Fifth Wheel Base Rail Kit Installation - 2011 Ford F-250

Installation of a Fifth Wheel Base Rail Kit on a 2011 Ford F-250

Today on this 2011 Ford F-250 we are going to install part number RP50073-58. There are a few things we need to do to get started. First off we took off the rear wheels that way you can see what is going on a little bit easier and with that ready we will get in the bed of the truck and start marking off for one of the rails for the hitch. We are going to measure from the edge of the bed of the truck itself back to the inside edge of one of the rails. With that part okay we will measure from left to right to make sure it is even. Once you have it the way you want it mark out the holes. 00:34

Before we did the drilling we also used a piece of wood to put between the bed and the frame just to protect any components and keep it from getting drilled when it did not need to be. Then we will drill out a 1/ 8 inch pilot bit and drill a hole through the bed and then we will line that up with the frame bracket and make sure everything is okay. We will locate the pilot holes, we have got one right here and on the other side will come up to a hat channel. We are going to line up with the frame bracket and that frame bracket is going to wrap around this hat channel going towards the back and the frame bracket going towards both sides. The front is going to stay on this side here and match up to the holes and see how it fits up against the bed. It looks like it is going to match up these two holes here and here. It looks like it will be a good fit. We will repeat the same process back on the driver side as well. 01:21

We have got the holes marked just remove the rail and we will enlarge them to their final size. We will do it using multiple bits working our way up to the 9/ 16. Now we are going to start installing the frame brackets and we are going to use the hardware that comes with the kit. We are going to use these two pieces right here which look like Ford factory hardware. It is kind of nice it has got a little lever to catch the nut on the other side. Put the bracket up and line it up with the hole and put the bolt in and put the nut in on the other side. Now go to the front one and do the same thing. It is going to be kind of awkward to get to so we are going to have to reach over the gas tank and some components here to get to it. We will move over to the passenger side and we will hold it up and do the same thing once more. On the passenger side we are going to use a different bolt hole on the bracket which is going to be right here. The hardware on the backside is going to be identical. 02:13

Now we will start with the front rail that we had marked and drilled out previously and we will start off by installing some spacers. These spacers need to be installed between the rail and the corrugation if there is a gap. If there is not a gap then you can put it on top and the block will go on the bottom. In this case we are going to put it underneath and this block will slip in between the hat channel and the frame and that will give us all of the metal to metal contact that we need. You do not have to get these right on top of the bolt in fact you can go over to the next corrugation over as long as you have not made contact between the bed rail, through the bed itself, and on to the frame bracket. Lets repeat the same process back on the other side, put the rail back into place and the bolts through. Go back below and loosely install the rest of the hardware. We will get the spacer block, the lock washer, and the nut. Just enough to hold everything together and we will do the other side. Lets go back over to the passenger side. We will place the second rail and we will use the hitch itself to help place it. 03:17

What we will do next is measure between the rails and check them for square. We will start off by measuring the equal distance between the rails. Then we will check the left and right make sure it is centered in the bed like we did before and then we will go check one from the other going across the corners of the rails themselves. Once you have them equal on both sides you will know that they are square. Same as before we will mark and drill the holes and we will be using the same two outside set of holes on the rail. Just like the front rail make sure you put the spacers between the frame bracket and the bed. The same as the front wheel, we will go after drilling the holes and put everything back together and install the hardware. With all of the hardware installed now we will put the hitch back in the rails and we will give it a shake to help make sure it is centered. If you have got some movement in there that is fine. What we will do next is snug down the bolts that go from the frame rail to the frame bracket and then periodically we will check the hitch and make sure it is loose and not binding up. Once you are satisfied with the hitch installed in the rails then work the bolts down to the final core. We will move on to the frame brackets and the hardware that goes to the frame itself. We will snug them down and then torque them down as specified in the instructions. Once you have everything snugged down and the hitch moves like it is supposed to you have got two more pieces of hardware to install. We are going to drill a bolt hole here and the same place on the other side of the hitch itself. All we have to do to tighten it down is add a conical tooth washer and a nut. With the hardware for the frame brackets torqued down we are finished with the install and there you have it for part number RP50073-58.