![]() This is the perfect system for anyone who tows both a fifth wheel and a gooseneck trailer. These hitches have ratcheting systems that pull the hitch down tight against the ball, so the hitch is unable to move. This is a fifth wheel hitch bed mounting standard that allows any ISR-compatible hitch to be connected on ISR Rails.Īnother fifth wheel hitch mounting system uses a gooseneck ball as a single mounting point. Slider hitches are available in different mounting configurations, including industry-standard rails (ISR). We offer all major product lines of Fifth Wheel hitches, including heavy-duty hitches from: RV part shop has a wide variety of slider hitches to fit all vehicles and budgets. towing capacityįor 6.5' or 8' truck beds, you will probably only need 11-13" of travel to prevent cab window damage during turns. towing capacityĭemco 13K Autoslide Hitches - 13,000 lb. This is the amount of hitch travel distance you will need on a super short box. These are the only hitches on the market that offer 22 1/2 inches of travel. box, you have only two choices if you want to tow a fifth wheel. If the result of this calculation is a negative number, you probably don't need a slider hitch. (C+4 inches) - (A-B) = Amount of Hitch Travel Required Add Four Inches for a safety clearance.ĭeduct the value you got by subtracting B from A from half the overall trailer width (plus the safety clearance.) This will give you the amount of travel you need to have available in your slider. This will be the distance you will need to clear when the truck is at 90 degrees to the trailer. Measure the overall width of your trailer (measurement "C") and divide by 2. (Note: if B is negative, that will make the result greater than A) If the nose is behind the kingpin, make this a negative number. Get the distance from the center of the king pin to the forwardmost point on the nose of the trailer. The axle will be directly below the center of the wheel wells from front to back. However, if your trailer nose is well forward of the trailer king pin, you may want to use the calculation below to double-check.įor a 6.5' truck bed, you should check using this formula to calculate the need for a slider and the length of travel required:įirst, measure the distance from the center of the axle on the truck to the back window. If your truck has an 8-foot box, in most cases you don't need a slider. To save you some time, if you have a 5.5-foot truck bed, you definitely need a sliding hitch. They then automatically move the hitch head back along the channels and return the head forward only when you have straightened the towing combination out again.Īssessing the Need for a Fifth Wheel Slider There are also automatic sliding hitches that use a channel system that knows when you are starting to make a tight turn. These usually allow you the additional clearance of up to 11 inches. Manual versions of these trailer hitches allow you to unlock the hitch head and legs from the mounting system and slide it back when you need to make a tight turn. So the industry solution to help with this issue was developed: the sliding 5th wheel hitch. This is not a positive towing experience. This can occur when you need to make a turnaround in a tight space or while backing into a campsite. When you need a tight turn and the truck and trailer are too close together, the noise of the trailer will take out your back window. This is usually fine when you are traveling in a straight line down the road.īut it is when you need the turning capabilities to make a tight 90-degree turn that you could run into problems with a short box. In a fifth-wheel towing configuration, shorter bed lengths mean that the nose of your trailer will be closer to the back window of the cab. Only when you upgrade to a 3/4 or full one-ton pickup, does the standard bed go back up to 6.5 or 8 ft. Today, most half-ton pickup boxes are just 5 1/2 Feet long, even 6 1/2 feet is now the exception. But as our desire for larger cabin space grew and double cab and crew cab configurations became the norm, the bed sizes shrunk. ![]() When 5th Wheel Trailers first appeared on the market, most trucks had boxes that were at least 6 1/2 Feet, if not 8 feet. ![]()
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