Short Bed Hauler

[kaydspain]

I'm looking at a 2500 HD GMC Sierra with a short bed
for towing a 5th wheel with a hitch rating of 13,500.
Does anyone have experience with and evaluation of
towing with a short bed pickup?

[Bill Davey]

You will get tons of posters who tell you to just buy any old hitch and be careful. My opinion is to buy a Pullrite Superglide fully automatic sliding hitch rated at 15,000 pounds. They are NOT cheap, but neither is your truck or trailer. The hitch slides back when the truck and trailer are more than 17degrees away from straight. The hitch slides forward when the truck and trailer are back in line with each other. No levers, no latches, nothing to do but drive the truck and forget about the hitch.

[SmokeyWren]

You definitely want a slider hitch. The manual sliders usually work PROVIDED you pay attention and always slide the hitch before you put the tranny in reverse gear. You probably cannot get trailer to cab contact when going forward, but in reverse if you have a manual slider, you can jackknife in a heart beat and crunch your truck.

What Bill said. Don't try to get by cheap with a manual slider. Get a PullRite SuperGlide and you won't have any worries about crunching your truck.
PullRite has a SAFER, STRONGER, BETTER designed hitch for you

[JIMNLIN]

I have a manual sliding hitch on my last two short bed trucks because they were needed on occasion and rarely used.

Many GM short bed owners report they don't need a sliding hitch or if they have one its not used in the slide position. Reason being GM has a longer dimension than a Ford or Dodge, from the back of the cab to the trucks rear axle .
My son has a '02 2500 4x4 chevy short bed crew cab with a manual slider. Its been on the truck since '05 and two different 5ers. The slider has never been used (it frozen and wont slide anyway.

Don't waste money on a expensive auto slider if its not needed. Many of the newer 5ers have a rounded/notched front corners for short bed clearance. Makes sliding hitches obsolete.

Instead of a sliding hitch look at the Sidewinder by Reese.

[caissiel]

Originally Posted by JIMNLIN

I have a manual sliding hitch on my last two short bed trucks because they were needed on occasion and rarely used.

Many GM short bed owners report they don't need a sliding hitch or if they have one its not used in the slide position. Reason being GM has a longer dimension than a Ford or Dodge, from the back of the cab to the trucks rear axle .
My son has a '02 2500 4x4 chevy short bed crew cab with a manual slider. Its been on the truck since '05 and two different 5ers. The slider has never been used (it frozen and wont slide anyway.

Don't waste money on a expensive auto slider if its not needed. Many of the newer 5ers have a rounded/notched front corners for short bed clearance. Makes sliding hitches obsolete.

Instead of a sliding hitch look at the Sidewinder by Reese.

Pulled with older GM standard box 12 years never needed a slider. The newer models have even more distance axle to cab then my pre 99 model had. But bought a long box F250 due to shorter distance for Ford and Dodge.

[taken]

Don't forget one aspect of the discussion. Sliders are great. Auto sliders are even better. However, with some trailer nose cap designs, you don't need one like our Heartland product. So, if your rig or perspective RV has a squared nose, then yes, a slider is the way to go. If you get a brand that is short bed compatible, you don't.