2nd gen "short bed" trucks and 5th wheel setup questions
 

Anyone with a 2nd gen short bed who has a 5th wheel..... I'm looking to find out if you've ever weighed your truck axles on scales with the 5th wheel connected. What were those weights on the front and rear axles and how heavy was the trailer?

Also, where is your king pin in relation to the rear axle? Is it directly over it, behind it, in front of it, and by how far? And/or, measuring from the end of the bed to the back hitch rail edge, how many inches do you have? My rail edge to the end of my bed is 25".

Thank you anyone who can help answer these questions. I'm trying to figure out some concerns and issues and need the help of any short bed buddies. [coffee]

I have a 2000 short bed and I installed a slider hitch. With that your pin will be over the axle. Then if you need to turn a tighter corner you can slide your hitch to the rear position for maneuvering. I haul a 3814 Raptor that is 39'7" from the pin to the rear of the camper. Weight runs approx. 15,000 lbs.

Thats a HEAVY trailer. [coffee] Have you ever CAT scaled it to find out the "real" trailer weight and the pin weight? I'd be interested to know.

Never ran it across a scale yet but plan on it this spring. I prefer to do it fully loaded the same as I do when I travel. They say the dry weight is 11,500. Add all of the misc. and an Ultra Classic and that should do it. I will post some weights when I do run it across a scale. By the way, I pull it with a 93 1 ton dodge now.

Katoom, The pin needs to be either over or up to 3" in front of the axle center on any length bed. The weight of the trailer over the pin won't matter either as the springs are the same on short or long bed diesel. If you are pulling a real heavy trailer you might need air bagsto level things out only.. If the trailer pin is at least 13" in front of the front line of the trailer body you won't need a slider type hitch, only used mine in extreme situations. i been pulling 5rs for 25 years. Love'em.

Thanks whiskers. I believe that "optimal" measurements for the pin is 2" in front of the axle, but with short beds placing the hitch so the pin is as far back as 1" behind the axle is acceptable.

I have a manual slider and it works great but if I had to do it over, I'd have the Superglide autoslide 18k which mounts on universal rails instead of the normal Superglide mounting.

I realize this is a few months old, but wanted to comment since I had not seen any actual short-bed fixed hitch responses. I bought my 2001 short-bed used so the rails were already installed. Where the rails are mounted locates the pin on my 15K Reese pivot at least 1" behind the rear axle... maybe 1.5". I'd probably prefer it right over the axle, but I have experienced no issues with my 8500 lb 29-footer.

An auto slider would be nice, but I have only touched the trailer corner to the cab once and was probably 80* at that point. I also have a 5th Airborne which may have given me an extra couple degrees before touching.

Let me know if you have any other questions.