5th wheel hitch location theory

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
poncho62

poncho62

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Posts
298
Location
Ontario, Canada
OK...Most of our 5th wheel hitches are just about over the back axle of the pickup, right?

I was just thinking (I know, dangerous)......If there was some extra room, would it be to any advantage to move the hitch forward a bit, say 6" or so? Would it tow better, worse or the same? I suppose it would put a bit less weight on the rear axle, any advantage to that? Thoughts

Just putting it up for discussion
 
I spent some years in a trailer and hitch installation facility and we considered the proper hitch placement to be more than theory. It is to be exactly 1 1/2" toward the front of the truck from a point directly over the rear axles.  That is the perfect balance point and if you go toward the rear even 1" you off load the front axle and can, under extreme situations, affect the steering.  Move it toward the front from that point and you overload the rear axle and can, again under the proper conditions, cause problems.

In the industry, at that time, that was the only accepted positioning of the hitch.  You heard people saying that they snuck the hitch 1/2" to improve something or other but never very much.

It really is considered important to hitch installers to be positioned properly.
 
COMer said:
Move it toward the front from that point and you overload the rear axle and can, again under the proper conditions, cause problems.
Click to expand...

I don't understand this comment. It seems that moving it toward the front would put more weight on the front axle, not the rear.
 
Lowell said:
I don't understand this comment. It seems that moving it toward the front would put more weight on the front axle, not the rear.
Click to expand...

My thinking too....It would seem that it would balance the load better.....This is the sort of thing that got me wondering about it
 
The proper location is forward of the rear axle by whatever amount the bed length and front suspension can tolerate. The further forward it is, a couple things happen and they can be either good or bad, depending on the truck capability. The weight gets distributed across both truck axles, which helps the rear and loads the front. It also makes maneuvering easier when backing (better steering angles) but increases the lag in turns when going forward (the trailer "cuts the corner" more. The main consideration is the potential for a cab strike in a sharp turn.

Few 3/4 ton or one truck trucks have an overload problem on the front axle and can tolerate more weight, at least within the limits that a 5W Rv could be positioned on a pick-up truck.

A real hitch pro would want to see the actual trailer, make measurements on permissible turn angles, check the front & rear axle GAWRs vs pin weight, and inquire about possible future upgrades. Few shops do that - they just select an arbitrary position, usually a few inches ahead of the rear axle, kind of a "one place fits all" solution.
 
I was the salesman not the engineer.  We used Reese hitches and they have exact directions on where to out the hitch.  They even send a template so it goes where I described (their words).  We never had somebody who wanted it moved further forward, it was always to move it back.  This was when short bed trucks were available but sliding hitches were not.  People wanted extra room in their short bed and moving the hitch back caused problems. 
 
I'm not disagreeing, COMer. That acceptable range usually turns out to be just a few inches forward of the axle, at least on short bed trucks. What you describe is exactly the "one place fits all" type of solution I described as being prevalent. An experienced 5W owner, though, might wish to use some of the extra length his long bed affords to gain easier maneuvering when backing into a site. Or, for a heavy 5W, to shift a bit of weight onto the front axle and avoid a rear axle overload. Those are legitimate wishes and can be accommodated, as long as they understand that there are tradeoffs.

The OP asked about the potential advantage of moving the hitch further forward and I think we covered that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 580 (members: 7, guests: 573)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,923
Posts
1,387,498
Members
137,673
Latest member
7199michael
Back
Top Bottom