Community Forums

EricMe · 12-18-2020, 11:15 PM

Hi all, I am new to rving. In fact I am closing on a fifthwheel next week!

My question is can the community chime in on a slider-hitch recommendation? Dry weight of the trailer will be 12k. Guess I don’t have enough experience for a preference on an automatic vs manual. Most important to me is no “clunking”, qualify and weight for removal. I am considering a B&W 3370, Demco Hijacker DM8550024 and Curt A16 C16520-16020.

It seems like the B&W is the best quality and made in America. ++

- What are the community’s thoughts/experiences with these?
- Is there another that I should consider?

Thanks!

Skip426 · 12-19-2020, 01:53 AM

Welcome to iRV2.

To give good advice , members will need to have info on your truck .

Long box ( 8' ) trucks ; if that's what you've got ; don't require a slider , particularly not an automatic one.

Sizing a truck or hitch by the trailer dry weight ; isn't the way to go ; after the RV leaves the assembly line , it'll never be that weight again.
What's the trailer's GVWR ?

tuffr2 · 12-19-2020, 05:31 AM

Both those hitches you mentioned are good. I think the B&W is a tiny bit better but you can not go wrong with the Curt.

There are various ways now to hook a 5th wheel to your truck. Have you looked at the Anderson Ultimate or the Reese Goosebox? Both of these methods use a gooseneck ball.

With the gooseneck ball you can use a B&W companion hitch.

I am leaning toward the Anderson Ultimate as it puts the 5th wheel 4" further back and I hope I will not need a slider.

I towed a 5th wheel for 6.5 years using a traditional hitch and the hitch was heavy and clumsy and took up a lot of my 8' bed. Now my truck is a short bed.

Jshopes81 · 12-20-2020, 10:26 PM

I have a bw companion and its an awesome piece of workmanship. I have a coworker with a slider version and he says its every bit as stout as the standard hitch.

Brantel · 12-21-2020, 08:43 AM

I have the Curt A16 on a manual slider base for the Ford factory prep system.

Love it!

It was the best bang for the buck and weight I could find.

jimcumminsw · 12-21-2020, 09:19 AM

This is my opinion so, take it for what it is worth!

I have towed three different 5th wheel trailers all with the same manual Reese sliding hitch, in two different pick-up trucks. I replaced the Reese hitch with a Demco 18K above mounted bed rail hitch two years ago. Best decision I ever made when it comes to pulling a 5er.

Now most hitches will not eliminate the chucking that occurs when towing! Why? The hitch jaws do not secure the king pin tightly, there is some slop in the jaw fitment. Why? This allows the king pin to pivot as you make the turn. Thus, some chucking can occur as you stop and accelerate the pick-up truck and trailer do to the amount of slop in the jaw fitment.

Now a Demco or a Pullrite auto slider will not chuck do to jaw fitment. Why? The jaws need to be clamped tightly around the king pin in ordered for the hitch to work. The hitch head pivots as the head moves back when turning.

Both hitches are heavy but can be removed by hand (need to break them down in pieces) or a lifting device. I use a lifting device, a chain hoist to remove my hitch when needed.

I also have a TRAILAIR king pin box which helps in decoupling the propoising motion that can occur between the truck and trailer, due to road conditions. Which makes for a smoother ride.

xc-mark · 12-23-2020, 03:27 PM

I had a demco 18K auto slide with a roto pin box on my 17,000 lb redwood. I had this in my one ton single wheel truck and 6.5' bed . Its roughly going to add about 250lbs total to the truck including the bed rails, under bed and above the bed hitch . If I still had a short bed I would buy it again, it worked well and quiet. It fit the pin tight and needed s few miles of towing for it to get easy to hook up and lock. the first 200 miles it breaks in a little. The auto slide works great and doesn't bang around .