Is a long bed a requirement for pulling a 5th wheel?

Yep, that's the thing about sliding hitches and short bed trucks. You never need a sliding hitch.....until that one time you do, and then it's too late when you hear the crunch and/or the breaking glass.

That's one reason I've towed all our 5th wheels since 1996 with long bed duallies. More than I've needed with some of the earlier ones? Probably, but I operate on the principle that one can almost never have too much truck.

Rusty