2012 ram short bed?

They make one called a glider that auto moves back to allow you to make turns without the 5th wheel hitting the cab. I would prefer a 3/4 ton to pull it as a safety factor.

joelyn wrote:
have a 2012 ram 1500 crew cab with a short bed (5ft 6ins), found a small 5th wheel but wondering if a 5th wheel hitch can be installed in a short bed.
does anyone have one installed in a short bed and is it a special hitch that you have installed?
thanks

With a 5'6" bed you WILL need a sliding hitch or you will most likely put the corner of the fiver through the back window of your truck.
The gold standard of sliders (IMHO) is the Pullrite Superglide which is fully automatic - no user involvement required. They do a specific 12K model for the super-short boxes. Check it out here.
You need a mounting kit for the truck and "capture" plate for the trailer in addition to the hitch itself. The specific items depend on the truck and the trailer pin-box.
Not cheap and is also heavy, which might not be such a good idea depending on how close to your trucks payload capacity you are going to be with the loaded fiver plus everyone and everything in the truck.
You need to:
- look at the tire loading info label near your drivers door of the truck
- figure out the LOADED pin weight of the fiver (20% of GVWR is a safe guess and probably an over estimate)
- figure out the weight of occupants and stuff in the truck.

See if all that adds up to less than your payload rating. What's left is what you have available for the hitch.

A lot of people have successfully installed a fifth wheel in a standard 6 1/2 foot bed including us. The critical measurement is the distance from the king pin to the furthermost point on the trailer nose. If it exceeds the length from the king pin to a point on the cab there will be expensive contact if you are not careful. We learned the expensive way:S.
There are several ways around this. Look for a trailer with cutaways on the corners. A slider hitch will allow the trailer to move back when turning sharp, many people don't like them because of the time involved. Pull-rite makes an automatic system but it is pricey. Pin box extenders move the king pin back but are not cheap and add load to the pin box and hitch.

romore wrote:
A lot of people have successfully installed a fifth wheel in a standard 6 1/2 foot bed including us. The critical measurement is the distance from the king pin to the furthermost point on the trailer nose. If it exceeds the length from the king pin to a point on the cab there will be expensive contact if you are not careful. We learned the expensive way:S.
There are several ways around this. Look for a trailer with cutaways on the corners. A slider hitch will allow the trailer to move back when turning sharp, many people don't like them because of the time involved. Pull-rite makes an automatic system but it is pricey. Pin box extenders move the king pin back but are not cheap and add load to the pin box and hitch.

he's got a 5' 6" bed! Pretty much guarantees contact if he does not have a slider.

thanks for the help and answers. looks like i will have to think about this or just go with a travel trailer.
thanks again

You might get better replies if you had the mod move this to the fiver forum...just sayin.....Dennis