Had some fun yesterday and today getting my B&W 5th wheel hitch assembled and installed.B&W provides good instructions so thing went pretty well. I put my hydraulic lift table to work to ease assembly.
Everything laid out and I even read the instruction ahead of time. The base comes assembled as is with the cam locks installed and I found out later they were darn close.
My next step was to determine the hid head height I needed. My trailer king pin plate is 12" below the overhang. I want 7" of clearance to the Retrax rails, and I want the head to be below the cover so it can be covered when not in use. The hitch can be set to 3 height setting and two horizontal positions. Height's can be 16 3/4, 17 3/4. and 18 3/4". Kingpin can be 3" in front of axle or 1" in front of axle. I chose the 1" to have better tail gate clearance when down and to be able to get into the front compartment when hooked up.
Distance to bottom of Retrax cover (bottom of track is about 20 1/4 " Top of the retrax rail is approximately 21 3/4". As I know the hitch head pivots slightly I chose to set the hitch up at the 17 3/4" height This should give me 4" from top of hitch to top of Retrax rails or roughly 8* clearance (12" - 4")
So I started assembling the arms to the base. Double check the offset direction of the arms - I had the first one reversed (3" forward)
Assembly complete except for final tightening (torque to 110 ft-lbs).
I thin installed the spring clip to keep the head titled correctly for hook up.
Getting this clip on was the toughest part. You drive it on with a hammer.
Everything laid out and I even read the instruction ahead of time. The base comes assembled as is with the cam locks installed and I found out later they were darn close.
My next step was to determine the hid head height I needed. My trailer king pin plate is 12" below the overhang. I want 7" of clearance to the Retrax rails, and I want the head to be below the cover so it can be covered when not in use. The hitch can be set to 3 height setting and two horizontal positions. Height's can be 16 3/4, 17 3/4. and 18 3/4". Kingpin can be 3" in front of axle or 1" in front of axle. I chose the 1" to have better tail gate clearance when down and to be able to get into the front compartment when hooked up.
Distance to bottom of Retrax cover (bottom of track is about 20 1/4 " Top of the retrax rail is approximately 21 3/4". As I know the hitch head pivots slightly I chose to set the hitch up at the 17 3/4" height This should give me 4" from top of hitch to top of Retrax rails or roughly 8* clearance (12" - 4")
So I started assembling the arms to the base. Double check the offset direction of the arms - I had the first one reversed (3" forward)
Assembly complete except for final tightening (torque to 110 ft-lbs).
I thin installed the spring clip to keep the head titled correctly for hook up.
Getting this clip on was the toughest part. You drive it on with a hammer.
Comment