Fifth Wheel Hitch Slider Question

[tld]

Looking for advise on hitch selection. I have a 2015 Ford F250 with a 6'7" bed and the pre installed ford under bed rails. I am getting ready to purchase a 2016 Eagle HT 27.5 fifth wheel. What I'm struggling with is whether or not I need a slider hitch. Does the 6'7" bed and the shape of the front of the Eagle HT eliminate the necessity of a slider hitch? Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advise.

[Stingray75]

I can turn pretty tight without moving the slider into maneuver position but, when I want the trailer to respond quicker to steering inputs, having the hitch in maneuver position is nice to have. If the campground has a narrow road leaving little room to back in, the slide was a very useful tool. With today's front cap designs, i think it's goon from necessity to nice to have.

[TWP723]

I'd definitely get a slider with a short bed.

[dalebra]

We are looking to order an Eagle 327LKTS. This will be our first 5er. The dealer is recommending the PullRite SuperGlide. This is an automatic slider. You don't have to think about having to get out and manually move the hitch back. I haven't found a bad review yet on this hitch. The only con is $$$ and the fact that you have to hitch and unhitch +/- 10 deg. of being straight. I was telling a friend about this hitch and he says, look at my truck. He thought he had enough room and crunch! He hit his truck and cause $1000 worth of damage. Guess what... he had a slider hitch, he just didn't think he needed to move it. With any box shorter than a long you should have an auto slider. Good Luck!

[EricRom]

We have a 2014 F350 CCSB and have the pullrite superglide and love it, no worries at all and I think they make it for the factory Ford puck system.

[Kahoneys]

We have the pullrite superglide and LOVE it. I am a pessimist and the only thing that I can say bad about it is that you need to be fairly straight on when you are hooking up. But the peace of mind that it brings when taking tight turns in the city and backing up are definitely worth the extra cost over a traditional hitch.

[Wrascal]

I started my fifth experience with a short bed truck. Somewhat listening to experienced RVers I bit the bullet/ compromised, and installed a (manual) slider hitch. I did find it necessary on occasion. But it was such a pain to lock in/out that come vehicle upgrade time I would only consider a long bed.

I've still got the same hitch but no more pain, no more near misses.

[Engoff22]

I have a pull rite straight hitch with the Reese revolution pin box and love the set up. There is no need to worry about hitting your TV. It also allows you to put some items in the bed of truck as hitch stays straight while turning. Just a thought.

[cariboocreek]

I have a Pullrite. It works as advertised and does the job. The downside is they are heavy, finicky about where you hook up, and require regular maintenance. I am looking at replacing it with an Anderson Ultimate.

If I was starting from scratch I would look seriously at the Anderson.

[norty1]

We recently saw a new fifth wheel bought from CW. They sold the newbie owner a sidewinder AND a sliding hitch.
I talked to several who said they over sold him a combo not needed.

[Engoff22]

That is definitely an over sell and dangerous as well. You can not use both the slider and Revolution hitch together as that gives you two pivot points and, makes it dangerous if not impossible to drive or backup.

[Flapper]

On my F150, with the same bed, I've found that "yes", something is needed. I'd recommend the Revolution pin box. By doing so, we saved money and lots of weight over getting a slider. Which meant a hitch that is much easier to remove from the truck by myself.
But get either that, or a slider. Almost every time I make the back into my driveway, I find I would have crunched something if I didn't have that Revolution.

[namusmc65]

I've got the new Ram 2500 with the 6'4" inside bed dimensions. I also have a manual slider hitch from Reese and I have never had to use it. Had the same hitch for 2 years on a 2007 Ram SB and never used it then either. I'm sure if I was doing some steep backing, it would be needed but so far I have managed to stay out of those situations.

[Cdash]

I've been using a Superglide for 9 years in an F-350 short bed. I saw too many pictures of crunched cabs, some from people without sliders and some that had them and didn't think they needed to slide them. I didn't want to crunch my cab. I could see pulling into a gas station or campground in the middle of the night and BAM.

It may be more expensive and heavy, but I'd never go without one.

[Jack 56]

I went with the Demco autoslide hitch. I have a 2011 short bed quad cab GMC 2500hd towing a 2015 36 KTPS. I went with the Demco because I think the rack and pinion gear mecanism would be less susseptable to grit and other stuff that might be floating around in the bed of the truck than the cams system of the superglide. I can turn more than 90 degrees with no worries. The auto slide was worth the extra money. My brother-in-law forgot to slide his manual hitch and damaged his truck and fifthwheel.

[dpi7800]

Do you plan on ever taking the hitch out to use the truck to hall other items other than the 5er? If so you would probably better served with something "like" a Reese Tiatan and the Reese Revelution 90 pin box.

I have a 2015 Ram 2500 that has a 6'4" bed and I pull a Eagle HT 29.5 that has the Reese Revelution 90 pin box in conjunction with the Reese 16k Tittan. I have no issues with turning 90 degrees with the Reese pin box. Also because I do put other items I'm the bed like my generator when I'm hitched up it is nice to not have to worry about the pin box piviting and grabbing anything. The hitch it self is easy to remove for one person where most sliders take 2 men and a boy to get out.

[robkelly]

Originally Posted by dalebra

We are looking to order an Eagle 327LKTS. This will be our first 5er. The dealer is recommending the PullRite SuperGlide. This is an automatic slider. You don't have to think about having to get out and manually move the hitch back. I haven't found a bad review yet on this hitch. The only con is $$$ and the fact that you have to hitch and unhitch +/- 10 deg. of being straight. I was telling a friend about this hitch and he says, look at my truck. He thought he had enough room and crunch! He hit his truck and cause $1000 worth of damage. Guess what... he had a slider hitch, he just didn't think he needed to move it. With any box shorter than a long you should have an auto slider. Good Luck!

We just brought this same 5er home. Went with a manual slide and found that I didn't to switch it to maneuver unless I wanted to turn past about 75'. I was glad we saved the extra $$ and weight, but I also know that I will always have to be vigilant when backing.

[Rhumphers9a]

2013 Ram with the short bed mega cab, we purchased the Curt Bros. slider 20k for four reasons,1: don't want the cab or 5'er Cap smashed,2: went with the 20k instead of 15k in case we get a 5'er bigger than the 34'4" long Eagle 31.5 RLTS,3: this will mount right up on the Dodge Ram Bed pucks frame and is easily removed to actually use the bed of the truck,4: the main reason I choose Curt Bros. is besides being able to flex side to side or front to rear, it has a ball machined into the cross shaft so the truck and fifth wheel can actually rotate opposite directions and there is NO BINDING causing the truck frame or fifth wheel frame to flex!!! State of the art allowing rotation 360 degrees!!! Worth the little extra expense but knowing it is the best and I can slide it back when in a situation where I may damage the cab or 5'er and if I go larger on my 5'er it'll handle the extra weight!!!

[RedHorse1]

We do not have a slider on our short bed. My insurance company spent $500 for me to learn that I should have gotten one. I now turn with caution. My discovery that I needed a slider came not while backing but making a full-lock U-turn.

[Stovepipe]

Originally Posted by dpi7800

Do you plan on ever taking the hitch out to use the truck to hall other items other than the 5er? If so you would probably better served with something "like" a Reese Tiatan and the Reese Revelution 90 pin box.

I have a 2015 Ram 2500 that has a 6'4" bed and I pull a Eagle HT 29.5 that has the Reese Revelution 90 pin box in conjunction with the Reese 16k Tittan. I have no issues with turning 90 degrees with the Reese pin box. Also because I do put other items I'm the bed like my generator when I'm hitched up it is nice to not have to worry about the pin box piviting and grabbing anything. The hitch it self is easy to remove for one person where most sliders take 2 men and a boy to get out.

I have the exact truck you have and am considering a purchase of the exact 5th wheel you have. It sounds like your hitch setup is what I'm looking for. Up til now I thought the Pullrite SuperGlide would be my only foolproof option. I wasn't happy with the idea of the extra weight, cost, and lack of angle freedom while hitching. Would you mind clarifying a few things for me?

- Can you do a full lock u-turn with zero risk of hitting the cab with the trailer?

- Can you hookup at an angle or are you limited to +/- 10 degrees like with the Pullrite?

- Do you recall roughly the cost of this hitching setup?

- Does the trailer sit nose high with your RAM? Did you do any modifications to the trailer to account for a nose high situation?

- Do you know if regular maintenance is required for your hitch?

- Finally, just so I'm clear, your setup isn't a "sliding hitch" it's just that the pinbox keeps the cap of the trailer farther back?

I'm new to this and trying to educate myself before even talking with a dealer. Any additional information you can give me on your rig would be appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: Thought of one more question; is there any risk of damaging the tailgate with this setup? Any need for a cut-out tailgate?