Help - Going to trash my truck - only 2" between pinbox and bed rails. What to do?

[Paustin]

Afternoon my fine friends,

We go full-timing in three weeks and I really need some help. I purchased a 2017 DRV FullHouse JX450. My truck is a 2014 Ram dually, long bed. Once hooked up, with the airbags full, I have *very* little room between the pinbox and the top of the bed rails. While I am ok making shallow flat turns, if I hit some uneven ground and/or a tighter turn, I am going to smash the hell out of my rails.

I talked to DRV and they just didn't have a solution. They said that they know their rigs, but not the trucks and certainly not all of the variables in joining them together. They did say that over 50% of the trucks that pick up their rigs are Dodge, so there must be a solution.

I have attached a picture of the hitch

Here are what some of the options are that I can think of

Adjust Pinbox - I am not sure that I can even do that, and would appreciate your opinion on this. It is my uneducated understanding that I *could* move the pinbox down a hole, only if all bolts are still used. You can see in the picture that there are two sets of 3 bolts. The front set has 4 holes, but the back set has only 3. That means that I'd lose one of the bolts.

2" risers - apparently you can add 2" rubber blocks between the frame and suspension. Not sure that 2" all the way back by the wheels would make any real difference all the way up by the hitch. Maybe I'm wrong.

Different hitch - I am really weak in this area and would appreciate any guidance here. I have an Anderson hitch that stands about 20" above the bed. The receiver that is connected to the kingpin adds another inch or two.

Flip the leaf springs - DRV says that this is an old-school, terrible idea that would void my warranty

New Pinbox - I don't even know if that is something that is possible, but I am sure that it would be expensive as hell.

Thank you very much for your expertise.


Link to RV
Full House Luxury Fifth Wheel Toy Haulers - DRV

[MattE]

I don't know anything about the Anderson hitches, are they not height adjustable? My Pullrite Super 5th hitch has four our five positions to choose from, each of which raises the height by an inch. I'm second from the bottom and have about 6" clearance.

[Bob_C]

When you're hooked up, is the trailer level?

[Old-Biscuit]

Raise the 5th wheel

Suspension lift...
Axle flip....move leaf springs from UNDER axle and mount OVER axles (axles don;t get flipped just what its called)
Moce leaf springs to lower holes in shackles (if you have adjustment holes) Each hole worth 2"
LCI Inc 'Correct Track' alignment kit...aligns trailer axles and lifts trailer 2"
Subframe lift....cut spring shackles off. Weld 3" 4" etc rectanglulartubing onto bottom of frame, weld shackles back on, weld cross square tubing from side to side at shackles

Lower pin box/raise hitch height

But with only 2" clearance between bed rail and trailer overrhang you will need a 'subframe lift' to gain adequate bed rail clearance AND have 5th wheel level when hitched

[donnandon]

Do you have any pictures of the problem you are talking about? Are you talking about the trailer hitting the box rails or the hitch pinbox? If it's the back of the pinbox hitting the bed side rails it is highly unlikely to happen.

[Twilightzone]

>"I don't know anything about the Anderson hitches, are they not height adjustable?"

There are 3 positions on the Anderson... hopefully the owner has tried the top position.

[Butch50]

Is your truck a 4X4?

I just bought a 2017 Ram 4X4 Mega cab dually and noticed the rear is up in the air and I knew it was going to be a problem when we got our new 5er. I started looking under the truck and reading about this problem. So there are 3 pieces of spring under the rear springs on my truck. I had the removed and placed on top of the spring pack so I could use the same U bolts. This lowered the rear of my truck by around 2". They checked the front end alignment and everything there is good.Now I know this is only a couple of inches but this is on a short bed truck. On a LB the change should be greater. This would be a start. I did this on a truck with less than 500 miles on it.

Might look into this if you are comfortable with it.

I remember a number of years back when Ford raised the rear of the F350. People started complaining about this and Ford for a short time free of charge put the 2" blocks under the spring pack like the F250 had and took out the 4" risers that came on the F350. Now both of the trucks were 4X4s.

[jacknife]

When changing height you have to think of drive line angles

[aether_one]

Originally Posted by Paustin

Afternoon my fine friends,

We go full-timing in three weeks and I really need some help. I purchased a 2017 DRV FullHouse JX450. My truck is a 2014 Ram dually, long bed. Once hooked up, with the airbags full, I have *very* little room between the pinbox and the top of the bed rails. While I am ok making shallow flat turns, if I hit some uneven ground and/or a tighter turn, I am going to smash the hell out of my rails.

I talked to DRV and they just didn't have a solution. They said that they know their rigs, but not the trucks and certainly not all of the variables in joining them together. They did say that over 50% of the trucks that pick up their rigs are Dodge, so there must be a solution.

I have attached a picture of the hitch

Here are what some of the options are that I can think of

Adjust Pinbox - I am not sure that I can even do that, and would appreciate your opinion on this. It is my uneducated understanding that I *could* move the pinbox down a hole, only if all bolts are still used. You can see in the picture that there are two sets of 3 bolts. The front set has 4 holes, but the back set has only 3. That means that I'd lose one of the bolts.

2" risers - apparently you can add 2" rubber blocks between the frame and suspension. Not sure that 2" all the way back by the wheels would make any real difference all the way up by the hitch. Maybe I'm wrong.

Different hitch - I am really weak in this area and would appreciate any guidance here. I have an Anderson hitch that stands about 20" above the bed. The receiver that is connected to the kingpin adds another inch or two.

Flip the leaf springs - DRV says that this is an old-school, terrible idea that would void my warranty

New Pinbox - I don't even know if that is something that is possible, but I am sure that it would be expensive as hell.

Thank you very much for your expertise.


Link to RV
Full House Luxury Fifth Wheel Toy Haulers - DRV

Forget something?

[Butch50]

Originally Posted by jacknife

When changing height you have to think of drive line angles

My drive line angle is less than it was prior to removing the blocks. It is straighter line that is was before the removal of the blocks. I talked to the Ram dealer before doing this and they did not see any problem with this. Also talked to their drive line expert (if there is such a thing) and he didn't see any problem. There is less stress on the u joints and by lowering it a couple of inches than raising it a couple of inches.

Think about it the lower the rear is in line with the transfer case output the better for u joints. Also what about the truck that is bought new and has a utility box added and then loaded up with a couple of thousand pounds of tools. It lowers the rear of the truck and it runs its whole life with this load.

This is IMO and I don't recommend anyone doing this unless they are comfortable with it.

[Barlow46]

Consider removing pick up bed and installing aluminum flat bed. My brother has this setup with his 4500 dodge and loves it.

[Paustin]

Added picture - not sure what happened before. Thank all!

[Paustin]

Originally Posted by MattE

I don't know anything about the Anderson hitches, are they not height adjustable? My Pullrite Super 5th hitch has four our five positions to choose from, each of which raises the height by an inch. I'm second from the bottom and have about 6" clearance.

Yes, there are three positions on the ball hitch - I am using the top-most hole. Take a look at the picture that I have added and you will see the problem.

[Paustin]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

When you're hooked up, is the trailer level?

Yes, it is. Or very close. Take a look at the picture I added and you will see the issue. Thanks for the response. I'd appreciate any input.