Frank L's 27RLSE

Finally got around to posting my cat to the Member's Photos site. Now that I compare, it appears that most have more vertical clearance between tailgate and bottom of fifth wheel than I do?

I could not find your album, is it public?

I poked around for a while and found the picture. Yes...it does look close to me. I've got 6" clearance on mine. Wish I had more but I don't want to adjust the suspension. I hope it's OK with you...I posted your pic here.



John

I also have approximately 6" of clearance. From what I read when setting up my hitch, 6" is the minimum recommended by the hitch manufacturer. When entering or exiting parking lots/CGs, I always keep a close eye out so my Cat doesn't make contact with the bed. Knock on wood, so far so good!

Frank,

One thing that I have noticed, the new body style trucks seem to have deeper beds than the older body style. I know the new Chevy 2500's have a deeper bed than my '02 by an inch or two (this is an estimate, I haven't measured but will next time I'm around a new truck). This could cause the issue with your Cat being so close to the bed rail.

I have the truck with the deeper box and it doesn't seem to matter. I would like more clearance. My suspension is in the middle hole, so if necessary I could raise the Wildcat up somewhat.

AVid,

I would be curious to know the dept of your bed so i can compare with my '02...of course when you get a chance.

Thanks...

According to the GMC web site the inside bed height is 21". Seems like it's more than that to me. It might be a couple of days before I can measure mine. The cover is on and we are getting more snow tonight. If it was nice out I would go measure it right now...but measure it I will.

John

The Tundra's bed depth is 22 1/2 inches. My hitch is one inch from the top most position. I may have to raise it. I did tow the trailer home from the dealer without incident, however that was on highways, not campground roads.

Frank,,, if your camper hasn't been raised on the trailer axles ,, I think you could raise the rear of the camper and have the clearance your needing,,,, I personally would keep the nose low as possible and raise the rear of the camper. It will also keep you from scrubbing into McDonalds and a whole bunch of other driveways with the DIP>>>>

It looks from the picture above if you raised the rear your camper would be sitting perfect Level and you'd add a couple more inches of tail gate clearance.

I'm not sure why the truck manufacturers are going to deeper beds. It may be an aerodynamics improvement, I guarantee it has something to do with saving money, either directly on a per vehicle basis or on fuel usage improvement...helping the fleet mileage. Increasing bed depth was not just a styling feature...I'm pretty sure of that.

My 03 GMC bed depth is 20 inches. I know the height from the ground to the bottom of the bed has also be getting greater. I can reach the bottom of the bed in my truck standing on the ground. In my BIL's 08 GMC one needs a stool to reach the bottom of the bed. It is also nearly impossible to step up into the back of the bed on his new truck, but fairly easy to do so in mine. The higher side wall is much more of a problem with a long bed than with a short bed, as my BIL has hit the rails on his truck with a six inch clearance. With 7 inches, I have not had any clearance problems.

It is my understanding that the truck manufactures are trying to promote cubic inches of haul that their trucks have. Higher sidewalls equals more hauling capacity.

I have been thinking of trading trucks if the incentives get a little better, but am not sure I want to go through the effort of getting the fifth wheel leveled out and getting the clearance correct.

How does one raise the rear?

If you look at the ends of the springs where they are attached to the frame there may be another hole below the spring. If so you can move the spring to the lower hole and it will raise the Cat approximately 1 1/2 inches.

Thanks Dave, I'll check that out.

Frank L: When i bought a new 08 dm my trailer sat low in the back and i only had about 5" clearance between the tailgate and trailer. I seen a post from bobbystuff.com of how he had put 2' blocks between the axle and springs. I had some 2" heavy wall tubing that i used and it leveled my trailer. still only have about 6" clearance but that was the best i could do. dont know how to post pictures but go to bobbystuff.com and he has some.

MaxRock wrote:AVid,

I would be curious to know the dept of your bed so i can compare with my '02...of course when you get a chance.

Thanks...

I went out and measured this morning. The floor of the box is corrugated so it matters by 1/2" where you measure from. From the low point in the corrugation it's 21.5"...21" from the high point. I think the bigger issue is that the floor of the box is higher off the ground than previous years.

John

Just curious but I noticed that you have the airbags, how much psi you have in them? It looks from the picture that the truck is not in the meat of the leaf springs and sitting slightly nose down. I would think you could let the truck sit a little lower in the back and easily make up that inch or so. If the truck is not getting to the tension of the leaf springs then your putting all the bounce on the axles and tires themselves and the springs are not absorbing anything with the bags. Hard to tell from pic though

Believe it or not, the airbags only have 10psi in them.

That's about all I ran in mine 10 to 15 psi, Well it was an easy try and less labor. It sounds like if you want the height your gonna have to lift it, I don't have all that much clearence on mine maybe 4" but I'm always watching it on certain terrain.