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The Curt E16 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch is rated for 16,000 lbs gross towing weight and 4,000 lbs vertical load, giving you the strength to handle your heavy fifth-wheel trailer with confidence. Its sturdy steel construction with a carbide black finish provides long-lasting durability under demanding conditions. This hitch gives you a solid, stable connection that feels secure mile after mile.
Hooking up on uneven ground can be tricky, but the E16 makes it easy. The dual-pivoting head allows 10 degrees of lateral movement, helping the king pin glide smoothly into place. The auto-locking, slide-bar jaw mechanism secures automatically once you back in, minimizing hassle during hookup and giving you that solid “locked-in” feel before hitting the road.
Road noise and rattle can wear on you during long drives. The E16’s slide-bar jaw and rear tension bar work together to clamp tightly around the king pin, reducing movement and minimizing rattle. The anti-rattle skid plate further smooths out the ride so towing feels stable and quiet no matter how far you’re traveling.
Getting your trailer level is key to safe towing. The E16’s 4-position height adjustment—from 13 inches up to 17 inches—lets you fine-tune your setup for proper clearance between the truck bed and trailer. Once dialed in, this fixed fifth-wheel hitch delivers balanced weight distribution for confident performance on every trip.
When it’s time to clear your bed space, the E16 makes it simple. The head removes with just two pins, allowing one person to disassemble it without special tools or extra help. That modular design means you can manage the weight more easily and switch between towing and everyday use without strain or hassle.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey guys, Kevin at etrailer and today we're gonna be taking a look at the CURT E16 5th Wheel Hitch. Operating this hitch is super simple. While your handle is down, it's not gonna be able to come out so it's locked in place so you know that your hitch isn't gonna be able to uncouple from your king pin. If you lift your handle up, you can kind of feel as you're lifting it up, it kind of pops up out of here so that you can actually uncouple. You can pull that slide jaw out, lock it in place and then you can also recouple up. So as you're pulling up to your trailer it is gonna tilt down.
You can come back up, it'll pop right in and automatically lock into place and then you can turn that handle back down to keep your jaw from being able to unlock. Now I do wanna say this is the basic starter run of the mill kind of model. It is a slide bar jaw, and typically when you have that you will experience quite a bit of noise quite a bit of movement, some chucking. You're not gonna have all of the added comfort that you will with some of the upgraded fifth wheel hitches. So if you look a little bit closer you can see exactly what I'm talking about.
So this one bar just goes straight across. It does not conform to the round king pin that's sitting in here, so you can kind of see it can kind of move just a little bit. Whereas with your single jaw or your two piece jaws it kind of wraps around it. Prevents it from being able to move. Prevents any of that noise and just gives you overall a better ride quality.
This hitch head can pivot front to back, which is gonna help with coupling and uncoupling your trailer but there is no rubber dampeners in this. There's no air ride anything. There's nothing to really kind of help with any ride quality. So if you are looking for a more comfortable ride or maybe you have some issues with the ride you already currently have this probably wouldn't be the best option for you. I'd recommend going with something that has a little bit more of a built up head on it that has some of those rubber dampeners in it.
So what this hitch lacks in its ride quality it does make up for in its ability to easily come apart. It's not as large as some of those upgraded hitches. If you pull these two pins, you can easily remove the head which greatly reduces the weight of this hitch overall so that you can easily get it in and out of your truck without having to have a second set of hands with you. As you can see, it does sit within our base rails. It really does not come past the center of the base rails at all. So if you need to store extra stuff, maybe you have a bunch of firewood some coolers, maybe you have a shorter bed and you just need to have some extra space in there for all the other stuff. You can kind of plan exactly how much space you're gonna have because you know this sits right within the base rails. Now this does come with two prongs right here that have a hole in it that's gonna fit about a three ace inch size pin through it. And now what you can do with that is easily lock your bar into place so that nobody else can come up and uncouple your trailer from your hitch. As far as installation goes, this hitch is super simple to put together. It is only for bolts, four nuts and then six pins. And honestly, you could easily put this hitch together within 10 minutes all by yourself. You don't really even need a second set of hands for it like you might with some other hitches. But let's go ahead and show you how we did it. Start off our installation, we're gonna be putting on our handle. Now when we put our handle on we wanna make sure that when we slide that bolt through that we can't undo our jaw here. Now when I get that on just to show you guys, when I pull this out I should not be able to pull it out while it's facing down. So we know that that little inner bar right there is not in the correct position. So we're gonna wanna pull this off. Actually, we'll flip it up first, we'll drop our bolt out and then we'll pull it off and put our handle back down. Now when I put my bolt through I shouldn't be able to pull this out at all. As you can see the jaw is locked in place, not until I go up, can I open it up. I'm gonna go ahead and tighten that bolt now that we have it in the correct position. You're gonna want to use two 10 millimeter sockets or wrenches. Sockets just easier in my opinion, but from there we can go ahead and start adding on our legs to our cross member. And on our cross member I personally prefer to have the coupling instructions on the same side as our handle. So that's what we're gonna use as our left side if we we're looking at it from the tailgate. When we're looking at our legs, we wanna make sure that that orange line is facing out. You also notice that you'll have your manufacturer sticker that has a serial number and the item code for that specific hitch facing out. Now the next important decision is exactly how we're gonna place these legs. There are four different height positions with our cross member here. Now this is really gonna depend on the truck and your fifth wheel. What you're gonna need to do is while your truck is level you're gonna measure from the bed of your truck down to the ground, and then you're gonna measure from the skid plate that's on your fifth wheel. And that skid plate is the part above your king pin. So that flat surface, because that kingpin is gonna come and sit and lock in the jaws. So we want to get where that height is while your trailer's level and the difference between the two is gonna be where you need to set your hitch. Now, if you have base trails already installed in your truck I recommend going ahead and getting your legs set up in it. It's gonna kind of help keep it more stable. That way you don't have wobbling all over the place, you just have 'em sitting there. Then you can go ahead and drop on your cross member and we can take our bolts. Now, typically when you're putting it on bolts, you'd think that you'd slide that through, slide the washer on and then your nut. But in this case, CURT only has you slip your bolt through and then use that washer on the inside cause there's a little bit of a gap between the leg and then the weldment right here. And that basically just kind of eats up some of that space. So I'm gonna slip my washer in place and push my bolt through, and we'll put our nylon lock nut on the outside. And then we'll just repeat this for the rest of the three spots. There we go. Now that I have all those in place we're gonna go ahead and put on our lock nuts. Now there is not a torque setting on the instructions for this at all. It just says to get until it's tight. But you can also just look up the torque setting for that size bolt along with its thread size and torque it down to that just to be extra careful. There is a nylon lock nut on this, so it shouldn't come off but in my personal opinion, I always prefer to just go the extra mile for the safety of it. But we can go ahead and kind of run these down a bit with our wrenches. On the bullhead side we're gonna wanna use a 21 millimeter socket or wrench. And then on the nut itself you're gonna use a 22 millimeter. Now with our legs in place we can go ahead and drop on our hitch head. Simply it'll sit it in just like that and then we're gonna have two pin and clips that we're gonna stick right through, that's gonna secure it in place. Last thing to do is just slip your pin and clips into the feet to lock into place in your base rails and then you'll be all good to go. Well, now that we've gone over all of the specifics of this hitch, I think that about does it for our look today at the CURT E16 5th Wheel Hitch. My name's Kevin, thanks for watching..
Ratings & Reviews
I am very pleased with my purchase from etrailer. I bought a fifth wheel hitch to haul my fifth wheel trailer and have had no problems with the installation or using it and have had it one year. I would recommend this purchase to anyone who needs a quality fifth wheel at an economy price.
Pat R. Madera, California
I HAVEN'T HAD ONE PROBLEM WITH MY HITCH. I bought it about a year ago. I arrived sooner than I was told it would and it is still in the box. I never opened it or installed it. But I do plan to.
E-trailer made the order process very easy, and the shipping was much faster than I expected. The boxes arrived in fairly good condition, but the hitch arms were scratched up due to poor internal packaging. Since the hitch was packed in an E-Trailer box, I assume they repackaged this product.
Otherwise, the Curt hitch and custom rails seem to be very good products for the money!
Alvin S.
9/21/2021
The E16 hitch is adequate. I get a lot of clunking when starting and stopping due to the straight locking bar style hitch. I wish now that I would have spent more money and got a hitch that had locking jaws that clamped around the pin.
Very quality unit. Only had trouble with handle mounting as the tube was turned 180 degrees and I put handle on as instructions said and it was not lined up with grooves to pull hitch lock out. Took top back off and seen this so removed handle and put on in up position instead of down and was able to pull to line up grooves with slots and release hitch lock and lock it in down as it should be. Works real good and sets secure in rails and in hitch top. Real good fit with no rattles going down road when nothing is hitched.
Dan
8/28/2016
Real good, handles any camper and works smooth.
Customer service for product selection and order entry were excellent and focused on my interests and needs. The hitch, custom installation kit, and harness were shipped very quickly and arrived sooner than expected. Everything arrived in excellent condition. Assembly and installation instructions were very clear and specific, and I was able to assemble and install everything with no problems and in a very reasonable amount of time. Total cost was roughly half of what it would have been if I had purchased the products and had them installed by a dealer. I am very satisfied with my experience dealing with etrailer.com, and would highly recommend them to anyone shopping for towing products.
It works out good
Amazing product. Perfect fit. Great pri ce.
Installation of the Curt C16443-204 custom rail kit was a snap on my 2000 F350 dually. The instructions were pretty generic but not to hard to figure out. Once in place it was easy to line line everything up to fit the hitch in and tighten everything down.
Its a great product and with the rail kit it makes an awesome beast for towing. It has provided great service and satisfaction so far.
Only pulled camper for 20 miles so far, but hitch seemed to work great! Very easy to install and put together. Took about 3-4 hrs start to finish.
It’s a decent hitch but after using it for a year I would much rather have a different locking mechanism the single bar across the kingpin causes the trailer to slide forward and backwards upon accelerating and breaking, and can feel it clunk against the hitch, would much rather have a locking jaw and side to side tilt
The hitch worked great. Reason for the 2 stars is the package got delayed twice in transit and I had to reschedule the pickup of my fifth wheel. When I also received the package the main crossmember bar was bent at the mounting point. Luckily I was able to bend it back but UPS needs to get there act together.
I bought the curt fifth wheel and base to convert my B&W turnover ball and this thing fits perfectly it went together smoothly and in under an hour easily highly reccomend
Super fast shipping! Many thanks!
Works fantastic,nice product
My wife and I installed this in 3 hrs. We are in our mid 70’s. We had access to a 2 post lift which made this much easier as we could raise and lower the truck as needed for access. Although some say the instructions were vague I had no problem, just read them through first and begin. As the instructions stated some vehicles may have some differences as we found that the hole for the front driver side bolt needed to be drilled into the frame. After the bracket was mounted we just used the existing hole in the bracket as a guide. We previously installed an AIR LIFT AL59393 kit and it works great with this rail kit. We did our research to be sure they worked together. If you want to be sure about compatibility call etrailer and talk to one of the experts.
The hitch arrived very fast, and was boxed well. It doesn't come assembled in order to reduce the shipping size, but it's super easy to assemble. Just four 1/2" bolts attach the legs to the main crossmember, and one small 3/16" bolt attaches the lever release arm. In all, it only took about 15 minutes to assemble and set in the truck. It even comes with the hitch pins needed to install on your rails. The only thing you'll need that's not included is about 4 to 8, 1/2" washers. Very happy with the hitch, and always look to etrailer.com for my replacement hauling/trailer parts!
Great price and works really well with the camper im pulling with no issues what so ever even sits low enough to have my bed cover on without removing any parts of the hitch
After ordering rails for a fifth wheel that I had in an older truck, I was told the rails I ordered would work with my fifth wheel, however after installing the front rail, the fifth wheel would not work with the rails ordered. I ended up ordering a new fifth wheel plate. That was easier than removing the frame brackets I had already installed. It appears that there was a mis communication between the person I talked to with etrailer. Instead of a 1/2 day install it took a day and a half plus wait time for the fifth wheel to get to my address. However once installed it appears to be good.
Very solid and well built. Installation took me longer than advertised. The instructions were a little vague, but I figured it out. A few extra carriage bolts and flange nuts would have been nice. All in all, everything lined up perfectly when I measured carefully as outlined in the instructions. I towed with it yesterday for the first time, and it worked great!
Haven't had a chance to use the hitch yet but I got it installed without too much trouble. It took about 4 hours to install, the frame mounting brackets and rails, at a leisurely pace. The unit seems to be very sturdy and it is certainly built heavy. I'm looking forward to testing it out soon.
Thanks Etrailer for great customer service and quick delivery. Received my rail kit in time to install for my weekend trip. Michelle s. Was very helpful in getting me the right part and at a great price.
Thanks"
Walter,r
Well packed, free 5 days shipping, easy to assemble and nice looking hitch. Im extra amazed because i can remove the king pin base/head from the bridge leg assembly to easily transport them. Still not tested with the coach. Practically no lateral movement and have the suspicion bushings. Very firm and easy mechanisms. Do not leave the gate open for long term because could damage the main spring. I plan to pull a 11k 334FWFLS. Nothing compared to this hitch in this price range. I will add some extra feedback after couple travels.
Julio
11/12/2018
More than 1000 miles pulling a 38 fifth wheel and still like new
Bought this to be easier to take out or put in truck. It wasn’t long until the little catch that holds it open was worn down and no longer held it open to connect or disconnect trailer. Next it came to where I was having to hit the handle with a ball peen hammer to disconnect from trailer or to open to connect and have my wife hold it open while I back under camper. I took this one to scrap yard and bought a different brand.
Normally I'm pleased with Curt hardware/equipment, but this time I'm not as impressed. This 5th wheel rail and mount kit was supposedly designed for my 2002 F250, however the mounts that bolt to the frame didn't fit properly. I had to ream out the factory holes in the frame to allow the front bolts to secure the mount to the frame, and I had to ream out two of the holes in the mount to allow the rear rail bolts to work. Also there is a hole in the center of the mount as well as a corresponding hole in the frame that could be used to provide a 3rd securing bolt for the mount to the frame, however the frame is designed with a concave portion the and the mount is flat. A spacer could be used to fill the gap, or the mount could have been designed to better forth the frame in this section. As it is, there are only 2 bolts per mount securing it to the frame. When I have time I'll find a spacer to fill this gap and add a 3rd bolt to better secure the mount and thus the rails to my pickup. The carbide finish looks great and the rails and mount are built strong, just they could have been designed to fit better and more secure than they were.
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Pat R.
4/24/2018
YES, THE HITCH IS STILL 100 GREAT, THANK YOU