F250 crewcab shortbed

[RBCCONT]

I have an f 250 crewcab.Purchasing a Larado 325rl. Going to use an Andersen ultimate aluminum. Anyone using one .How much of a turn do you get without hitting the cab?

[Cbrez]

I have a F250 supercab short box. Very happy with the towing characteristics, but ended up contacting the RV cap on two occasions during slow speed turns. Although no damage, it was enough for me to switch to a PullRite Super Glide. I can make a 90deg turn with no worries. I realize this doesn’t answer your direct question, but just offer as a data point.

[Howie]

F250 short bed, Anderson hitch, Cougar 5th, no problems 90 degree

[Frank G]

I have a 325RL and first pulled it with a F-250 short bed with a standard hitch, Now have a Ram short bed with the same hitch. We never had the occasion to use the slider feature. The wife always is outside when spotting the trailer, I keep asking her and she replies "You are not even close" I'll take her word.

I think you can reverse the setup on the Anderson and gain a few more inches of clearance. I comes at the expense of moving the load to the back of center over the rear axle. With a F-250 you are on the edge already so be careful.

[Howie]

I had to borrow Ram 3500 short bed to haul the 5er as the F350 is not available. I had to reverse the receiver? (Anderson part on the 5er) on the 5th wheel to move the 5er closer to the cab because the kingpin bracket was so close to the rear gate of the Ram. The Ram bed is slightly shorter than the F350 short bed but by reversing the receiver it worked just fine.

[RBCCONT]

I have Firestone airbags to help with the squat.I pull a lot of construction equipment around
The sticker on the door says 3200 .Was told the pin weight on 325 is 1950. But hopfully loaded should be no more than 2400?

[xrated]

Originally Posted by RBCCONT

I have Firestone airbags to help with the squat.I pull a lot of construction equipment around
The sticker on the door says 3200 .Was told the pin weight on 325 is 1950. But hopfully loaded should be no more than 2400?

GVWR on that trailer is 13K, so figuring 20% of that is 2600 lbs. If your door sticker says 3200 lbs, that would leave you with approx. 600 lbs for additional stuff.....driver's weight, passenger(s) weight, etc, etc.

[KOZKO]

I have no problems with my Laredo set up (see signature) and almost 90 turns. My street is small and my driveway is down hill - I twist that sucker all over to get it behind my house and everything is A-OK!

[jsmith948]

Just food for thought. If your trailer is the standard 96" wide, that's 48" on either side of the king pin. In order to get 90*, you will need 49" from the center of the pin to the back of the cab. If you have a short bed truck, you WILL hit the cab if you turn past 80 something deg unless you have a slider. If you can afford the extra weight, get an auto slider.

[wiredgeorge]

I have an F250 crew cab with short bed, an Andersen Ultimate and NEVER have even come close to a bump or touch even though I have to back in and turn very sharply to get into my home space.

[itat]

Originally Posted by jsmith948

Just food for thought. If your trailer is the standard 96" wide, that's 48" on either side of the king pin. In order to get 90*, you will need 49" from the center of the pin to the back of the cab. If you have a short bed truck, you WILL hit the cab if you turn past 80 something deg unless you have a slider. If you can afford the extra weight, get an auto slider.

The goal is to get the turning point of the kingpin far enough away from the back of the cab so that you'll be OK. The Andersen Ultimate moves the gooseneck ball back 5.375 inches behind the one in your bed and the coupler can give you another 4 inches of offset behind that, so more than 9 inches total if you can set it up that way. If you have to turn the AU's coupler around, I've seen people use that in combination with an offset gooseneck ball from Curt that moves the ball back 4 inches. Some "short beds" are shorter than others.

The alternative, other than a slider hitch, is a Reese Sidewinder pinbox. Lippert has a similar pinbox but I'm not a fan of Lippert stuff.

[JRTJH]

Itat,

Be cautious of moving the Anderson Ultimate further back (turning it around) if you're close to your rear axle rating. Moving the weight further back or adding a hitch extension (like the Sidewinder) can leverage the pin weight and cause an overloaded condition on the rear axle or on the pinbox. Either sets up a "perfect storm" to damage the tow vehicle and/or the trailer frame.

Doing both, reversing the AU and adding a pinbox extension, compounds the problem and makes it even more likely that you could "screw up something".... Do so only when you know you're not overloading your components......

The last thing one should do is solve one problem by creating two or three other ones.......

[Pull Toy]

"The last thing one should do is solve one problem by creating two or three other ones.......

AMEN, John

Good Luck,

[RBCCONT]

Wiredgoerge ,What way do you have the ball and adapter set.

[itat]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Itat,

Be cautious of moving the Anderson Ultimate further back (turning it around) if you're close to your rear axle rating. Moving the weight further back or adding a hitch extension (like the Sidewinder) can leverage the pin weight and cause an overloaded condition on the rear axle or on the pinbox. Either sets up a "perfect storm" to damage the tow vehicle and/or the trailer frame.

Doing both, reversing the AU and adding a pinbox extension, compounds the problem and makes it even more likely that you could "screw up something".... Do so only when you know you're not overloading your components......

The last thing one should do is solve one problem by creating two or three other ones.......

The Curt product I linked to does not extend the pinbox. It does move the ball in the bed of your truck back 4”.

The Sidewinder (and the Lippert version) can’t be used (as intended) with the AU because you can’t lock the pin to the AU hitch with a wedge like you’re supposed to with a regular 5th wheel hitch. If you have the AU and a Sidewinder pinbox, you have to use the lockout bolts in the Sidewinder.

[itat]

Here is a video of what I was talking about. (Not my video.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Iy4MrNIa8

[kfxgreenie]

If I remember correctly it was a transporter that uses a steel version Andersen that had weighed it both ways and it was a grand total of 75 Lbs removed off the front axle, on a fairly large 5er. Transporter uses a Andersen and moves 5er's from IN to TX. Wonder how many of those in the 350,000+ miles he's ran the last 5 years have fallen apart due to the hitch before the consumer even got their product.

[jsmith948]

One of the advantages of a fifth wheel trailer is the elimination of the sway caused by the "stinger steered" effect of a bumper pull trailer. The king pin on our trailer, when hitched for travel, is indexed 2 5/16" forward of the rear axle center line. Any side to side deflection of the rear of the trailer will exert side to side pressure on the pin/hitch point in the opposite direction. However, with the pivot point located ahead of the rear axle, this force must overcome the weight and rolling resistance of the entire tow vehicle. With a bumper pull, the side to side forces are actually amplified by the lever action of the hitch (the distance from the ball to the center line of the rear axle). This force will be transmitted to the tow vehicle which will actually try to pivot about the rear axle - rear of trailer moves left - trailer pivots about the axles and trailer tongue moves to the right - forcing the rear of the truck to the right - which pivots about the rear axle forcing the front of the truck to the left. Much, if not all of this is negated by positioning the pivot point forward of the rear axle. To me, it is better to have a sliding fifth wheel hitch that can be locked in the forward, travel position for towing and, when needed, moved back 9" or 10" for maneuvering. JMHO.

[JRTJH]

jsmith948,

Excellent explanation. Moving the fifth wheel "pivot point" behind the axle causes the fifth wheel to "become a travel trailer" to an extent and changes the forces leveraged by the hitch point from ahead of the rear axle to behind the rear axle. Adding a "pinbox extension" (sidewinder or similar) exacerbates the "push/pull". Keeping the hitch fulcrum above or forward of the rear axle centerline improves trailer handling, moving it behind the rear axle makes it worse. The further back it's moved, the more the "bumper hitch" action increases.

[KOZKO]

Look where my king pin is, I don’t see any issues