Hi all, I guess I am a sucker for older diesels. I have a '91 Dodge D250, TD. First Generation Cummins. While it's an excellent motor, the truck is starting to fall apart around the Cummins. So, I went out and bought a '98 K2500 6.5 TD Fcode HD, Extended cab w/4.10 rear. But it has a shortbed. I used my Dodge to occasionally pull a fifth-wheel trailer. The front of the trailer would miss the back window of the standard cab by inches...with an eight foot bed when I had to do some tight manuevering. How on earth am I going to be able to tow with my Chevy short bed? I've been looking on-line and there are "slider" fifth wheel hitches. Will these "slider" style hitches allow me to tow the fifth wheel with my Chevy? Any advice? I love the extended cab and 4x4. Now the kids can actually fit in the truck with both parents btu now I gotta figure out how to tow so we can actually take the trailer somewhere. thanks
I tow my 5th wheel trailer with my Dodge CTD short bed and have no problems with cab clearance, it's close but no contact. The trailer has a 13" extended pin-box and I have a fixed hitch, (no slider). Practice makes perfect, I can usually put it on spot the first timewaytogo
Extended Pin-Box? Hi all, Thanks for your experiences. I appreciate. I am curious, what is an Extended Pin Box? I mean I can kinda guess what it is, where can I find one? Sounds like instead of having to buy a whole new sliding hitch I might be able to extend the pin like you have and use my 'old' standard fifth wheel hitch from my Dodge. thanks
Now I get it! Thanks for mentioning an Extended Pin Box...or on-line htey are listed as King Pins as well. Now I see how fifth wheeling with a short box can be done. Appreciate the help. waytogo
we have a crew cab f-250 with a short bed and we installed a reese 16k slide, have not had any problems , exept turning and hit the cab corner the first time out.
I have a short bed and tow a 30' fifth wheel. Most of the time a person with a lot of towing experience can get away without a slider. I however need all the help I can get. I got a PullRite Super Slide and have been glad I did. Trying to back the 5er into some of the spaces with narrow roads in some of our state parks the slider has more than paid for itself. The extreme angles would not be possible without the a slider of some type. When I first got the slider mounted we "tested" it and got to some extreme angles (further than anything I was going to need) without any interference to cab and could have gone further. I was more worried about axle torque, so stopped. You can definetly tow your 5er with a slider and a short bed without any issues. waytogo
I have a Hi Jacker slider hitch and a 13 inch extended pin box and I used to slide it back to get into tight spots. Now I slide it so it is about 2 inches behind the axle and I leave it there. We have a Government self serve weigh scale within ten miles of my house and I went there and I moved the hitch from forward 6 inches of the axle to behind the axle 6 inches and found that it only made about 80 lbs difference to either axle. the hitch weight on my trailer is 1800 lbs. I have towed 80,000 kilometers or 50,000miles this way with out any problems. Just my opinion Jim O
If you have a short box and have to jack-knife the trailer to park in a tight space or turn around unexpectedly in tight quarters, a 5vr will hit the cab. The trailer is 8 feet wide so the pin is 4 feet from the corner if its flush with the front. All short boxes are shorter than 4 feet from centre of axle to cab. Moving the pin forward or aft with a pin box extender will only make the problem worse (when you have to jack-knife) because you create a triangle and we all know the hypotenuse (pin to corner of trailer) is the longest side. If you think you can get by without ever having to jack-knife the trailer don't buy a slider. I can't imagine never having to though. I have to everytime I hook up but that's because of where I live and where I go. The pin extender will give you more room to make gentler turns but it also puts the trailer further away from the cab when going down the road. The closer you can get the trailer to the cab the beter your fuel economy will be.
