5th wheel hitch advice needed

Long time RVer here, but soon to be a 5th wheel owner.  The wife and I have decided to sell our beloved 2005 diesel pusher and go with a 5th wheel instead.  I currently have a 2015 Chevy 2500 HD 6.2 liter gas engine short bed.  I also have a low profile tool box in the back.  My question is...what is my best option for a 5th wheel hitch?  I know I need a slider, but am I better off with a sliding hitch in the truck or a sliding pin box on the front of the trailer?  Thanks in advance for any advice.

You may or may not require a slider - can't really tell with the info provided and no trailer selected yet.  I lean toward an articulated pin box like the Sidewinder, but there are pros and cons of each type.

I'm guessing your "short bed" is actually what is now called a standard bed, i.e. 6.5 ft. "Short" is now 5.5 ft and used on some smaller crew cab models.  Some 5W are ok on a standard bed, e.g. those with a tapered nose.

You should NOT assume that your 2500 can handle any size 5W either. Some (many?) 2500 come up short on payload to handle the massive pin weight, which runs 20%-25% of the trailer GVWR.  A 10,000 lb 5W isn't large these days and 2000-2500 lbs of pin weight added to passengers and gear in the truck may exceed the truck payload.  You need to get your trucks Payload and Max Tow numbers and keep them firmly in mind hen trailer shopping.

The wife and I have decided to sell our beloved 2005 diesel pusher and go with a 5th wheel instead.

Just a little curious...What made you decide to change to a fifth wheel?

Gary RV_Wizard said:

You may or may not require a slider - can't really tell with the info provided and no trailer selected yet.  I lean toward an articulated pin box like the Sidewinder, but there are pros and cons of each type.

I'm guessing your "short bed" is actually what is now called a standard bed, i.e. 6.5 ft. "Short" is now 5.5 ft and used on some smaller crew cab models.  Some 5W are ok on a standard bed, e.g. those with a tapered nose.

You should NOT assume that your 2500 can handle any size 5W either. Some (many?) 2500 come up short on payload to handle the massive pin weight, which runs 20%-25% of the trailer GVWR.  A 10,000 lb 5W isn't large these days and 2000-2500 lbs of pin weight added to passengers and gear in the truck may exceed the truck payload.  You need to get your trucks Payload and Max Tow numbers and keep them firmly in mind hen trailer shopping.

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what Gary says lol i agree

What they said.  I will add a little clarification on the short bed stuff...on 2500/250 and above trucks, there is only short bed/long bed (6.5 or so feet, and 8 or so feet).  The "half-ton" trucks have the 5.5' bed as noted, but not the bigger trucks.  That being said, Gary is also right about "may or may not need" a slider.  I have not had to use mine yet.  But like I always say on these threads, Peace of Mind.  I know it's there if I ever do need it.

Also what he said, we need more information.  I'm not really sure a decision can even be made until you get the trailer you want.  If you have an idea, or one specifically in mind, come on back with the numbers, and we'll help get you going.

Welcome!

Thanks for the reply?s.  My truck does have a 6.5? bed. We have just started looking at 5th wheels and have decided we like front bedroom with rear living.  Something in the 30? to 34? range.  We are fortunate that all 3 of our kids love to camp too and all have their own RV?s so no need to have room for the grandkids. We get to enjoy the outdoors with them and don?t have to worry about extra beds.?
My concern about the hitch is, we have pretty much decided to buy a one or two year old RV (let someone else take the depreciation hit) and if I drive a distance to look at one, I?d like to be able to bring it home. So in saying all of this, I still don?t know if I?ve given you enough information to help me make a decision on what hitch to buy.  Kind of like the chicken and the egg.  Im not sure exactly what we are going to buy, but would like to be ready to tow it when we find it.  Again, any advice is much appreciated. 

Gizmo100 said:

The wife and I have decided to sell our beloved 2005 diesel pusher and go with a 5th wheel instead.

Just a little curious...What made you decide to change to a fifth wheel?

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We absolutely love our pusher.  We bought it brand new 14 years ago and it has treated us great.  We are just at a point in our life where we are looking to simplify things and Think a 5th wheel will serve our needs better.  I hope I don?t regret the decision, but if I do, it will be a good excuse to go buy a new DP. ?

With respect to the hitch, I love my Andersen Ultimate.  If your truck has a gooseneck ball, installation for the first time - truck and FW - takes about 15 min.  And it weighs less than 40 lbs.  Without the goose ball, you will need bed rails to support ANY FW hitch, and once that is done, maybe 10 min for initial installation.

Another big reason for the Andersen hitch is the weight.  At only 40#, it is far less weight than conventional 200# FW hitches.  With a 2500, you need to save every pound you can.

On the truck driver door latch post is a yellow border placard which states the maximum weight of all passengers and cargo shall not exceed XXXX lbs.  This is your max payload and is exactly what it says.

When FW shopping, take this payload number, subtract the weight of your hitch, all passengers and all other cargo in the truck.  What is left is the max pin wt the truck can handle.  Assuming 20% pin wt, then the heaviest  FW  GVWR the truck can handle is max pin wt X 5.

If your payload is 2500#, Andersen hitch (40#), 400# of people and cargo, will leave 2060# for pin wt.  2060 X 5 = 10,300 max FW  GVWR.
If you have a 200# hitch, that leaves a 1900# pin wt and a 9500# max FW  GVWR.

I would stay away from the Sidewinder pin box. The company that I purchased my PullRite auto slider from showed me a Cougar 5th wheel that had stress damage from using a Sidewinder set up.
If I was to do things over today with my 5th wheel set up I would take a hard look at the Andersen. It is super light and strong. If you want a top of the line hitch with auto slide, my PullRite auto slide is a good choice. Just very heavy at approximately 150-200 pounds.

Good luck, Stan

Minor diversion...

When I bought my 2015 Ram 3500 SRW used last spring, the covers for all 4 puck holes as well as the goose ball were missing. My assumption was a hitch like the Anderson was used. If only the puck covers had been missing I would suspect a regular 5th wheel hitch was used.
What say you?

Diversion:
The covers may have been in poor shape and pitched??
The cleanup tech had no idea what the covers and ball were for and pitched them???
The previous owner kept them for some unknown reason??
Edsel Murphy grabbed them and took off????  ;D

Your 2500 is not adequate for a 30'-34' fifth wheel, anything that size is going to weigh 12,000# plus fully loaded which puts 2500 on the pin. It will pull the trailer but the tail will wag the dog.

You will need a bigger truck for that FW.  I know I had a 2500 Chevy with Max Tow Package gas and was not enough for my 32' FW. My son has a 2500 Chevy Diesel and his payload is less than 2200.

If you are going to be in the fifth wheel market I would urge you to move up to 1 ton dually and then you could handle just about any fiver out there. Do yourself a favor. Chances are you might begin with a smaller fifth wheel first and then realize you need a bigger one so if you already have the big truck you can move up and be okay. We went through the same process, and I doubt we were the only ones.

rbrdriver said:

If you are going to be in the fifth wheel market I would urge you to move up to 1 ton dually and then you could handle just about any fiver out there. Do yourself a favor. Chances are you might begin with a smaller fifth wheel first and then realize you need a bigger one so if you already have the big truck you can move up and be okay. We went through the same process, and I doubt we were the only ones.

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I have to agree i bought a 3500 thinking i would never buy a bigger 5er then bought a bigger fiver saying at 40feet its the biggest i will ever buy - guess what ive been doing? Glad i have a dually now. I had a dually before in 2008.thought i would nt miss it lol

I still don?t know if I?ve given you enough information to help me make a decision on what hitch to buy.  Kind of like the chicken and the egg.  Im not sure exactly what we are going to buy, but would like to be ready to tow it when we find it.  Again, any advice is much appreciated.

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  We have plenty info on your truck however without knowing the trailer front corner profile its impossible to say what you need exactly. Older trailers  like mine have the square/flat front corners vs newer trailers with the rounded/notched front profile made for short bed trucks.

GM trucks have a longer CA (cab to rear axle) dimension than Rams or Fords so you may not need a sliding hitch.

Check out the Andersen system used for short bed trucks. 

  And you have several brand choices in manual sliding hitches. My son has a 13k 5th wheel bunk house model he pulls with the a '15 2500 chevy Dmax/A short bed  and a new '18 2500 GMC Dmax/A Z71 LTZ. He has a old Reese manual slider that was used when he bought it and has been in three of his 2500 short bed trucks over the years. Its locked up and won't slide. He can make two point 90 degree turns on unlevel surfaces and still has 4" of clearance between the cab/front trailer corners.

My 32' 5th wheel trailer/2 slides weighs 11200-11400 lb gross weight. I have a 2500 Dodge/Cummins so weight is no problems for the Cummins.
Some 34' 5th wheel trailers will have too much hitch weight for your GM 6200 RAWR. And some 34 footers will have lighter weight hitch loads to fit your trucks axle ratings.

Trucks don't pull trailers determined by length but by gross weigh and hitch weight.

For the small 6.0 gas engine I would stay under 10k-11k gross weight trailers (wet weight).

I am in the trailer market as well and have been doing a little research on both 5th wheel and bumper pull toy haulers.  As far as hitch systems i've decided not to go with a traditional hitch as they are heavy, cumbersome to install and remove from the truck, and they eat up the bed space so I can't haul a quad in the bed if I wanted to go do a little hunting.  I've settled on either the Anderson Ultimate system or go with a B&W turnover ball gooseneck system and then install an Anderson gooseneck adaptor on the trailer.  They have one that has an 8" offset that compensates for short bed trucks.  With the turn over ball I have full use of my bed and is actually easier than the Ultimate hitch.

As far as the Tow Vehicle is concerned what everyone has said about weight is true.  To play it safe and not worry a Dually is the best route but they are no fun to drive daily.  There are things people do like adding 1 ton leaf spring packs or air bags to remove the sag but again you are still over your max rated weight.  I work with a few people who run airbag systems on their trucks and tow trailers that are better suited to be towed by a dually.  One can't afford to go out and buy the dually and the other doesn't tow his trailer far enough or use it enough to justify the cost of the Dually.  Their trailers are under the GCVW so they feel they are ok.  I have had this discussion with them time and time again but they won't budge. 

The most important piece of information you need to know is the carrying capacity of your truck after it fully loaded. Add 150 pounds for a hitch and find a 5er that has a pin weight your truck can handle. go by 20% of max capacity of the 5er, not empty weight. But fully loaded weight.

Now the real dilemma is which hitch. Which is your question. Personally, I'd get a slider, even a manual one. the reason being, you don't know what trailer your going to buy until you buy it. It may, or may not require a slider. If it does and you bought a fixed position hitch, your selling the hitch and buying another. If you have the slider, there is no worries. Even if you don't slide it, you are still covered and could transfer it to a new truck or may need it for the next 5er. Basically, you limit your options with a fixed positions hitch, and don't with a slider.

Which slider? Is another question. I prefer to save the weight and went with a manual slider. A Reese 15K slider and bought it used from a local farmer who was selling everything, retiring, and moving out of state. I got one heck of a deal. There are better, and there are worse. You'll have to research the brands, options, and availability to figure out which is best for you. We all have our preferences and needs. 

Airbags and extra leaf springs will not help an overloaded rear axle, nor will they help stop your load when you REALLY need to stop. Get the right tool for the job.

As far as 5ver hitches go, I bought a B&W Companion 25K hitch for the new 20K GVWR Momentum 394 that I have.  I have an 8' bed of course, on the Dually, so no slider needed, but B&W does make a Companion Slider also.  I really like the Companion....very sturdy and solid.  It's heavy, at about 165 lbs, but it's two pieces so that the head can be separated from the base for removal.