th wheel

If you are considering ordering a new truck and have to buy a 5th wheel hitch anyway you might look at the 5th wheel prep package the Big 3 offer. That way when you take the hitch out of the truck bed you have a smooth surface with no hitch rails to obstruct. As someone else mentioned short bed versions have smaller fuel tanks.

Redterpos3 wrote:
I've been doing research for a truck to a tow a 5th wheel in my future. Probably a long time from now, but this is research phase. We will be looking at a crew cab. Does the length of bed have anything to do with its ability to tow the 5th wheel? Any reasons to have one over the other? How about the bed conversions I've seen, what is the reason for these??

In short YES!

With a long bed you can tow any 5er and need to go past 90 degrees to the 5er before you would contact the cab with the 5er. You also don't need the fancy curved nose caps.

That said, can you tow a 5er with a short bed? Sure you can.

Many do it without slider hitches, if the 5er has a curved nose you can get a pretty good turn angle, but exceed it and you will damage the 5er and cab.

There are many hitches out that resolved the issues, Manual sliders, auto sliders, Pin Boxes that move the pivot point back from the hitch location in the bed.

Bed length is a personal choice, get what works for you!

Yes, if you chose a short bed you may need to spend more for a hitch.

I ordered truck in sig for a toy hauler and wanted the Megacab for the kids in the back. If I go to a dually I will order a cre cab and the long bed as it opens up more pin box options for me (I use a sidewinder now because of 6.4 bed. Works great but I had to take off the stock mor ryde pinbox and some cushion would be nice)

With GM you don't take the hit on fuel tank size when you choose the standard (short) bed. I don't know if Ram has a smaller tank for their short beds.

We've gone to 4x4 crew cab long box trucks. The first was an '06 gasser and traded it for an '09 dually. We just traded that for the SRW one ton with the crew cab long box and love it!!!! The last short bed was a 1/2 ton extended cab back in 2004 and we'll never do that again!!

Bed length is a personal choice.
I've had several of both over the years.
One thing I've noticed non of the longer wheel base trucks I've had rode/handled any better than one with a shorter 140" wheel base trucks.
Now years ago when a short bed truck had a 118"-122" wheel base and a long bed truck had a 130"-134" wheel base then sure the longer wb truck handled better.

With todays new 5th wheels with the notched rounded front corners a slider isn't needed
Also some GM trucks have a longer dimension from the back of the cab to the trucks rear axle which eliminates the need for a sliding hitch except some of the older square corner flat profile trailers (like mine).

Get which ever bed length/wheel base you like. One isn't superior over the other for every one.

You won't have any handling issues with todays 140"+ short bed trucks.

Bed conversions ??
Most of the time those types are for a dedicated tow truck. If your like me and have other trailer types and need a pickup bed to carry things they won't work.
But they sure do look good.

8' bed...no goonies on the cab and no slider hitches.

8' bed and crew cab....better ride than a shorter wheelbase.

8' bed.... larger standard fuel tank.

Ken

This may or not matter, but Ford puts a much larger fuel tank in their long wheelbase diesel trucks (37.5 gal), vs about 27 in the short wheelbase version.

This can have an impact when you only get 11-12 mpg. Or 9-10 in the mountains.

Tim

Some like short beds, some long. I have a Dodge CC short bed because I like the look and it's a little shorter for us to park. My older FW is 8 1/2 feet wide and flat on the front so I went with a sliding hitch.

A long bed will make hitch shopping much cheaper. There are even cheaper used ones on Craigslist all the time. I have a metal enclosure for my Honda 3000 generator in front of my hitch and it just fit. If you can live with a long bed, get it.

Another important thing to consider is 3/4 or 1 ton. Of course you all ready know what your van can do. If you get a 3/4 and want to stay within the trucks specs you will be shopping for a lighter weight FW. If you want to buy a truck and you dont know what type of FW you will buy, get a one ton. It gives you a lot more pin weight.


My 2013 Silverado 1500 had a payload of 1,650

My sons Dodge 2500CC long bed is 2,130------480 lb over a 1500

My 2014 Dodge 3500 CC SB SRW is 3,840------- 1,710 lb over a 2500

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Long bed.....no need for sliding hitch. More room forward of hitch for other items (tool box, auxiliary fuel tank, in bed mounted generator etc.)

Short bed.......easier to park/put on garage. Might need slider but 5vr cap designs have improved so sliders not as necessary as before

Bed conversions......lots of extra storage, lower deck


Options.......it's all about different needs
What is yours?

Thanks! Always wondered about the different hitches also, now I know more about the sliding hitch! Thanks it helps! I've been looking at the longer bed as something i'd like better. So far that's where I am, unless others have drawbacks i've not heard yet.