Reese Fifth Wheel Installation Kit for the 2012 2500 by Ram

Video Transcript for Fifth Wheel Hitch Kit Installation - 2009 Dodge Ram 3500 Series Mega Cab

Today on this 2009 Dodge Ram 3500 Series Mega Cab we will be installing the signature series rail kit part number 30074. The first thing we want to do in preparation to installing our cross members under the bed is to remove our spare tire and get it out of the way so we have some more working room. The cross members we are going to be installing are going to be sitting in between the two hat channels right above the exhaust and over top of the gas tank as well. On standard models you can follow the directions to fit the cross members in from underneath the bed and just manipulate them into position. However on this mega cab model the spacing is not there for us to do that so what I am going to do is loosen up the bed and slide the cross members in from the outside of the frame directly across over the top. 00:48

There are four bolts per side that are holding the bed to the frame rail. We are going to remove the two rear most bolts and just simply loosen the two forward ones so that the bed does not shift on us. With the bed loosened up we can slide our cross members into place. I am going to run the bolts in and out of the weld nuts in the side before we go ahead and do that just to make sure that they are cleaned out to make it easier to get the bolts in place. What I have done is put a block of wood here over one of the hat channels that is going to help hold the bed up while I slide my cross members through. When sliding the cross members into place we want to make sure that we have the welded plate facing towards the bottom that is going to be making contact with the frame. Next we can loosely install our frame brackets to the cross members. We are going to be using the 5/ 8 by 1- 1/ 2 inch bolts along with a lock washer and flat washer. 01:40

At this time we need to determine if we are going to be using the clamp on application for our side brackets or if we are going to be using the drilled holes where it mounts directly to the frame. For this installation we are going to be using the clamps so we need to put our clamps into place. The forward clamp that we are going to be using has the square holes in it and you see we have got one at the top and two holes at the bottom. The 1500 series will be using the top hole. The 2500 and 3500 series will use the bottom hole. That is going to align from the inside of the frame with the holes here and the bracket. Attaching to those we are going to be using the long carriage bolts and tube spacers as well. We are going to go above and below the frame. For this forward bracket we are going to be using the zinc colored tube spacers. For the rear clamp we are going to be using this one here. That is going to be attaching to this hole and it is going to go diagonally and attach to these holes as well. We are going to be using the bottom set of holes for our application. For this one we are going to be using the same carriage bolts but we are going to be using the gold colored tube spacers. At this position we are going to need to put a spacer in. This is going to need to go in between the frame bracket and the frame itself. We are going to install those now. Make sure when installing the brackets and carriage bolts that we flush against the frame. Make sure we are not pinching the wiring harnesses or the brake lines. 03:11

At the top of the bracket you will notice that it has got round holes opposed to the square holes for the carriage bolt so at this location you are going to need to add a one by two inch block. We do not want to forget to put the spacer at this location in between the frame and the bracket. We want to attach those carriage bolts to the brackets using the conical tooth washer and hex nut. Then we just want to repeat that procedure for the passenger side as well. With both frame brackets on each side we can go ahead and start tightening the bolts down so we do want to make sure that the frame brackets are sitting square evenly on both sides. With the brackets tightened down we are next going to go ahead and use the pointed bolt that is provided with the installation kit and mark out our holes that are going to need to be drilled for our puck system. Before we do that we want to remove the spacers in between the bed and the frame and also put the bed bolts back in. To mark the holes in the bed take the pointed bolt and run it into the threads in the cross members here. When we tighten that down the pointed end will make it dimple inside the bed. Note that the upper driver side hole is right above the gas tank so we will not be able to get our pointed bolt in there. Once we get the other three marked out we will take some measurements and that will tell us where to drill the hole for that location. 04:48

Now that we have used the pointed bolt we can go back inside the bed here and find the dimples that we made. On this particular vehicle they are kind of hard to see because we do have a spray in bed liner but they are sitting on the inside of this corrugation. To make sure you are finding the correct one they will be 13 inches apart. We will find the one on the driver side as well and measure out 13 inches. With those located we want to remove the bolts that are holding the frame brackets to the cross members. Just slide the cross members out of the way a little bit so when we drill our holes through the bed we do not hit the cross members and the scar those up. With the holes cut we want to take our cross members and slide them back into position both into the frame brackets and hand tighten them. We will come back inside the bed here and install our pucks. The pucks are going to sit into the cross members. The bottom will fit right in the groove in the cross member. We want to make sure we put our trim ring over top of the puck before we it. Take our button headed screw along with the lock washer and that through the hole in the puck down and thread it into the cross member and tighten those down. Continue that for all four of them and come back through and start the torquing process. Start torquing with these pucks first. Go back under the bed to first torque the cross members to the frame brackets and finally torque the frame brackets to the frame. You may notice that when you go to torque the cross members to the frame brackets that you have some interference from the overhang on the bed itself. If that is the case you may need to cut out a section to give you enough clearance to get to the bolt heads to torque them down. You can possibly move the pucks and lift the bed back up out of your way. With all of the bolts torqued down our installation is completed. Make sure that if you removed any wiring harnesses from the frame rail that you tie those back up into place and if you removed any brake lines, the same thing there. Also make sure to put the spare tire back up into position. That will conclude the installation of the signature series rail kit part number 30074.