Leveling 5er / Hitch Adjustments

[chertz]

Preparing to take delivery of my first ever fifth wheel later this week... I will be mounting a B&W Patriot 16K in the bed of my '14 Ram 3500.

I backed under the trailer on the dealer lot this weekend (trailer was sitting roughly level) and i had 4-5 inches of bed rail clearance. Thinking I would really like 6-8 inches of clearance... I assume that between the hitch adjustment and the tongue weight pushing down the rear of the truck I should be easily able to get that much clearance right?

anyone else with a similar setup?

[Zac808]

You should be able to get more clearance. Depends on where you hitch and tongue are currently setup. Hopefully, not already maxed out.

[rjxj]

The pin weight may not do much for the bed rail clearance but you may be able to drop the pin box hole adjustment. As you drop the pin box you will increase the bed rail clearance but it may also cause the FW to be nose high. Then you get into how to raise the FW. If that is needed you can sometimes move the springs down into lower holes on the brackets or some people will use alignment kits which are used for axle alignment but also give an 1 1/2 or 2 inches of lift. Then you get into axle flips which can give too much lift or some will go with a sub frame. If it aint one thing it's another.

I would also say you do want 6 inches or more of clearance. I have about 8 and use it at times when I get in tight boondocking spots and back it down into uneven areas.