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5th wheel hitch adjustment front to back

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  • 5th wheel hitch adjustment front to back

    I'm looking for information on how to determine the best front to back adjustment for a 5th wheel hitch. There is plenty of information about up and down but I have not found much about front to back.

    TV: 2018 RAM 3500 LB SRW with OEM air system on rear and factory prep mounts in bed
    Rig: 2020 S class Solitude 2930RL-R
    Hitch: B&W Companion OEM RAM 25,000 lbs.

    The pivot arms on the hitch can be installed from 4" behind the axle to 2" in front. I assume this is to allow balancing of the total vehicle weight between the two axles. For example if there is a lot of cargo weight already in the truck maybe the king pin should be a little behind the axle. And if the load is pretty much just the tongue weight maybe adjust to in front of the axle to avoid putting all that weight on the rear axle.

    The other issue is the horizontal clearance between the rear of the TV and the front of the rig. Seems like this should be maximized as long as the loading of the truck is safe. btw this TV is a recent upgrade from the Chevy so first time using a vehicle with air bags. I assume these will help level the rear end at least a little (maybe an inch?).
    2018 RAM 3500 LB SRW
    2020 Solitude S-class 2930RL-R

  • #2
    Did a quick google search to confirm my suspicion. Multiple sources state that the kingpin should be over the rear axle centerline or slightly forward. Also, with a long bed you should be good on the clearance between nose and cab.
    John
    2018 Momentum 395M
    2018 Ram 3500 Dually
    Every day is a Saturday, but with no lawn to mow.

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    • #3
      Thanks for the reply.

      I too found several forums stating the same thing you said (including etrailer.com where I bought the hitch). What's odd is there is no mention of this in the B&W instructions even though there is three times as much adjustment front to back as there is up and down: they only talk about having the rig level. The B&W you tube video describes how to adjust the height after "you've decided where you want the front to back position". No advise as to where that my be.

      Aside from the weight distribution question my other concern is having enough room to fully open the tailgate and access the bed of the truck when the rig is hooked up. Hence my interest in how far back can I set the pin. We took the truck to the rig, opened the tailgate and backed up to the rig until almost touching it with the tailgate. It looks like we'll have a few inches of clearance there once the rig is hooked up but that's about it.

      Anyway the new hitch showed up yesterday (packaging trashed; definitely not packaged or shipped correctly) so time to get to work once the deep freeze passes.
      2018 RAM 3500 LB SRW
      2020 Solitude S-class 2930RL-R

      Comment


      • #4
        For what it's worth, I haven't had any trouble dropping my tail gate to hook up or on-hook with my pin centered over the rear axel. Some where in some thread someone said that the distance from the rear axel to the back of the truck is uniform for all all trucks, its the distance between the front and rear axel (or the cab and the rear axel) that changes on the short beds. I suspect that tailgate wise you'll be fine with which ever pin location you go with.
        John
        2018 Momentum 395M
        2018 Ram 3500 Dually
        Every day is a Saturday, but with no lawn to mow.

        Comment

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