5th Wheel Hitches, what did you buy?

[Chief409]

When buying a new 5th wheel hitch do you go with "just enough" or opt for one which matches the tow capacity of your vehicle. I went with a DrawTight Signature Series 18K for two reasons:

1. Close match to the trucks max rating

2. The side to side pivot, which makes hooking up sooo much easier at times.

The salesman first wrote the order for a 14K hitch, as the trailer max is 12,400#

[bop11]

We went with a 16K Suprglide. This being our first 5r and having a short box truck I really like not having to worry about sliding the hitch back.
Chose the 16K because the 14K would have been under the GVWR of the camper.

[campswithcritters]

Went for under the truck rating but over the 5er rating for safety on both sides. Pull-Rite super 5th 16K

[Rob & Cathy]

We had no need for a slider with an 8' bed so we went with the Hijacker 16k Ultra “Double Pivot” Fifth Wheel Hitch.

Rob

[Me&Margie]

Ours is the same as Rob's. Nice thing about them is you can bump up their capacity to 20k by adding a couple of braces. Trouble is our truck is only rated to tow just over 16k. I think that would classify as a "catch 22"!!??

[Luizianna]

We have the Reese 16 K w/4 way pivot...didn't get the slider and as of yet, have never needed it. We've had to make some pretty sharp turns too. We have the 6 foot bed.

[Mike Clay]

Mine is the Reese 20K They threw it in the deal when I bought our last 5er.

[Don Wilson]

The Husky Hitch in the truck I just traded was a 16k hitch that was in the deal with the first trailer I bought and was rated for more than the pickup could handle.

The current hitch is a B&W Companion 5th Wheel hitch is rated at 18K and was the only hitch I could get that fits into the goose neck receiver that was already in the pickup when I purchased it. The 18k rated hitch is more than my pickup can handle, if I am reading the charts correctly my pickup is rated to handle 15,800lbs.

Don

[Tim]

I have a Husky 16K slider that I got with my first rig. When I got the new truck it went into it and supports the 29WB just fine.

[lapriester]

B&W Turnarounf hitch/Companion rated at 18K. Mostly because I need a flat bed, when not towing the 5vr, for my 11 1/2' camper. Caused me to have to change to inside the fram Ride Rites instead of the Air Lift bags I had before. An unforseen added expense that showed up while the hitch was being installed.

Larry

[Chief409]

After a year I'll say this:

The kingpin on the trailer is rated for 18K

The hitch is rated for 18K

The truck is rated for 16K

The trailer max official weight is 12400 lbs

Side to side tilt is sooo nice.. (and saves so much stress on everything)

The hitch system IS NOT the weak point of my rig!

[Future Fulltimers]

We just ordered this to upgrade our Reese 16k:
http://www.airsafehitches.com/25k_fifth_wheel.html
Wife said she was tired of all the chucking and bouncing. Maybe a little of an overkill but when Mama is happy, EVERYONE is happy!!!

[Don Wilson]

Wayne,
I think you will be very happy with the AirSafe hitch! Charles (Cardinal Man) has the Air Safe hitch in his Ford and is pretty pleased with it. I'm sure he will be comment on it as soon as he gets online!

Don

[Chief409]

I just thought I'd throw in some pictures from our last trip to Utah. The Signature 18K paid off handsomely here.

1. I drove out OK, but getting hooked up is a different ball of wax.



2. Notice the rocks in the lower right. Another 5er needed to build a ramp for the right front tire, plus (I hate Murphy!) there is a spring there!



3. Rock 'n Roll, we're almost outta here!

[campswithcritters]

Looks like a rough hook-up!
With new big truck I bought a trailersaver level bar hitch, it is also an impressive hitch that is four way articulating. I can see in the mirrors that the trailer is riding much better than the occupants of the "Freightshaker" and the jaws of the Brinkly head are impressive. Might be overkill for a Cardinal at 32K capacity, but they do make lighter duty ones and I got a great deal with free install.