Fifth Wheel Installation - 2009 Toyota Tundra - Video

Today on this 2009 Toyota Tundra we will be installing fifth wheel brackets and rails part number V55151R. The first thing we want to do in preparation to installing our fifth wheel brackets is to go ahead and remove the EPA canister that is the unit here that we are looking at. It is almost directly above the axle. There is one nut on the out board side of the frame that is holding that on. Go ahead and remove that nut. We will also need to remove the nut off this side as well. To get the EPA canister off from the inside. :34 more

Watch Video

Posted: 11/17/2009 4:56:06 PM

Fifth Wheel Installation - 2008 F-250 Super Duty - Video

Today on this 2008 Ford F-250 Super Duty we are going to install part number 50060-6008. First thing you want to do is lower the spare tire so you have access to tighten the bolts on the frame brackets. And we can immediately go up the bed and start placing our front rail. What is going to happen is the rail is going to sit in between the fender wells and it is going to place the fifth wheel over the axle. We are going to lay the rail in the bed and then set it in place according to the measurements in the instructions. more

Watch Video

Posted: 9/22/2009 2:19:15 PM

Fifth Wheel Installation - 2009 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD - Video

Today on this 2009 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD Pickup we are going to install part number 50061-6008 from towing products. First thing we need to do is get the truck ready to install the 5 th wheel. Lower the spare tire, also in this case the vehicle has a factory brake controller which you need to take the sensor off the inside of the frame rail and get that out of the way so we can install the hardware. more

Watch Video

Posted: 9/1/2009 3:48:32 PM

5th Airborne Sidewinder Arm Assembly Review - Video

Today we are going to show you part number 5AS02 from 5th Airborne. This is the 5th Airborne Sidewinder Arm Assembly. And what this part does is basically it replaces the pin box on your fifth-wheel trailer and actually pushes the pivot point back away from the truck, which allows a short-bed pickup to pull a fifth-wheel trailer without the need of a slider assembly. And this can also be used on pickup trucks with less than a 6-foot bed, also. more

Watch Video

Posted: 5/19/2009 9:24:30 AM

Fifth Wheel Trailer Hitch Installation - 2006 Dodge Ram Pickup - Video

Today we are going to install part number 50062 from Draw-Tite - their quick, custom install kit. And we are going to install this on a 2006 Dodge 2500 pickup truck. To begin our install, go ahead and lower the spare tire so you have access to underneath the frame. And you may have to move the exhaust out of the way - tie it out of the way or lower it to give you a little bit extra room, on some of the brackets, too. After you have that accomplished, your best bet is to go ahead and start working on the rails. The first step is to go ahead and measure out our rails for our 5th wheel. We will start off on top of the bed. Per instructions, there are different measurements between 6-foot and 8-foot. And measure out your bed rails, starting from the end of the truck where the tailgate is, toward the front. We are going to show you the reference points on how to mount your rear rail here. And this starts with the rear rail. The other rail will be situated by the actual 5th wheel assembly itself. For starters, we will start from the edge of a rail to the very end of the bed right here. You want to have it even on both sides, of course, and centered from right to left, too. Aim for this bolt hole right here to be in the exact center of the bed. Once you have your measurements done, use a hole punch and go ahead and mark the bed then look in the bottom and make sure your brackets will line up with those punches first. That way, it double-checks that you have got your measurements correct and you did not drill a hole when you did not have to. Once you have checked the brackets with the dimples, then go ahead and start drilling out your holes. Start with a smaller bit, like a 1/4-inch, and work your way up to a larger size. On this board hole here, you are going to go through the bed itself and also the bed support that is underneath it, too. We will go ahead and drill out our pilot holes out to our larger size. more

Watch Video

Posted: 4/10/2009 4:36:26 AM

Fifth Airborne Sidewinder Comparison - Video

Today we are going to show you Sidewinder pin box couplers from Fifth Gear. And what these pin box couplers do is they are designed to go ahead and basically use a conventional fifth wheel hitch on the back of a short-bed pickup. As seen here, we have three different varieties. On the left-hand side, we have part number SW01, the Sidewinder Fifth Wheel Pin Box Coupler. This unit is rated for 16,000 lbs it is the basic of the three units. And in the middle we have part number 5AS02, the 5th Airborne Fifth Wheel Air-Ride Coupler. And then we have part number SW19K, the Sidewinder Fifth Wheel King Pin, rated for 19K. They all operate on the same principle, where it shoves the pivot point from the hitch on the vehicle farther back toward the trailer. This allows the trailer to track a little bit better behind your vehicle and also eliminates any need of a slider pitch assembly, so you have plenty of room between the truck and camper. And this is made especially for short-bed pickups. And it does require a six-foot bed or better for perfect operation. more

Watch Video

Posted: 9/18/2008 4:36:56 PM

Draw-Tite 18K Signature Series Fifth Wheel Review - Video

Today we are going to talk about the signature series, it comes in an 18K and 24K. It actually comes pre-assembled so obviously it is going to lower the install time. Some of the features are obvious here, we are going to see where the wideness of the stance is going to give you more stability within the truck itself. You are going to look at the very top, you will see the feature is something quite unique, the head is centered. Everything comes with a benefit, this right here is only 116 pounds. The reason is a lot of people are worried about being able to get stuff out of the bed of the truck because it is so heavy. What happens is this can come apart really easy. What you want to do is you want to pull your pins out here and here. And this head is only 39 pounds, so actually you can remove this head fairly easy. Which definitely gives you the advantage when you are trying to move it out of the truck. Obviously the base of this is 77 pounds. more

Watch Video

Posted: 8/7/2008 2:55:14 PM

Fifth Wheel Trailer Hitch Installation - 2006 Chevy 2500HD - Video

The first step is to lower the spare tire to gain access to the under body of the vehicle. The second step is to remove the heat shield, which is located on the passenger side of the vehicle. There are 8 bolts that need to be removed to take the heat shield down. Two in the rear, four in the middle and two up front as well. After the heat shield is removed, you want to place the forward most mounting rail inside the bed and center it in between the wheel wells at the given length that is predetermined in the instructions. For the short box model which were installing this one on, the length is at 47 1/2 inches. Once you have the rail mounted and centered in the bed, you want to center punch the holes since you are going to be drilling through the bed. more

Watch Video

Posted: 8/12/2008 9:48:14 AM

Fifth Wheel Trailer Hitch Installation - 2008 Ford F250 - Video

We begin the installation of our fifth wheel trailer hitch by lowering the spare tire on our 2008 Ford 250 Super Duty. Next, we want to loosen the bed bolts to make it easier to install the rails for our fifth wheel hitch. Now we can slide the first rail over the frame and under the truck bed. With first rail in place towards the rear of the truck, we can then slide the second rail into place. Once we have the rails in place across the truck, we insert the bolts to level out the mounting brackets. After the rails are in place and bolts tightened, we retighten the bed bolts to make sure there will be no shifting. This ensures that all of the holes we are going to drill will align properly. Now we mark the holes where we need to drill through the side of the frame at the front and rear of the frame brackets. Before drilling your holes, check the inside of the frame rail on each side of the truck to make sure it is clear of any wiring or lines that run from the front to the back of the truck. more

Watch Video

Posted: 9/2/2009 11:24:22 AM

Fifth Wheel Trailer Hitch Installation - 2007 Chevy Silverado - Video

Today we are going to be installing the Signature Series Fifth Wheel part number 30061. On a 2007 new body style Chevy Silverado pickup 2500. The first thing we need to do is lower the spare tire to gain access to the under body. Next we will need to remove the heat shield or else it will be in the way during our installation. After we remove the heat shield we want to go ahead and put the rear cross member into place. As you can clearly see that we have already put the cross member in. It will be easier if you loosen or remove the bed bolts. There are 4 middle ones that if you take them out or loosen they will allow you extra room when putting the cross member back into position. Then go ahead and install the front and rear channel. You can see we have both cross members into position now. The next step will be to mount the side brackets on the side of the frame. more

Watch Video

Posted: 8/14/2009 3:28:20 PM

Draw-Tite Pro Series 15K Fifth Wheel Hitch Review - Video

This is the pro series 15K fifth wheel. This is our economy offering, but it does not really act like one. It has a lot of features and benefits like our signature hitch, for example it features a 4 way pivoting head. It pivots front to back and also side to side. This is great for when you are going over any uneven road surface or if you are hitching on uneven surfaces. The side to side pivot eases in hitching and unhitching operation. It has a full 5 degree side to side pivot and again it is great for hitching on uneven ground. The round slide bar jaw mechanism is designed for automatic hitching, so when the king pin comes in the jaw handle is activated and it will slam shut, encompassing the king pin and securing your fifth wheel king pin in there. The pro series 15K features 13 to 17 inches of vertical height adjustment. This is used to take care of a wide variety of trucks that are sold in the marketplace today. There are different bed rail heights in some of these different trucks and what you are looking to do is be able to adjust the hitch so you have a minimum of 6 inches of clearance between the bed rails of your tow vehicle truck and the bottom of your fifth wheel trailer, and that is what the 13-17 inches of vertical adjustment will allow for you. more

Watch Video

Posted: 8/7/2008 2:54:39 PM

Reese 18K Select Plus Fifth Wheel Hitch Review - Video

The 18K Select Plus uses the regular traditional 30035 rail system. It basically is an above bed rail system, that can be used with the universal bracket mounting kits. Or, it can also be upgraded and used with our custom install bracket kits. The round tube slider will also adapt right into those rail kits30035 and pin right in, so it is pretty basic. A lot of the times when you see this 18K Select Plus used as an upgrade, the customer comes in and they have upgraded their travel trailer to a heavier weight capacity. They already have in the bed rails in their truck, they just need to get a little bit more weight capacity out of their hitch. That is where the 18K Select Plus comes in. They may be upgrading from a 16,000 pound hitch up to the 18,000 pound hitch. It will simply adapt right into the rail systems they already have for the 16K Plus. more

Watch Video

Posted: 8/7/2008 2:53:56 PM