Can I Tow a 5th Wheel Trailer With a Short Bed Truck?
by Anonymous
()
How to Tow a 5th Wheel Trailer With a Short Bed Truck
SuperGlide 5th Wheel Hitch
Can you tow a Fifth Wheel camper with a short box pickup?
ANSWER: Hi, yes you can tow a 5th Wheel Trailer with a Short Bed Truck as long as it meets the towing weight requirements of the trailer you are going to be towing.
Here are some facts about short bed trucks and towing a 5th Wheel Trailer: A truck is considered a Short Bed if it has a bed of less than 8' in length. So depending on the configuration of the 5th Wheel Trailer you are going to tow with a short bed, you could create a situation where the truck and/or the trailer could get damaged during tight maneuvers. The shorter the bed of the truck the more the maneuverability issue becomes.
Short bed trucks are very popular because of the extra cab space you can get. What better than having extra room in your tow vehicle to make your RVing trip more comfortable. Over the years 5th Wheel Manufacturers acknowledged this short bed truck popularity and started extending the kingpin boxes on their 5th wheel trailers. This did improve maneuverability but did not eliminate the problem for very tight maneuvers.
Depending on the year and make of your 5th wheel trailer, you may be fine with towing a 5th Wheel with a short bed truck. Quite a few RV manufacturers have also modified the noses of their trailer, allowing them to be towed without problems by short bed trucks. But if your 5th wheel is older you may have to use the solution below to fix the problem.
The Solution: The solution is the type of 5th wheel hitch you install in the bed of your short bed truck. A sliding hitch is what you will need. There are basically two types of sliding hitches manual and auto-sliding. A manual hitch requires that you get in and out of your truck a couple of times to setup the manual slide to move the hitch back when you are going to be doing some tight maneuvers. An Auto-Sliding Hitch like the PullRite SuperGlide 5th Wheel Hitch (pictured at the top of this page) automatically adjusts the hitch while you are maneuvering.
The video below does a great job of describing the differences between a manual slide and auto-sliding 5th wheel hitch.
The bottom line is: It's all about the hitch.
I hope that this information was helpful to you.
Happy RVing
RVing Al