new 5th Wheel Purchase...do we need a slider hitch?

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soccermom

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We are very close to purchasing a 2013 269FWRLS Copper Canyon Sprinter. My husband's truck is a 2010 Dodge 2500 HD 4-door shortbed with a Cummins diesel engine. Do you think we will be ok towing wise? And also do you think we will need a sliderhitch? Apparently this set of 5th wheels are supposed to have a "new cap design with 30% more turning radius." We just sold our 30' TT to get a 5th, so this will be our first 5er. Thanks.
 
The guy I bought my sliding hitch from had a 2005 dodge ram quad cab short bed, said he never used the sliding part of it.  I have a 2003 dodge ram quad cab short bed and I can tell you I can almost turn my truck 90 degrees before it gets to my cab.  Had I seen what I saw now, I may not have bough a sliding hitch, but on the flipside it you ever truly need it it is already there.
 
I have a 2012 Chevy with a 6.5' bed and when I went to a 5th/W trailer I went with a slider hitch. It is nice to know that I have it if needed but to date I have never used it. I want to upgrade my hitch sometime in the future and when I do I'm thinking I will not get a slider hitch.
 
soccermom, In two years of towing my Fifth Wheel I have never had to use my slider but it is nice to know I have it just in case! I just have a Reese manual slider in my 2011 Dodge 2500.
 
The real question here is whether you will pay sufficient attention when backing the trailer to make sure you never turn sharply enough to cause a cab strike. Folks towed 5W with short bed trucks for a dozen years before slider hitches were invented - it merely required caution when backing. By caution I mean looking at the front of the trailer as well as where you are pointing the back. If you get too focuses on the back, you might turn sharply enough to have an issue at the front.  The same thing applies if you get a manual slider - you have to pay attention to the front of the trailer to realize when you need to use the slide function.

The real advantage comes with the automatic slider hitches that relieve you of the necessity of watching the front swing. The hitch automatically slides when you back up, so there can never be a problem. An alternative to the slider is Sidewinder pin box, which accomplishes the same thing in a different manner.

It's possible to measure/calculate whether the front of the trailer can hit the truck cab, and at what angle, but few RVers or RV shops bother to do that. Most opt to get a manual slider just in case.
 
I have a 2011 2500 Silverado with a 6-1/2' bed. I purchased a Reese R16 slider hitch for it. This past weekend, I ended up on a pretty much dead end road (Thank you TOM-TOM) and had to make a 180 degree turn. I was very cautious but it cleared my truck cab. At least now I know. I still feel more comfortable knowing that if I need to hitch up to one of the older fifth wheels, I have the option to slide the hitch to the rear for the required clearance.
If anyone is thinking about purchasing a Reese R16 Sliding or fixed hitch, be sure to read my write-up under TOWING and TOWABLE dated 7/15/13. Title is "Reese 16K fifth wheel hitch". I am very much satisfied with mine. Just beware of the issues I had but Reese took care of it.
 
I am using the superglide hitch. No need to get out and move the slide since it is an automatic slider. I love it. Just hook up the trailer and don't worry about forgetting to move the slider. 
 
I have Slider hitch and have had to use it several times in Forest Service campgrounds.  Check the price to replace a rear window in your truck!  That may help in your decision.
 
I had a cab strike issue a couple years ago with my 01 F350 shortbed. I was able to jacknife the trailer as long as it was on level ground but when I had to get turned around in a tight campground because the road was blocked the trailer ended up way out of level as I cut it into a lot, once I got it to about 85 degrees it scraped the back of the cab. I had a slider but overconfidence did me in. That was an old style front cap though, I bet the newer designs wouldn't have hit but if I'm not mistaken the Ford shortbeds are a tad longer than the others but I'm not sure about the distance between the pin location and the cabs on all three. Good luck.
 
Another added note to the Superglide hitch. The only thing I find annoying about the hitch is that with no trailer hooked up, the hitch plate slides back and forth everytime you take off or brake. I fixed this with a simple plywood "lock" plate. It holds the hitch in one place, and if you forget to take it off, (which I've done once) it will just break away and not damage your hitch. When I cut out a replacement, I made a couple of extras.

 

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As pretty well summed up above, you may never need it.  But for Peace of Mind, it sure would be good to have.  If you need it...it's there.  Not so the opposite.
 
steamer47 said:
I am using the superglide hitch. No need to get out and move the slide since it is an automatic slider. I love it. Just hook up the trailer and don't worry about forgetting to move the slider.

Me too.  We're towing a 35' 5ver with a short bed F350.  It slides back a lot more often that you would think.  Last week as I was leaving a campground my neighbor, who is interested in the set up, walked beside the pickup as we pulled out of a "T shaped" site onto a wide road.  I drove out real slow so he could see it in action, but I kind of doubted that it would slide at all.  He said it came back about 1/3 of the way.

I've had the pickup at a full 90 degrees a few times and it worked flawlessly.  Frankly, I'm glad that when I'm having to back into that severe of a site that I can concentrate on what I'm doing and not have to be watching the camper's front corners too.
 
OP has a Dodge truck so the GM or Ford doesn't apply here as they all have a different dimension from the back of the cab to the trucks rear axle.
I have the '03 Dodge truck with the short bed and a '97 5th wheel with a very flat front and square corners so yes I have a manual slider. I don't use it going forward but its handy when backing. It slides 10" behind the trucks rear axle and makes the trailer react much quicker.

IMO your RV dealer deals with this issue probably every day. What does he say ??
 
Soccermom.....like most other replies, I too have a slider hitch and have never needed it. Hitch dealers are quick to automatically say.."anything less than an 8ft box and you will need a slider." You can see from the replies that this is not true. But like most have said, you need to be aware of your particular situation, trailer design and box type.
What I did with our setup is I went to a large parking lot when the store was closed, and SLOWLY and carefully tested it, both moving forward and reversing. I now know how sharply I can back up and am much more confident when backing up. Having said that I am still very careful in case I am not on level ground, etc.
Bottom line... yes I probably could have gotten away without buying the slider, but now I have it, and should we ever encounter a dead end or as a previous poster mentioned, our Tom Tom steers us wrong and we have to maneuver a sharp U-turn, we may be happy to have the slider. The slider is way cheaper than a rear window replacement or a crushed cab corner, or having to repair the front of your rig.

 
As a newbie to the forum and RV'ing in general, I don't have much knowledge to share here. However, I have been towing my 29' Alpenlite for about 2 years with my 2001 Ram S/B. There general consensus that you will likely never need the slider hitch is pretty accurate, but there have been times that it was good to have. My hunch is that if you are going to be sticking to RV parks and/or wide open space type camping, you would not need it. However, about 50% of our camping is in the mountains at places that are just wide spots. Having the slider can be the difference between a good trip, or driving endlessly looking for a suitable place. I will also say that my relative inexperience at maneuvering adds to my reliance on the slider. I am sure that there are many here on this forum that would never need it.
I had to laugh at a previous post that mentioned the pitfalls of blind faith on a GPS. Man!....Did I get myself in a crack a few years ago! I was beginning to understand what the Donner party may have been facing!
 
I have an older 06 version 37ft. Cooper Canyon w/04 Ford F-350 4x4 CC SB and I use a Superglide. I also have a roll lock top that covers the bed and hitch.
Unlike some other hithes where you have to leave the cover open I can close mine down half way wuile towing or all the way when not hooked up with out removing any parts.
 

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