Short Bed 2500HD

I have a Chevy 2500HD standard box (6.5') as well. Using the basic $500 reese slider 5th wheel hitch I have not had a problem and not even had to use the slider, ever! If you are married to the idea of using the gooseneck adaptor for your 5er I believe that you would need a long box (8') truck.

We have a mega-cab dually and a crew-cab GMC, both with short beds. Both have B&W hitches in them, with a Companion for the fifth wheel. We tow a gooseneck deckover flatbed, gooseneck Sundowner horse trailer, and a Voltage TH. We've never hit the cab - if you watch yourself and avoid beyond 90* situations, you shouldn't have a problem with a short bed.

I also pull a fiver with a Chevy 2500HD Duramax. I have a 5th Airborne/Sidewinder pinbox, which moves the pivot point 22" to the rear. Eliminates the worry of hitting the cab without having to have a slider hitch. The 5th Airborne cushions the ride, too.

Get the long bed, you'll be happy, happy, happy later.

Horsedoc wrote:
Really? What is it?

Standard size bed. I have a 1500 with a short bed and it is under 6ft. If I had another foot to my garage I would have got a 2500.

2012Coleman wrote:

tatest wrote:
To deal with a shortbed, you may need a slider, to move the hitchpoint back on tight turns. That means fifthwheel hitch, not gooseneck. Pullrite slide automatically, based on angle of trailer to truck.

Fifthwheel hitches come in, or adjust to, different heights for siderail clearance. You also might find different lengths in different brands and models of gooseneck adapters, and there should be height adjustment in the pinbox. Because too much height at the pin can make a fiver pull badly, I know some fiver owners who raise their whole fiver too clear their too-tall pickup. Taller pickups are the latest styling thing, you can get lower ones but they are usually work trucks stylistically.

So, if shopping for a new TV with towing a fiver in mind, should you focus on the 8 foot bed and forgrt the shortbed?

Not necessarily, most of the fivers in our club are pulled by crew cabs with 6.5 foot beds, they just have the appropriate fifth wheel hitch. FWIW, one of the members with a gooseneck adapter on a CarriLite fiver knocked out the rear window of his truck, even with an 8 foot bed. Gooseneck trailers are not configured the same as fivers, and your gooseneck ball is located for a gooseneck trailer. Whether an adapter will work depends on the configuration of the front end of the fiver as much as truckbed length.

Really? What is it?

a 6.5' bed is not a shortbed

tatest wrote:
To deal with a shortbed, you may need a slider, to move the hitchpoint back on tight turns. That means fifthwheel hitch, not gooseneck. Pullrite slide automatically, based on angle of trailer to truck.

Fifthwheel hitches come in, or adjust to, different heights for siderail clearance. You also might find different lengths in different brands and models of gooseneck adapters, and there should be height adjustment in the pinbox. Because too much height at the pin can make a fiver pull badly, I know some fiver owners who raise their whole fiver too clear their too-tall pickup. Taller pickups are the latest styling thing, you can get lower ones but they are usually work trucks stylistically.

So, if shopping for a new TV with towing a fiver in mind, should you focus on the 8 foot bed and forgrt the shortbed?

To deal with a shortbed, you may need a slider, to move the hitchpoint back on tight turns. That means fifthwheel hitch, not gooseneck. Pullrite slide automatically, based on angle of trailer to truck.

Fifthwheel hitches come in, or adjust to, different heights for siderail clearance. You also might find different lengths in different brands and models of gooseneck adapters, and there should be height adjustment in the pinbox. Because too much height at the pin can make a fiver pull badly, I know some fiver owners who raise their whole fiver too clear their too-tall pickup. Taller pickups are the latest styling thing, you can get lower ones but they are usually work trucks stylistically.