Bed Use with 5th Wheel Trailer???

[bowler1]

Hi,
I am currently considering moving from a bumper pull trailer to a 5th wheel. One question I have though is about the ability to use the bed of the truck to carry things with a 5th wheel hooked up.

I have always understood the fact that you will lose useable bed space as a function of the space the hitch takes up...but recently it occurred to me that I might not be able to put anything in the bed at all due to the fact that the trailer nose may hit is when making sharp maneuvers when parking or at a gas station, etc.

When towing a 5th wheel can you use your bed space at all, or do you pretty much have to keep the bed empty to allow for the space needed when making sharp turns, etc.?

What about if you get a long bed truck vs. a 6.5 foot bed truck?

thanks

Matt

[laknox]

bowler1 wrote:
Hi,
I am currently considering moving from a bumper pull trailer to a 5th wheel. One question I have though is about the ability to use the bed of the truck to carry things with a 5th wheel hooked up.

I have always understood the fact that you will lose useable bed space as a function of the space the hitch takes up...but recently it occurred to me that I might not be able to put anything in the bed at all due to the fact that the trailer nose may hit is when making sharp maneuvers when parking or at a gas station, etc.

When towing a 5th wheel can you use your bed space at all, or do you pretty much have to keep the bed empty to allow for the space needed when making sharp turns, etc.?

What about if you get a long bed truck vs. a 6.5 foot bed truck?

thanks

Matt

As long as what you put in the bed is below the bed rails or won't interfere with the pin box, you're good to go. Just remember that whatever you put in has to be taken into account for payload. It gets =real= easy to exceed your payload ratings when you start loading the bed up with coolers, firewood, tools, aux fuel, etc.

Lyle

[larry_barnhart]

Russ we feel the same about our alpenlite. We are both happy campers.

chevman

[rhagfo]

wing_zealot wrote:

TenOC wrote:
I moved from a TT to a 5er. The 5er has almost as much storage in the pass-through as my pickup when I had the TT. I think the pass-through is about 4' X 8'.

Seeing as my truck is 6.5 x 8 and as high as you dare to go, plus I still have a pass through; I don't think you have "almost as much", you don't even get close to half as much.

That may be true, BUT the stuff in the 5er basement doesn't need unpacked after each trip. In addition the stuff in a 5ers basement likely only adds about 50% of the weight to the TV, the rest is on the 5er.

It still is a personal choice, but we love our fiver!

[shadows4]

memtb wrote:
scottykrug, For locking stuff down or in place, consider going to a truck stop and buying "load-locks" that truckers use. They are not very expensive. They will have to be cut a bit shorter, for use inside a pick-up bed. I've had three of them for years, and it would be tough to live without them.

Harbor Freight sells some made just for pickups. No cutting required.

[mr__ed]

mtofell1 wrote:
My short bed w/slider doesn't have a lot of room but I will often stack firewood around the hitch and put my generator in there. Also, I can put a couple rubber bins but must be sure the lids are tight. I really like having the generator and firewood in the bed since once I get to where I'm going I can roll my tonneau cover over the bed for security (at least from eyeballs) and to keep them dry.

One thing's for sure. That generator ain't getting sucked out! :B

[hotpepperkid]

I used to toss my lawn chairs back there until one day in a heavy wind looked back there and one of them was floating around. Don't know but have been told the luvered 5th wheel tail gates solve that problem

[memtb]

scottykrugg, After losing a brand new (real nice) empty ice chest that was "sucked" right out of the truck, everything gets secured. Heck!!!!I even cut one "real" short for use in our Polaris Ranger!

[lee_worsdell]

6ft box on 2500 gmc carry 7000 Honda propane tank and 6 8x8 blocks

[scottykrug]

memtb wrote:
scottykrug, For locking stuff down or in place, consider going to a truck stop and buying "load-locks" that truckers use. They are not very expensive. They will have to be cut a bit shorter, for use inside a pick-up bed. I've had three of them for years, and it would be tough to live without them.

I will look into that. In the past with our old TT I used to place special cut 2x6's in the slots in the bed of the truck. That held stuff from shifting fore and aft. The FW hitch blocks those slots.

[mtofell1]

My short bed w/slider doesn't have a lot of room but I will often stack firewood around the hitch and put my generator in there. Also, I can put a couple rubber bins but must be sure the lids are tight. I really like having the generator and firewood in the bed since once I get to where I'm going I can roll my tonneau cover over the bed for security (at least from eyeballs) and to keep them dry.

[wing_zealot]

TenOC wrote:
I moved from a TT to a 5er. The 5er has almost as much storage in the pass-through as my pickup when I had the TT. I think the pass-through is about 4' X 8'.

Seeing as my truck is 6.5 x 8 and as high as you dare to go, plus I still have a pass through; I don't think you have "almost as much", you don't even get close to half as much.

[TenOC]

I moved from a TT to a 5er. The 5er has almost as much storage in the pass-through as my pickup when I had the TT. I think the pass-through is about 4' X 8'.

[Me_Again]

mr. ed wrote:

rickeoni wrote:
Water jugs, gas jugs, firewood, bikes, golf clubs. As long as it doesn't stick out past the top of the bed. Only caution is the area under the fiver overhang, this area is like a vacuum and anything light is sucked up.

Yep, I can vouch about things being sucked out of the truck bed. I had a plastic step stool in my truck bed which was sucked out somewhere in Wyoming while pulling my fiver. Wasn't a huge loss and nothing was damaged. 😉

What we do not know when that happens, is if the missiles when launched hit something behind us. I broke some boards on a home made wood V-gate years ago, I laid them in the bed in front of it. Those boards were gone when I got home. Chris

[FF286]

Any of y'all that mentioned losing items from the truck bed, did anyone have a louvered tailgate on. When we had a fiver we had this problem, once the vacuum broke the latches on my cooler while going to Florida ruining all the food in there. I started taking the tailgate off and it worked much better. I would use 2 ratchet straps across the back to keep anything from falling out.