5th wheel hitches

Licreek wrote:
So now my second post. What about 5th wheel hitches. I saw a YouTube Video of the Reese sidewinder air ride unit and it looked awesome. I have a ford f350 with a 6.5' bed. now this hitch aint cheep, so my question is, is it worth it? I will be pulling a 28' Prowler with single slide. Also i need a hitch for the bed and was looking for recommendations. Whats the best set up for short bed 5th wheel towing? Thanks, Lee

Andersen, Andersen, Andersen. Do yourself a favor,and at least review them . It would be a great hitch for that shortbed truck, and the trailer.

Just like trucks, everyone thinks their brand is the best. Good friend had a short bed Chevy, an older 5er with square front corners, and a non sliding hitch. Knocked out his back window on a tight back in turn. Bought a newer 5er with contoured front corners and no more problem with the same hitch. Although he was also a little more careful.

You can get air ride hitches and you can get standard air ride pin boxes to soften the ride.

You will get about as many opinions as there are brands and models of hitches. A little more info is needed in order to start to answer your questions, though. Year of truck and is it equipped with the Ford OEM puck system? Year of fifth wheel, design of front cap and placement of pin box (is it an older, squared-off front or one of the newer rounded and sculptured molded front caps)? Does the pin box stick out in front of the front cap or is it tucked back under.

The reason all of this is important is that not every fifth wheel requires a slider or a SideWinder for a 6.5' bed. We pulled a late-model fifth wheel (contoured front cap, forward pin box) with a fixed hitch on a short bed truck and had no problems at all. An older, square front end on the trailer would have taken out the back of the cab.

Rob

Been using my Pullrite 16K Super Glide automatic slider to pull 35' and 40' 5th wheels for over 14 years.

No need to change pin box.

Here's a link.

www.pullrite.com



C.B.