5th wheel and short box

[RGRAT1618]

Well my parents went looking for a new truck to pull there 5th wheel. Well for $42,000. 00 they said no. So I want to put a sliding hitch in mine so they can use it on there long trips. I have herd of some stories about people hitting there cabs. The trailer is a 28' couger. About 7200lbs. With a sliding hitch locked in the rear position, I should be fine right? Currently the trailer is pulled with a 1500 ram standard cab long bed. It dose fine but I don't trust it. I also want the hitch to go get them if they break down somewhere. Any and all suggestion are welcome. I am going to buy the hitch real soon since the are plannig a trip to canada.





Thanks again,



Rob G

 

[B.G. Smith]

http://www.reese-hitches.com/16k_slider5thwheel.htm bg

 

[klenger]

Your plan is OK, but don't tow with the hitch in the aft position. It should only be aft for manuerving. I had a 2001. 5 SWB and a Reese/DrawTite sliding hitch. I only used it for about 2 months before trading for a LWB, but I hardly ever had to slide it back. BTW, I traded trucks to get the 6 speed HO, not to get the LWB.

 

[JohnCooper]

Pullrite SuperGlide!



I wouldn't pull a 5ver with shortbed truck and any hitch other than the Superglide. And since it will be used by someone other than yourself, it is cheap insurance. Like mentioned before, you don't want to tow with a manual slider locked in the rearward position, you want the king pin over the rear axle when towing at speed. It is really easy to forget to slide the hitch back when manuvering in tight spaces (making a U-turn at the end of a culdesac, getting in and out of gas station). I have had a few occasions where I was manuvering around and looked in the rearview mirror and saw the trailer right up next to the corner of my cab. At that point I was glad that the hitch automatically slid back because I had not realized how tight I had actually turned.

 

[Neibe]

Originally posted by JohnCooper

Pullrite SuperGlide!



I wouldn't pull a 5ver with shortbed truck and any hitch other than the Superglide. And since it will be used by someone other than yourself, it is cheap insurance. Like mentioned before, you don't want to tow with a manual slider locked in the rearward position, you want the king pin over the rear axle when towing at speed. It is really easy to forget to slide the hitch back when manuvering in tight spaces (making a U-turn at the end of a culdesac, getting in and out of gas station). I have had a few occasions where I was manuvering around and looked in the rearview mirror and saw the trailer right up next to the corner of my cab. At that point I was glad that the hitch automatically slid back because I had not realized how tight I had actually turned.

I Agree. When we bought our fifth wheel they said if I had a short box they would recomend towing a trailer that large and it is only 32ft.

 

[berg]

Don,t worry so much i pull with an 02 sb regular hitch and have had no peoblems!I have never come close to hitting my cab,i don't even think i could i pull a 28' spotsmen 5th wheel.



02 ho short bow 2x4

 

[Snellville-Dave]

I agree with most everyone that has committed before. I have been using a Reese slider hitch in my 2000 Dodge Quadcab shortbed for about a year now. The effort and time to move the hitch to the manuvering postion doesn't amount to anything after you have done it a couple of times. This is the first time I've ever had a 5th wheel trailer and I haven't had any problems. I don't know how old your dad is, but if 57 is getting near being old that's me. This is my practice setup - 4 yrs and 6mos from now I hope I'm on the road to either Maine or Alaska in a Dodge 3500 SRW Cummins.

 

[lawdog]

I had a sales/service rep at a local camper dealer try to steer me away from a Pullrite Superglide and say go Reese slider> They sell and install both. He said that the superglide is a good product but the trouble is that in case of truck problems, you need someone else with a superglide to tow your trailer due to the added bracket for the superglide.

Anyone have any thoughts on this one????

 

[CROW]

I have a 24K Pull Rite Super Glide and use it to tow a 100" wide 32' fifth wheel with my 03 shortbed. I have used it for a little over a year and it does exactly what the manufacturer says. It appears to be a piece of quality equipment. The superglide hitch that I have has a wedge (called a caster wedge) on a plate that is attached to the bottom of the regular fifth wheel plate that is on the king pin box. The wedge is what causes the hitch to ride backwards when you turn over 16 degrees either left or right. Depending on the type of plate there are different methods of attachment. On mine there are flat headed allen head bolts that attach the caster plate to the regular fifth wheel plate and all I would have to do is to unhitch the trailer, remove 10 bolts and someone with a regular fifth wheel hitch could tow my trailer. You might consider calling Pull Rite (they are good to deal with 800-443-2307) and tell them what type of king pin box you have and see how the plate with the caster wedge would attach. Many successfully tow fifth wheels without slider hitches and with manual sliding hitches, but for me personally the slider is the way to go; you just do not have to worry about hitting the truck with the trailer. Have seen a truck where a fella hit truck with the trailer and after looking at my hitch, he said he wished he had gone that route.

 

[BillH]

I also have the Pullrite Slider and, like CROW, all I have to do is remove some bolts then anyone with a 5th wheel hitch can hook onto my 5er.



Is the Pullrite pricey? Yes, is the automatic slide worth it for the peace of mind and comvenience? Absolutely.



BillH

 

[cumminsred]

5th wheel -short box

I also have a Pull Rite Super Glide that I use to pull our 36 ft. camper. There is no comparison between the Super Glide and the Reese manual slider,all you do with the Super Glide is drive there is no getting out in the rain to release the Reese and if you forget to release the Reese there goes another back glass. I enjoy the Super Glide, its all that I could find that would work with the SB 03.

I went through 2 back glasses with the Reese Slider on My previous SB truck.

 

[lawdog]

Ok, Thanks. I thought maybe the wedge was welded into place. My other option is to get a 6' wide or 6' length riser with the 2' extended hitch on a gooseneck. I am looking at Car trailers though, not campers... The full 8' riser would be nice, even if I did go 6' wide at the nose, depending on costs to have trailer built that way compared to price on Pullrite. .

Thank you

 

[E2360]

I have a cougar 5th wheel model 281, 31 foot long. Pull it with my 2500 short bed. Current hitch is a reese slider. Does great, little effort to move it from tow to maneuver. Had the same set up but with out the slider previously. Came real close to cab smash once. The reese slider has solved the problem.

 

[klaybus]

My brother in law has a 02 SB & pulls a 276 Cougar 5vr. I know he wishes he had his slide installed earlier as he has a nice wrinkle in his cab that will be rather spendy to have repaired.

I know I wouldn't pull a 5vr with a SB unless I had a slider hitch... . Just my 0. 02



Clay

 

[tgrfan2]

I don't know if your fiver has an extended hitch pin , but they should not have a problem. I paid $750 for a 16K Reese slider with my fiver and have not used the slider yet. Without the extended pin I probably would need it. A friend has a 2003 3500 HO SB SRW that he did not even buy a slider for to pull his 2003 Big Sky and he has had no problems manuevering. It does get close sometimes though. Maybe they can find a deal like he did. He paid $33K for his truck in March 2003. It is loaded including leather and CD. Great truck.