Adjusting 5'er Hitch Rails

When I purchased my truck, I bought it used (12 months old with 16K miles) with the 5'er hitch already installed.  It's a Reese 15K, and although my dealer inspected the hitch and says it's fine, it appears to have seen its share of use.  I'm guessing that the previous owner had moved it from truck to truck installing new rails with each truck.  The hitch is a little loose where it attaches to the bed, and sometimes you can hear it rocking a little if I'm backing up over ground that isn't level.  When I say that it is a little loose, I mean that if I were to pull up on it unloaded after the pins have been inserted, it could move about an eighth of an inch, maybe a quarter of an inch.  Since this is my first 5'er, I don't know if that's normal.

I had an opportunity to get a new 16K hitch, but when I tried to mount the new hitch to the hitch rails, the slots in the rails where the hitch goes are a little off.  The rails in the truck seem to be mounted about a quarter of an inch further apart from each other than the new 16K hitch mounting tabs.  Is it common for 5'er hitches to have different spacing of the tabs on the hitch?

I know this may sound like a stupid question, but is it okay to loosen the hitch rails in the bed a bit to get the new hitch to fit, or will I be making it so that the rails will loosen easier with use?  What sort of maintenance is required for the hitch rail bolts?  Right now I just get them inspected by my dealer about once a year.

-Dave

The bed rails are firmly bolted to the chassis under the bed - or had better be!  Those bolts are what actually attaches the trailer to the truck! Loosening them so a different hitch will fit borders on suicidal, in my opinion. Even assuming you tighten the bolts back down after fitting the hitch, it is likely that there will be a sideways torque because the fit is slightly off. I wouldn't want to take the chance.

And yes, it is common for each model of hitch to have its own rails and rail positioning instructions. Manufacturers assume you will mate the hitch to the rails it is designed to use and not some other set.

As I recall from when we towed fifth wheels, there was very little slop where the hitch attached to the rails. Certainly no more than a 1/8" and perhaps less.  I'm wondering if your hitch is perhaps mounted on a set of rails that aren't exactly the ones designed for it.  We used a 16K RBW hitch and moved it through three trucks, moving the rails with it each time.

Thanks for the input, Gary.  I was thinking that was the case.  The rails are the ones that are designed for both the 16K Reese and the 15K Reese.  My worry is that my hitch had flexed a little before the previous owner installed the rails in my truck, and hence the rails are a little further apart than they would be with a new hitch.  In a perfect world, the two hitches should be interchangeable.  I guess I'm going to have to trust my dealer that my hitch is safe.

-Dave

You might try to contact Reese and ask about the slop and the fact the 166k doesn't fit on yours. If both hitches should use the same rails, then something is worn or the rails were not installed properly in the first place.

You might consider visiting a real hitch shop for an inspection (rather than an RV dealer).

RV Roamer said:

You might consider visiting a real hitch shop for an inspection (rather than an RV dealer).

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Can anyone recommend a good hitch shop in northeast Tennessee, western North Carolina, or southwestern Virginia?

-Dave

DON'T trust the dealer that the hitch is safe. The voice of experience speaking.

Okay, maybe I need to ask my question this way.  How would one go about finding a reputable hitch shop if the dealers are iffy?

-Dave

Start by looking in the Yellow pages for hitch shops. A place that does hitches for a living is a better place to start. Preferably a place that only does hitches.  The perhaps a visit to the shop (or a phone call) to discuss your problem and get a feel for how professional they are. Admittedly it is hard to tell, but you probably don't have a clue about the RV dealer either. And hitches are a sideline for them, a necessary evil to aid in selling RVs. Sometimes the newest kid in the shop gets assigned to slap in hitches and who knows what they do if you ask for an inspection?

You could also call around to other dealers and ask where they have hitch work done - many of them send it out to other shops rather than do it in-house.

Thanks, Gary.  As always, you are a huge help.  I'll start checking this week. 

I was looking for a local Reese dealer, but I cannot seem to find one using Reese's dealer locator. 

-Dave

Try A-1 Hitches in Kingsport as a starter. Or one of the Camping Worlds, closest to you would be Statesville or Knoxville. What I would do is take it in and ask what they think of the installation the way it is. The answer should tell you all about them. FYI, Rule RV in Staunton, VA did an excellent job correcting a faulty 5w hitch installation on my truck. The faulty installation was caught by the Ford dealer there when I brought my truck in for service. I notified the hitch manufacturer of the problem and the name of the RV dealer that did the original installation. They promptly removed that dealer from their dealer list.

BTW, the hitch manufacturers all specify a specific torque setting for all the bolts and that is (or should be) a major part of the annual inspection, Obviously, any loose bolts are not torqued to specs.

Thanks, Bruce.  I've been to Camping World in Knoxville, but not for this particular question. I drive through Stanton every once in a while, so it might be nice to stop in to Rule RV.  Thanks for the info.

-Dave

Not that anybody asked to be updated, but here is an update on my hitch woes.  I spent the morning at Camping World.  When I first pulled into the service bay, four of their service people looked at the hitch, and all of them said that it definitely was "wrong."  The hitch was old and a bit too loose for their tastes and since the rails were out of alignment, they would need to be re-installed before I could purchase a new hitch.

It's sort of a good news/bad news thing.  They looked at the mounting job done by the truck's previous owner, and were baffled as to why they hadn't installed it properly.  Basically, instead of using the Reese brackets, they had simply drilled through the frame.  We later found out that it probably was because the 2005 F-350's have a shock absorber setup that requires a $150 set of special brackets to mount the hitch around the shocks.  So in order to save $150, they skimped. 

So the final damage is:

$119 for new base rails and installation kit
$569 for a new Reese 16K hitch
$150 custom brackets
$32 shipping of custom brackets
$314 installation and misc. stuff
$109 Tennessee's awful sales tax
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$1294 total

Well, since they have to order the parts, I came back from Knoxville $1300 poorer and a few hundred pounds lighter without the old hitch.  I'm told everything will be just fine when I come back in two weeks for the final install.  I'm guessing I could have done better dollar wise, but I just want to have the thing set up right and get back on the road.

-Dave

Sorry to hear of all the costs.  However you will have it done right and will likely be much safer and feel safer now.

Glad you are getting it fixed right, but couldn't you have bought the custom brackets and used your old rails and hitch? It's not clear to me why the old rails and the 15k Reese could not be re-installed once you have the right brackets.

RV Roamer said:

Glad you are getting it fixed right, but couldn't you have bought the custom brackets and used your old rails and hitch? It's not clear to me why the old rails and the 15k Reese could not be re-installed once you have the right brackets.

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I hadn't thought of that.  When the whole process started, they said I needed a new rail kit because I needed the brackets that mounted to the frame.  Later in the day, they came out to tell me that I needed the custom brackets and I guess I never thought to ask if I could then go back to my original frame rails.  I'll give them a call today and ask.

As for the old 15K Reese hitch, something is wrong with how it mounts to the frame rails.  The two mounting points on the driver side are about a quarter of an inch farther apart than the two mounting points on the passenger side. As set of frame rails installed for that particular hitch would not fit any other hitch. It is also a bit old and is showing signs of clear wear.  Since it was the first hitch I'd ever had any experience with, I didn't know any better, but now that I've seen some other hitches, it's clear that this one has seen better days.  I'd feel more comfortable with a new hitch.

Thanks!

-Dave

Okay, I just got off the phone with Camping World and they said that the rails I had came with the wrong set of pre-drilled holes to mount to the new frame brackets.  Oh well, it looked like I could have saved myself a quick $120, but I couldn't seem to convince Camping World that it was possible.  Once again, I think it will be nice to have the feeling that everything is safe.

-Dave

Like I said earlier you you will travel much more relaxed knowing that everything is right and safe.

Hurray!  I finally got the new fifth wheel hitch installed, and boy is there ever a difference.  Now that I see how tight a fifth-wheel hitch is supposed to be when mounted in the truck, I realize that the one that had been installed in the truck when I bought it was not in good shape.  Good lord, I had three different dealers inspect it and say it was fine!  (This amazes me because I would assume they?d want to make a sale.)  Anyway, the new Reese 16K hitch is now attached using new rails mounted to the frame using special brackets especially for the 2005 F-350.  Whew!

But don?t go away, I still have a question.  I was looking over the new hitch and saw that the release handle is attached to the hitch using a cotter pin.  It looks like if I remove the cotter pin and pull of the handle, I could leave the hitch in the truck when I put my tonneau cover back on.  If this is the case, is there some sort of substitution I could use for the cotter pin so that my repeated installation and removal doesn?t require constant replacement of the cotter pin?

-Dave

Could you use something like this, if it only holds the handle you could get one at Home depot or lowes in the hardware section, they have different sizes available. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_9096_200004002_200000000_200004000_200-4-2

Excellent idea.  I knew what I wanted, but I just couldn't picture it.  Thanks!

-Dave