To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
Thank you! Your comment has been submitted successfully. You should be able to view your question/comment here within a few days.
Error submitting comment. Please try again momentarily.
This hitch is rated for 16,000 lbs gross towing weight and a 4,000 lbs vertical load limit, built from sturdy steel with a durable carbide powder coat finish. It’s ready for serious towing duty and holds strong mile after mile. The solid construction gives you confidence when hauling large campers or trailers, keeping your setup stable and secure even on long highway runs.
The fully articulating torsion head helps control coupling and smooth out road shock. It self-aligns as you hitch up, taking the shake and noise out of towing so the ride feels steady and quiet. You’ll notice less movement between truck and trailer, which means fewer jolts through the cab and a more comfortable drive overall.
The interlocking 2-jaw system wraps completely around the king pin for 360-degree contact. That snug fit cuts down on rattle and delivers a safer, more secure connection than slide-bar models. Before hitting the road, check the 3-point color-coded indicator—red means uncoupled, yellow means ready to couple, and green confirms you’re locked in for towing. The handle automatically resets itself after uncoupling so it’s always ready for the next hookup.
When it’s time to regain bed space, a single pin lets one person remove the head fast. The design makes it practical to take apart without special tools or extra help. It’s a straightforward way to go from towing mode back to an open truck bed whenever you need it.
Everything you need to get started is in the box—rails and installation kit included. The built-in zerk fittings make lubrication simple, while the included plastic lube plate helps the king pin glide smoothly into place during hookup. With 13"–17" of height adjustment, it’s easy to dial in a level trailer setup that tows right every time.
This fifth-wheel hitch is compatible with rotating pin boxes, such as the Reese Sidewinder, Reese Revolution, and 5th Airborne Sidewinder, only when used with a wedge (sold separately).
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey everybody, Ryan here at etrailer. Today on our 2019 Ford F-150 we're gonna be checking out the Curt A16 5th wheel hitch. Nowadays these half-ton trucks are really capable and so people are really, you know, putting 'em through the paces, towing a lot of heavy stuff around and whatnot. So if you have a fifth wheel type trailer, whether it's a camper or something else, you're gonna need a way to pull it and that's exactly what this is gonna help you do. So this is gonna be a fixed mount one, meaning that it's just going to drop into your in-bed rails. These are Curt rails but it's kind of an industry standard.
You know, if you have other manufacturers of rails, chances are really, really good this is still just gonna kind of drop into place and work out there. Being that it's fixed, that kind of, you know, brings me to my next point. So on our truck, this is only 5 1/2 foot bed so it's a really short bed and a lot of times what I usually recommend is a sliding type hitch, right That way when you make turns and stuff the hitch will go back and give you the cab clearance that you need. That way your trailer don't swing around and end up making contact with your cab corner, damaging the truck and the trailer. But what our customer's doing today is his trailer actually has one of those rotating pin boxes.
I believe it's the Reese Sidewinder. So that's how he can get away with using a fixed one. So this hitch is compatible with those rotating pin boxes. So the side of the hitch and the truck moving, the pin box on the camper will. Now if you have a long bed, really don't need to worry about any of that, right A fixed type hitch is gonna work out just fine.
This particular hitch is gonna be rated for 16,000 pounds so probably more than enough for the F-150, but if you like to go a little overkill, there's a 20,000 pound version of this available as well. The head of it articulates and does have a little bit of movement in there just to help absorb some of that road shock and trucking and things like that and making it easier to hook up, you know. So when you back up, this can kind of move around, you know, and kind of guide itself around that king pin on your trailer. And that's gonna kind of bring me to my next point. This has a dual jaw type design, so it's open right now but maybe I can reach over and close it.
And this thing is, it's no joke here. Whenever that's locked around the king pin, you can see it's super strong. It's no joke. It's going to have complete 360 degree contact and that's gonna really create a secure and good connection, kind of giving you some peace of mind there whenever you're towing your trailer down the road. The hitch head is gonna be adjustable. So I believe there's three different adjustments. You know, you can raise it up or down depending on your trailer and how high your truck sits and everything else. Kind of dial that in and get it as level as possible whenever you're towing. Right now we have it in the middle position and I'm letting you know that because a lot of people ask about Tonneau covers, right And if they're gonna be able to use one and not have to bother at taking the hitch in an out. And you should be in pretty good shape regardless of what Tonneau cover you have. On our truck today, we having one of these roll up ones, pretty common. And this at, even in the middle position and this over it, there's still, I mean, a ton of space here. So even if this was up a few more inches, you'd still have plenty of clearance and in most cases, in most Tonneau covers you shouldn't have anything to worry about. If in the off season, if you don't want this hitch back here, you're not gonna plan on using it for a while, you know, you can pull it in and out, which I'm not gonna lie, these things are pretty heavy. Thankfully though, this one, the actual, the head comes off of it separately. So you can remove those. This'll pop out. So you can get that out of the way and then pull the base out. And both of these independently are pretty manageable together. It's not the easiest thing to do. So by being able to break it apart like that, you know, it kind of turns a two man job into a one-man job. Other than that, you know, a nice hitch, it's well built. I like how it looks. Has kind of that flat black, matte black finish to it. You know, I really can't ask for too much more. Relatively lightweight when you break 'em apart and, you know, something you really can't go wrong with. Honestly, you know what our neighbor did here today, kind of got the whole package, which makes sense on an F-150, you know, pulling a big camper around. He got the Curt rails, he got our Curt in-bed wiring. He even went and did Air Lift airbags and a compressor. So I feel like all that stuff together, he should be really happy with and make his towing experience a comfortable and good one. I do wanna say that, I wanna emphasize this again, if you got a short bed like this and your trailer doesn't have one of those rotating pin boxes on it, it's really important to find a sliding type hitch. I just don't wanna see anyone pop this in their truck, make that turn and end up damaging anything. So a sliding one or that rotating pin box is going to alleviate any of those issues. And that'll finish up our look at of the Curt A16 5th wheel hitch in our 2019 Ford F-150..
Ratings & Reviews
2005 Ram 2500 Quad Cab Short Bed. Xlnt kit, easy install. The installation instructions could have been better. I suggest watching the video on youtube and setting up the rails and hitch on the garage floor first. Take measurements between rail hole rows (row 2 to row 3 - 17 3/4") and add 3/4" for front bed support clearance - 18 1/2". Looking over a rear tire and measuring from the front bed support, My row 2 needed to be rear of center by 1/2". This puts my rear rail at 26 1/4 instead of 26 3/4" from the tailgate. Then everything lined up perfect. The fish wire provided really works great ( threads on to the bolt like a nut). My only problem was the spacer that gets fished with the carriage bolt was to wide for the large hole in my frame. I cut a 1/4" off the spacer and that was the only modification I made to this kit. Not all trucks are the same. XLNT kit, I was impressed !
Unit appears solid and well built. Unit feels and appears well built. Nothing about the craftsmanship seems cheap or shoddy. Everything that moves is crisp and tight. There are no rattles or loose components. I feel confident towing with this hitch. If I have not towed with it yet. The hitch has a sleek strong appearance as opposed to my Superglide on a previous truck that took up a lot of bed space.
I had to assemble the unit. Instructions seemed unclear in regard to the handle assembly. With deliberate inspection, I was able to figure it out. Legs were easy to bolt on with assistance. I am happy with this hitch. Website said I needed to purchase a line plate separately. I forgot to get one but it didn't matter because one (plastic disk) was included with the hitch.
I paid for the shipping upgrade to ensure the hitch arrived before hurricane Mathew. I placed my order at night and eTrailer provided me with a tracking number the following morning. Shipping time said 3-5 days. I ordered late night on a Monday and unit arrived on Thursday afternoon. I'm very satisfied with my purchase and experience with this website.
Installed on a 2012 Ram 3500 long box. The rail kit itself is excellent and appears to be very strong. I was able to install with the truck on the ground and the tires on. I did have to remove the inner fender liners to access some of the bolts for torquing. I do not see how the nuts can be brought to proper torque without the use of a 3/4 inch crowsfoot, as it is impossible to get a socket on some of the nuts. The shock mount welded to the frame on one side is an example...it prevents the use of a socket. The single most important step is measuring properly because there is very little margin for error. The etrailer.com video was very helpful. Took me about 6 hrs without jack stands or a lift, but I'm very happy with the finished product and they went on without interfering with my AIR LIFT 57295 LoadLifter 5000 Series Rear Air Spring Kit.
Fast shipping and great packaging for shipment - perfect! As heavy as the hitch is, it came to me with no damage or issues. This hitch isn't listed for my truck but the double locking system is what I liked. I had a Reese basic 15,000 lb slide bar hitch that was allowing too much slop. I measured all a parameters and this hitch fit the bill. Reviews on similar Reese style were worrying me so I tried the Curt. Towed for first time yesterday and there was a noticeable difference in the experience. Pin held tightly with much less movement and noise. Hooking up and unhooking were very easy. I have the short bed F150 and my fifth wheel is a Open Range Light series so it is cut to accommodate cab clearance; thus the hitch works for me. In the end, hitch worked perfectly and etrailer was great - price, shipping and service.
David C.
5/6/2018
A year later and hitch is still great. Easy to hitch and unhitch. Much smoother ride and no bouncing within the hitch. Glad I bought it.
I was very pleased with the Curt A16 5th wheel hitch. Unfortunately I ended up buying a new truck.(I no longer have a need for this hitch). My new truck has a shorter bed which requires a different hitch.
We had this installed in our 2014 RAM 2500. We have only pulled the 5th wheel a couple of times but this hitch has worked very well. Hooking up and unhitching is very easy and straightforward. I like the colored indicator system that tells you when the hitch is locked on the pin. The head unit has rubber blocks where it is mounted to the base unit. This allows the head to rock side-to-side when you are parking the trailer on uneven ground. It also allows the trailer to rock slightly as you are pulling it and the movement of the trailer is not transmitted to the truck. However, it is kind of difficult to separate the head unit from the base because the rubber blocks fit very tightly in the pockets in the base unit. A little WD40 helps.
At this point, based on our limited usage, I would definitely recommend this hitch.
Dave R.
7/22/2018
After a year I am still loving this hitch. I have had zero problems or issues with it. Hitching up and unhitching is so easy.
Working great, no chucking to speak of, much better than the previous hitch I used.
Takes a bit longer than expected. Figure in a day for the above bed install kit. I'll post back after I make a 2000 mile trip with the 40' RV. Have a great day everyone!
It was easy to install and very solid, i towed my 16,000 5th wheel and it road very nice
Easy install great product love the interlocking jaws I can’t wait to tow with it thank you E trailer for a great used part well worth it with one little scratch on would buy a used product from etrailer anytime
2012 ram 3500 mega cab short bed! Well from all the reviews I’ve read, and the video, I gathered about 5-6 hours to install by myself, which was very accurate, directions say 90 min instal, not! It was the 5-6 hour range, regardless it went in as the directions and video said! Take your time measure it out double check everything, the kit is great, follow directions and watch the video you can do it in your driveway!
This can be easily put together and installed by one person. I had to put the base into the universal rails loosely and then torque the bolts to spec. This hitch was an upgrade.from the autoslide hitch I originally purchased for my 5th wheel. The noise and banging has disappeared. This hitch was well worth the money. I also purchased the custom fit wedge for my pinbox. I don't believe I could be any happier with this hitch.
Victoria H.
2/21/2025
We love to hear that this made such a improvement in your towing experience, Michael! Do you have any upcoming trips planned?
Sadly, my truck has air shocks installed and the front brackets would not fit
The product is well built and came with everything needed to install on my 2006 Dodge ram 3500. The video was very helpful and installing the rails.
Great product, even better customer service, fast shipping, and a great price, installation was easy about 20 minutes, mounted on Reese mounting plate also from etrailer.
Extremely pleased with the rails and hitch purchased from etrailer! The video and printed directions were very informative. One caveat though, the bolts inside the frame on the custom kit (2017Chevy 2500hd) are tough, 2 people are needed. We used magnet rods. The hitch(Curt A16) is great but the shipping was FANTASTIC. Ordered on 4/29 and received on 5/1. 2 days!!! Thank you Jane S. and etrailer!!
The hitch was simple to install. I also purchased the custom brackets to bolt the rails to the frame. Everything lined up exactly as it should. No drilling on the frame!!! I will review the hitch once I get more use out of it. It looks great though.
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.
This is a well put together package. The fact that you do not have to drill the frame makes things much easier. That said, it is still a lot of work and if you do not have all the tools needed and a lift you will be at this install for quiet some time.
The spare tire has to be removed and if there is a spare tire shield it will have to go as well. The inner fenders need to come out and at that point you will find it is easier if the tires and wheels are out of the way. It is a bit of work to get the right rear bracket in with the tail pipe in place. Also the spacers that go into the frame are also hard to get in place. Lastly, you will still have to drill holes in the bed.
With all this work required, I am very glad that I did not have to drill the frame also.
Have used this hitch for a few thousand miles and been happy with it. Since this is being my first fifth wheel hitch I can’t compare to other experiences. Chucking can be felt but not sure if a more expensive hitch would be better. I give 5 stars as I have not had a problem and do not plan on switching anytime soon.
Purchased this hitch, install kit, and wiring harness for a new to me 2015 F-250. After watching the installation video and reviewing the included instructions the install went smoothly. The only deviation from the instructions was instead of using a unibit to drill the 9/16" holes in the bed I used a Rotobroach hole cutter(the holes are cleaner and the bit does not drift. I hooked in to my fifth wheel for the first time on Saturday.
THE RAILS AND BRACKETS WERE JUST AS DESCRIBED AND CAME VERY QUICKLY AND REASONABLY PRICED. THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE VERY HELPFUL INCLUDING THE VIDEO ONLINE. INALL IT TOOK ME ABOUT 5 HOURS TO INSTALL WITH TAKING MY TIME TO DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING. IT FIT JUST AS IT SAYS AND FIT MY PICKUP PERFECTLY. GREAT PRODUCT AND GREAT COMPANY
Hitch works very smoothly. Much easier to use than the last hitch we had.
Also light weight for easier removal from truck when needed.
I was fully expecting a hitch in excess of 100 pounds to show up in a destroyed box. This did not. They had taken the Time and effort to cover the box with an additional layer of cardboard and it must have had a million staples in it. It was almost comical, you will need a crowbar or large screwdriver to get it open. However, when I did finally get the package open I found a perfectly un scratched hitch with no missing parts. I have not pulled with the hitch yet but , it does look like it is going to perform great. I'm using this in a 2006 ram 2500 4x4 short bed pulling a 2015 forest river Salem and it allows 91 degrees of turning due to the clipped corners on the front cap of the trailer. I will be curious to see how long the rubber isolators last before needing replaced and if they are readily available. Also the curt sticker on the hitch was peeling off when I took it out of the box, would be nice to get that replaced.
Chad S.
2/24/2018
Could not be happier with this hitch. Have never had any coupling or uncoupling problems even in odd angle situations. Does not rattle or let the trailer chuck around. Easy to move. In and out of the truck. The powder coating is fading and showing some signs of surface rust but this is most likely due to it living in the truck unprotected. I have since moved the hitch into a 2017 ram 2500 with the puck system. I bought the puck mount and every thing bolted up nicely. I keep the standard rail legs under the bed of the fifth wheel should I ever need to pull with a truck that doesn’t have pucks. This has happened once when our truck broke down. Would definitely recommend this hitch.
Mike L.
2/24/2018
I purchased both the Curt A16 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch - Dual Jaw - 16,000 lbs - C16120, and Reese Pull Pin Lock Plates for 5th Wheel Trailer Hitches - Qty 4 - RP58093 for my F350 SD 4X4 Crew Cab Long Bed. I'm pulling a 30' Retro 5th. Wheel and at times I pull my tandem axle UTV Trailer (Double Trailers) . I already had the rails installed in my truck, this fit right in and I used the new Pins and Lock Plates for securing to truck. I have pulled all over from South Dakota and the Northwest. The Hitch has performed Flawlessly. No bucking, nor clunking. Very quiet and smooth ride. I would recommend this set up to anyone for convenience of Hook up and Disconnect, Excellent towing, quiet, and the security of the lock pins. I use Disc locks to prevent access for bolt cutters.
John N.
5/7/2021
Excellent! Still working as it did on day one. Very solid, easy to use, and the unit is very quiet. Also no chucking. I highly recommend this product to anybody. We now have 2020 Cameo 12,000# unloaded weight. Pulls perfectly.
Info for this part was:
At etrailer we provide the best information available about the products we sell. We take the quality of our information seriously so that you can get the right part the first time.
Joe P.
10/7/2017
After a year, I love this hitch. It’s easy to hook up and unhook unlike the auto slider hitch it replaced. Paint is still good. Silver stuff is still silver. Has a small patch on the head where the camper hitch slides on. Unit performs well. It is quiet during turns. I feel safe using it. I will buy a curt hitch again if ever I need a new one.