Side Winder hitch?

[riflegunbuilder]

I got my new 5th wheel Friday. Open Road 367 bhs, so far love it. I have a Mega Cab Ram and had a Side Winder installed. The service manager at the dealer was less than thrilled with my choice. He said they have only done a few but knew of one that had broken.

is this a real issue? Did I make a bad choice? It pulls and turns great just don't want to be starting off with a problem.

[jdweikel]

We have also been using our sidewinder since the day we got our fiver 6 years ago. No issues and takes the worry out of loosing the rear window.

[Hunter11]

If the Sidewinder is installed properly and the correct wedge is used and adjusted for the brand of hitch you have there should not be any issues. Going on 6 years with ours.

[kedanie]

We had one on the large Everest 5er we had prior to our current MH. It came from the factory with the sidewinder. I was a bit nervous at first but with time learned to love it. Never any problems and that included a 3 month trip to Alaska.

Keith

[riflegunbuilder]

I have the Reese 16K hitch and with the SideWinder the trailer pulled nice on it's maiden voyage. I didn't want to go to a slider as I had a real need for the bed space when not hooked to the trailer.

[Vulcaneer]

Your dealer has little experience with Sidewinders and it shows. The Sidewinder is a very good product. Don't worry about the quality, reliability, or service life. Just maintain it as recommended.

There may be some concern from your trailer manufacturer. As some feel the re-location of the pivot point could be an issue.

My preference is for the auto slider. Because when I change trailers, I prefer not to need to buy a replacement sidewinder. You don't always need to. But it always works out that I would need to. It's that karma thing.

But the Sidewinder is an excellent alternative for peace of mind. Many happy customers on the forum.

[rhagfo]

My only concern is the amount of stress at the pivot point! you have a lever arm near 2' long with 2,000# to 2,500# pin becomes a big number.

The concept is great I would just worry about the forces involved on the pivot point.

[htowners]

KZ offers the sidewinder as an option, however mine originally came without and I had the dealer install. My only issue is that the dealer didn't properly lube it while putting it together so it used to not track 100% right at times. I dissassembled and lubed per manafucturers instructions and it's much better now.
Also they installed the wedge not quite right so there was a lot of banging at the hitch, to the point the threads that the plate attaches to, which is nothing more than a nut welded inside, now spin freely. I talked to Reese at the Hershey show and they were going to give me a fix, but I have a way to get it tight now.
Overall I am very pleased with the king pin, I would not be able to get mine in the driveway without it, or a slider, but I didn't want a slider because I didn't have budget for the auto ones, and didn't want to have to deal with something else back there.

[glazier]

Jayco and several other companies offer these as an option on their lighter weight units. I have the Revolution which is basically the same thing, works well. I would just call Open Range and ask what they think, you have that right as the customer.

[riflegunbuilder]

Yes. The 16k model.

[glazier]

What did Open Range say about it? You are talking about a Reese Sidewinder Pin Box?