fifth wheel tow problem

timk49 · January 13, 2003

A friend has an 02 reg cab long bed 8.1 eng. allison trans. He jsut bought a 28 foot fifth wheel with two slide outs. We got to the desert campground and he couldnt get over the undulations in the road. the clearance between the truck bed rails and his fifth wheel wasnt enough. Now he cant get into any of the usual spots where we all hang out. Is there any fix or is he stuck with a situation that cant be solved?

Shaners · January 13, 2003

I've never heard of that one before. I don't know much about 5-er's and I wonder if there is another type of hitch available that would keep the front of the trailer a little higher. I know some of the guys in here talk about a "slider" hitch. Maybe something like that would help???

maggot · January 13, 2003

Just have him take it his rig to the camper shop. There should be atleast two adjustments that can be made fairly easy. Should not be a big deal.

4x4man · January 13, 2003

If the trailer is level when it is hooked up to the truck and there is not enough clearance between the bedrails and the bottom of the trailer, then the axels on the trailer can be flipped. Meaning, if the trailer has leaf springs, most of the campers have the axels below the spring pack, but flipping the axels, they put weld new spring perches to the top of the axel and bolt the springs to the top of the axel. This gives the trailer something like 3-4" inches of lift. You could then raise the hitch in the bed of the truck 3-4" giving you the necessary bedrail clearance. This can be done at most camper dealers as well as Camping World for a few hundred dollars. I thought I heard something to the effect of you need a minimum 6" of bedrail clearance to clear most road situations.

Hope this helps

Bob

Shaners · January 13, 2003

4x4man brings up a good point. When I was looking at a fiver last summer, I noticed that the frame rails on the trailer allowed for the spring shackles to be adjusted so the trailer would ride at different heights. (ie. so it could be properly adjusted to be towed behind a 4x4 or a 4x2). Maybe the trailer dealer didn't set up his new rig properly.

canuck · January 13, 2003

you gotta check, if the 5er is sitting level, when hitched to the truck. I.E: not tiltet towards the rear or front of the trailer. If it is sitting level, then you need to raise the ride height of the 5er in order to do a proper job.

I had a 2" liftkit installed in mine at the factory, when they were building it and it all worked out fine. I now have "two fists" clearance between rail and trailer.

Not so sure about "flipping the axles", I have never seen that done in any satisfactory way, but that does not mean it cannot be done.

BTW, what size wheels does your friend have? 15's or 16's? If he has 15's and does not need much more clearance, he might gain a bit by going to 16's.

Hope this helps a bit.

2002 F-350, PSD, 4x4, Lariat, SRW

2003 General Coach Corsair (same as Citation), 29.5 RLS

Colorado Kid · January 13, 2003

Most of the common 5th wheel hitches can be bolted together in different postions so that the plate height changes through a range of at least 5 inches. Depending on how the trailer sits when hooked up he made need to make adjustments at the trailer axels or the hitch. there are also a couple of ways to lower the rear of the truck and inch or two. Velvet-ride shackles...other shackles or possibly a different spring package can work to lower the back of the truck.

timk49 · January 13, 2003

Thanks for the ideas guys. I did notice that there were a couple more bolt holes in hitch mount in the bed of his truck. It looked as though it would give him a couple more inches right there. I hadnt thought about the axel spacers to raise the trailer or flipping the springs. I think he is going to check out both options.

His tires and rims looked tall I didn't really look that close to see the size. They looked taller than the 16's on my truck.

I'll let you know what happens.

Shotgun · January 13, 2003

I lifted mine like 4x4 talked about and it was much better,even though it's not a 5th wheel....Gun

Shaners · January 14, 2003

He should lift the hitch plate up more since it appears that he can. If that causes his 5er to no longer sit level then he needs to look at adjusting the ride height for his trailer.

On alot of campers (mostly fifth wheels) if you look under the trailer, there are verticle pieces of frame work coming down that the springs are bolted into. Most of the ones I've seen have three holes drilled in them. By changing the mounting points of the spring shackles from the bottom to the middle or to the top hole, you are able to adjust the ride height of the camper. If his is adjustable this way, then I think the dealer hosed him when got everything hooked up. In my opinion the dealer took the "easy way out" and just lowered the hitch plate in the bed so the trailer would set level and didn't take into consideration the clearance problems when going over undulations.

timk49 · January 14, 2003

Shanners you are correct about the adjustments but to be fair to the dealer the undulations are not on paved roads. They are on a desert trial that follows the lie of the land. it is the travel through the dry washes and such terrain that he has the problems. I have no problem with the same roads while towing my 17' travel trailer and I've seen several bigger rigs on the road. I am sure he will check out the axle spring adjustments and the other fixes you have all provides. I'll keep you posted. The poor guy was so dissappointed this weekend that he was ready to go buy an old 18' trailer just to use on the desert claims. Let's hope all works out.

thanks for the comments.