HELP! Slider Hitch

I need HELP from those with slider hitches in their short bed trucks. This is our first slider hitch so bear with me. It's a Reese slider hitch. We took the truck out to the storage lot where our Wildcat is to see how level the trailer would be when hitched up. We encountered an unexpected problem.

In order to hitch up to the truck with the tailgate down we have to move the slider hitch to the locked maneuvering position. If we attempt to hitch up in the locked towing position the tailgate will come in contact with the trailer.

The same goes for unhitching from the truck. In order for the tailgate to lower all the way, the hitch has to be in the locked maneuvering position. This just doesn’t seem right to me. Am I missing something or did the dealer install my hitch wrong?

My first guess is the hitch is directly over the axle and not just forward of it a inch or so. Almost sounds like the hitch is to the rear of the axle. My 01' ford I can back under with a few inches to spare from the camper with the gate down. Yours should be about the same, I doubt the beds got that much shorter.


with the hitch in towing position, and the king pin was sit'n in it , where would the center of the king pin be in relation to the truck axle ?

How short is your bed? The box on mine is 6.5' and I can hitch up just fine with the tailgate down and the hitch in the forward position. When hitched up, the pin is 1" forward of the center line of the rear axle.

John

I have a long bed and I have to raise the tailgate before the hitch is locked (nonslider). If I'm perfectly line up with the trailer, I can keep it down, but if I'm off a few degrees left or right it will make contact. My hitch centerline is about 2" forward of the rear axle.

Richard,

I fear the same thing is going to happen with our rig.

We never had a problem with our other 5er or towing a friends but the front (Upstairs over-hang, kingpin to storage doors) looks much shorter on the Wildcat than our old one. In fact, it looks much shorter than many other brands of 5ers.

We've yet to hook up to the new Cat but I expect the same as you. Our hitch is installed correct. I've measured with a tape and it will be very close.

I hope to know for sure early next month if this exceptionally long cold weather pattern ever breaks.

Either your hitch is mounted too far forward or the Fords have a longer box extension behind the axle. My hitch (king pin) is 4 inches ahead of the axle and I still have 3 or 4 inches clearance to the tailgate when it is down. I have to be lined up fairly straight when backing in or the corner of the tailgate will hit the cat. I never use the slider feature.

On my 2004 F-350 Short bed I can not hook up with tailgate down and the Reese 16K slider hitch in towing position.
So I solved that problem with on of these 5th Wheel Tailgate.
I forgot to to say after I backed to a tree with the stock tailgate when parking the truck after I unhooked from the 5th wheel at a campground . DW at me.

Richard,
I went out and measured from the end of my bed to the bed rail. Its 32 & 3/8 inches.

What's your measurment?

I dont have any problem with the gate down either, but I do have a 5th wheel gate now.

oldelmer1 wrote:Richard,
I went out and measured from the end of my bed to the bed rail. Its 32 & 3/8 inches.

What's your measurment?

I dont have any problem with the gate down either, but I do have a 5th wheel gate now.

I downloaded the installation instructions for the rails thinking that the dealer must have install them in the wrong position. Nope the rails are in the correct position.

The measure from bed rail to the end of the bed is 32 & 5/8 inches. The instructions say it should be 32 & 1/2 so I'm sure an eighth of an inch isn't the problem. I believe I see a louvered tailgate in my future.
Thanks for the help everyone.

Just remember when you get the 5th wheel gate that you still have to make sure the king pin is up high enough to clear the V in the gate. Sometimes you have to lower your camper a lot to level it up and that leaves the king pin / box way low to clear the gate when hooking back up..

Admin wrote:Just remember when you get the 5th wheel gate that you still have to make sure the king pin is up high enough to clear the V in the gate. Sometimes you have to lower your camper a lot to level it up and that leaves the king pin / box way low to clear the gate when hooking back up..

I'm beginning to think I should have kept my old Dodge. I drove that 2002 Dodge shortbed without a slider hitch all those years and only once wished that I had a slider. That one occasion was trying to get out of a filling station that I had no business going into in the first place.

Most of the snow has melted from the storage lot where our Wildcat is kept so if the weather holds tomorrow I'll hitch up and take for a very easy test drive.

Now I definitely know why I had no trouble with the Dodge tailgate. On the Dodge the hitch was over the axle, on the Ford it is 4 inches forward of the axle. Here's the real kicker, the length of the tailgate on the Dodge was 16 and 1/2 inches, on the Ford it is a full 22 inches. That 9 and 1/2 inches makes all the difference in the world.

Richard, it sounds like you have exactly the same problem I did. With my new truck, the Ford dealer installed the rails using a non slider that they had as a guide. I also have the Reese 16K slider and as you know, when in the towing position, the hitch is very close to the front rail. When I dropped my hitch into the bed rails they installed, the king pin ended up being 4 1/2 inches in front of the axle. The documentation for the Reese slider states the king pin should be over the axle or slightly in front. I had them move the bed rails back 4 inches so the king pin would be where it should be as outlined in the Reese installation manual.