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Standard Pin Box or Extended?

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Lost a wire on the way home

Slide in truck camper

Buying a 12K (GVW) Hitchhiker 5er.



My dealer and the mfr (NuWa) say I will not need the 12" extended pin/hitch box on the trailer with my long bed. I suspect this is true, but just curious if the axles on the new quad cab are now so close to the cab that having the extra room would be a good idea.



Or perhaps the longer distance from pin to trailer axles will throw more weight on the trailer axles rather than the truck. Is that a good thing? :confused:



The fiver is 32ft long.



Any and all experiences and advice appreciated.



Thanx,

Joe
 
Joe,

The best thing to do is to measure. Here is my experence with the extended pin box. When parking the pin box is so long that if you are in a real tight turn and the truck gets off camber the rear of the pin box can do some real damage to the bed rail. My truck has the scars to prove it :(

On the other hand, if you don't have an extended pin box and you use the stock tailgate, is there enough clearence to hook up with the tailgate down and not hit the trailer? Measure, or better yet see if the dealer has one that you could hook up to to check the clearence

I personlly prefer a regular pin box for the first reason stated above and the fact that they can support more weight.

Fireman
 
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JBlock,

An extended pin box will NOT prevent the trailer from hiting the cab if you are in a very tight turn ( nearly jackknifed ). Most trailers are at least 8' wide making the distance from the pin to the side of the trailer 4'. If the distance from the hitch to the cab is less than 4' the trailer will eventually hit the cab if a tight turn is maintained.

The only solutions are not to turn too tightly, or a sliding hitch.

Look on klengers web site, he has diagrams if that would help.

Fireman
 
JBlock,

An extended pin box will NOT prevent the trailer from hiting the cab if you are in a very tight turn ( nearly jackknifed ). Most trailers are at least 8' wide making the distance from the pin to the side of the trailer 4'. If the distance from the hitch to the cab is less than 4' the trailer will eventually hit the cab if a tight turn is maintained.

The only solutions are not to turn too tightly, or a sliding hitch.

Look on klengers web site, he has diagrams if that would help.

Fireman
 
You can break out the 5er's pin box support if you use an extended pin box on a trailer that's not designed for one, i. e. too heavy. I am writing from experience. The dealer said a medium extended pin box was OK. I have since had to have the 5er's framework where the pin box is welded to the framework reinforced with gussets. Then I changed to a straight pin box and went from a short box CTD to a long box CTD. Previously I'm sure there was too much leverage and the flexing Oo. caused the welds to crack. Good luck on your decision.
 
The question long bed/ short bed or extended pin/regular pin comes up alot. I have a short bed, extended pin with no slider hitch and while going in a forward direction there is no way of contact. Now going in reverse that is another question. Sure it will hit if I get pass about 75 degrees but you shouldn't do that anyway. Have you ever noticed your 5ers tires when you start getting it cut sharp. I think on pavement in a 90 degree back in. you could almost roll the tires off the rim. One thing for true as Fireman mentioned; they are not as strong. My brand of 5er doesn't offer extended pin if 31 feet or longer.

People pullin travel trailers live with out being able to cut 90 degrees. I can and have done it for years with no mishap.
 
If you have a long bed truck and don't need the extended pin box, I'd go with the straight pin box. It's rated for higher loads than the extended box and puts less stress on the frame. Neither Leland Engineering nor Jayco will sell me an extended pin box (as if I wanted one) for my Jayco Designer XL 3610RLTS because of the torque loading it imposes on the frame.



Rusty
 
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