Tailgate update for 5th wheel tow vehicles

labren wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
I use the OEM gate for 2 reasons. I have a roll type tonneau cover that I pull closed and lock to hide things in the bed when I am not towing. And I can also pull it back near the hitch and lock it to hide things in the front of the bed when I am towing.

And second, I don't particularly like the looks of the V gates.

OK and third, I want the camera there when I unhook and start driving around wherever I am at the time.

And a fourth, I don't mind raising and lowering the gate when hitching and unhitching.

May I ask what kind of cover you purchased for the box?

I have a Pace Edwards Full Metal Jackrabbit cover. My 5th wheel hitch is just below the level of the bed rails so the cover pulls back over it with no problem. Latches and is lockable every 6" I think.

I appreciate all your answers, gives me plenty of ideas to ponder.

Any idea where the preference e setting is for the posters profile. I get this message that says

"image not displayed due to preference setting" Thanks

BB_TX wrote:
I use the OEM gate for 2 reasons. I have a roll type tonneau cover that I pull closed and lock to hide things in the bed when I am not towing. And I can also pull it back near the hitch and lock it to hide things in the front of the bed when I am towing.

And second, I don't particularly like the looks of the V gates.

OK and third, I want the camera there when I unhook and start driving around wherever I am at the time.

And a fourth, I don't mind raising and lowering the gate when hitching and unhitching.

May I ask what kind of cover you purchased for the box?

I have come complete circle on the tailgate issue. Started full time with OEM tailgate still on. Not a huge problem but got tired of lowering it and raising it when hooking up or dropping fiver.

Went with rear mounted V tool box and removed OEM tailgate. That worked okay but then I didn't have any truck bed space because I also have a front-below-the-rails tool box mounted in front of my hitch.

Got rid of the V toolbox and installed the V tailgate. I really like it even though I miss the camera.

My take on this is that it is not a matter of if you will ding up your regular tailgate, but when. I opted to take that out of the equation when I bought my first V-gate. Have not hit the gate, and didn't hit the regular tail-gate when I used it. But, it's generally just a matter of time, not chance. As for mileage, I didn't buy the gate for any supposed increase in towing mileage or non-towing mileage.

When we first bought a 5th wheel I immediately ordered a V-tailgate for the truck. Used it for many years and never really saw the advantage since I usually lowered it to load stuff into the back of the truck.

With my new truck, I didn't add a V-tailgate and haven't missed it.

My vote is no V-tailgate.

Our fiver has a short nose with the east west bed. The procedure was back under until the pin bumped the hitch, get out, close gate, get in finish hitching. To unhook, pull ahead a foot or so, get out, lower gate get in pull away. A damn nuisance to say the least. The louvered gate eliminates that, I have yet to find a reason to switch back.

For me, it's one less thing to remember to do, or 2 less if you count opening and closing as separate activities. :)

I had it powdercoated to match the truck so it looks okay, I think anyway.

On my rig, unless I'm perfectly straight when backing up to the FW, I need to drop the tailgate, back up, and then put it back up before I'm hitched. There's lots of opportunity for an error when doing this.

There are after market FW tailgates that can accomodate our factory back up cameras. Here's an example of one:

Tailgate for FW with OEM backup camera

Not exactly a 5th wheel, but I had issues when hooking & unhooking my gooseneck trailer.
I had to back up to the GN, then lower the tailgate. Then back up enough to close the tailgate. Otherwise it would hit the lower front of the trailer!
Then I had to continue to back up until the GN ball was centered underneath the GN hitch. If I was off a little I had to wiggle the truck back & forth with the GN hitch post inside the bed. Not a fun thing to do.