Truck bed ? from a soon to be newbie

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96nittany

New member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
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2
Hello,
My husband and I have been looking to buy an rv for awhile now.  we have rented Class Cs but are interested in buying a fifth wheel.  We currently have an F150 and know that we need a bigger truck for the majority of models.  We have an 18 month old daughter and therefore need a Supercrew cab.  My quesiton is, does the length of the truck bed matter if we plan on getting a slider hitch and what type of slider would youu recommend?

thanks for your help
 
96nittany,

You pays your money and takes your choice.

With a long bed pickup, you don't need a slider but have to park that thing.

With a short bed, like mine, a slider is necessary to avoid bashing the truck and camper together when you make sharp turns, like backing into a difficult site. There are the kind that you have to g et out and release when needed, or the pullrite superglide that is big, heavy, expensive and automatic.

Joel
 
Another option is the new Fifth Airborne Sidewinder pin box mounted on the 5er. I have a shortbed extended cab 2500HD Chevy and our new camper is a widebody toy hauler at 102" wide. I can turn past 90 degrees with it and have plenty of clearance between the cab and camper, and I do not have a slider. I got the sidewinder/air ride pin box combo, but you can get it without the air ride if you prefer. I installed a B&W turnover ball gooseneck hitch and have the Companion fifth wheel hitch that mates to it. I also use the gooseneck and wanted a hitch that left no rails in the bed, so that works well for me.The sidewinder puts the pivot point back farther, which in reality is the same result as when a slider moves rearward in the bed. http://www.fifthairborne.com/


[edit]made link live[/edit]
 
Still another option is to buy a fifth-wheel that doesn't need a slider. 

We have a 2006 diesel 2500 GMC extended cab shortbed and a 2006 Heartland Bighorn 5th wheel.  The Heartland products are designed to be able to be used with a shortbed truck without the need of a slider hitch.  My truck has to be at about a 90 degree angle to the trailer before the trailer will touch the cab of the truck. (Heartland states that it is 88 degrees.)

You can find more info on this at the Heartland RV web site.

A 5th wheel hitch was included with the purchase deal for our trailer.  I expected that it would be a basic plain Jane hitch. Our salesman told the installers to put in a Reese slider, even though we shouldn't need it for this trailer.  This was after we had already agreed on a purchase price for the trailer.
 
My Dad just bought a Big Horn for the same exact reason Mike in Arkansas.  He has the Chevy version of yours with a '07 Big Horn.  Very happy with the whole setup.  No slider hitch, just mount and go.
 
Thanks you very much for all of the advice.  It looks like we have more options than we originally thought :)
 
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