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Custom brackets reduce the amount of drilling and time required to install your fifth-wheel trailer hitch. Brackets, base rails and hardware included.
Features:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today on our 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 well be installing the Reese quick install custom base rails with installation kit part #: RP50140-58. Weve already gone ahead and lowered and removed the spare tire. Well begin by detaching the wiring harness here on the inside of our frame. Well pry off the clips from the frame allowing the wiring harness to hang down and out of the way. Well now move into the bed of the truck where well place the rear mounting rail into the bed and using a tape measure well center the rail between the weld seems on the length of the truck. Well also need to make sure that we get the rail the proper distance from the rear edge as indicated in the instructions.
With our rear rail in position well go ahead and mark the holes indicated to us in the instructions that well need to drill out. These two holes here, the center hole toward the rear of the truck and the two holes here on the other side. We use an 1/8 inch drill bit to drill a few pilot holes in the bed of the truck. Please be aware that when drilling holes in the bed of the truck there is a potential risk of vehicle components that are mounted underneath the bed which may or may not damage them. With our pilot holes drilled well move underneath the truck where well loosely install the side brackets.
Were going to go ahead and remove our fender well just to make it easier to gain access. You can see the pilot holes do line up with our bracket holes here on the rear. Now that were sure that our pilot holes line up with our brackets well go ahead, remove the brackets, move back into the bed of the truck and open up the 1/8 inch holes to a 9/16 inch as per the instructions. With our holes open back up well move back underneath the truck where well place the rear brackets on the inside of the frame as shown in the instruction. Well install a U-bolt on each of the two brackets which will wrap around the outside of the frame, right behind the rear support.
Well loosely install the half inch conical tooth washers, making sure that the washers face the bracket and the hex nuts onto the end of the U-bolts. In some cases you may need to temporarily lower your exhaust to gain access to the passenger side rear U-bolt. We did not have to do that. For the driver side rear only well feed in an inch and carriage bolt, a one inch by 3 inch block in the slot on the underside of the frame. Well be using a pull wire to do this.
Theres a round hole on the inside of the frame that can be used to feed the hardware through the frame and into the position. Well loosely fasten the carriage bolt with the half inch conical tooth washer, again, making sure that the teeth of the washer face the bracket and the hex nut. Now that our brackets in position well move back up into the truck where well need to open up the hole here in the front of our rear base rail to an inch and 1/8. Well be using a long pilot bit for our hole saw. When we drill this hole you want to make sure that you only go through the bed floor and not through the hat channel underneath it. Well go ahead and drill our holes out to the inch and an 1/8 where we can now drill the lower hole here in the hat channel out to 9/16. We can then take the spacer sleeve, drop it into the inch and an 1/8 holes on either side where well use the long 4.5 inch carriage bolt to pass through the sleeve down underneath the truck. Well use the half inch by two inch long carriage bolts to pass through the remaining holes in our rail. With all the bolts in position well need to make sure that any other corrugation within the bed is taken up. Well use the U-shaped half-moon style washers to take up that space, making sure that they go around the bolt. Now that we have all our hardware in place here on the top side of the truck well move underneath where we can begin attaching it to the bed of the truck. Well use 1.5 inch by two inch blocks, lock washers and a hex nut. Well go ahead and snug those down by hand. Now that we have our rail end here on the back of the truck well need to install the front rail. To do this well loosely assemble our fifth wheel hitch and use it as a template to install our front rail. With our front rail in place well go ahead and measure to the weld seems just to make sure that the rail is centered in the truck. Now we have our front rail in position. Using the fifth wheel hitch as a guide we can go ahead and mark the holes as indicated in the instructions that well need to drill out. To ensure we dont hit anything vital underneath such as the gas tank weve placed a piece of wood between the tank and bed. Well again use an 1/8 inch pilot bit, drill a small hole in each of the five locations, move underneath the truck and ensure that the holes are in the proper spots. Once weve done that we can now move back into the bed of the truck and open up the 1/8 holes, again, to 9/16 inch holes. Now that we have those holes opened up we place our front rail back into the position where our rail should line up perfectly with the holes. With our front rail in place well now go back underneath the bed and start installing our front brackets. We came across some problems on the driver side with this hanger here. Well temporarily remove it and install the bracket and U-bolt, again, using the conical tooth washer and nut to fasten them. With that loosely installed well reinstall our hanger. Were now ready to put our bolts into place in the front rail. At the brackets under the bed well need to use spacer sleeves again between the bracket and bed. Now well drop our bolts in. Well also need to use the U-shaped spacer blocks with the corrugation both above and underneath the bed. Well then fasten it in place with a conical tooth washer and nut. The rest of the connection points will get a block, lock washer and nut. Now that we have all our hardware in place well move back up to the top and just ensure that our hitch is in and that our rails look good. We can then begin tightening them down to the bed of the truck. Well want to make sure that we tighten the rails down first and then tighten the brackets to the frame. With all our hardware tight well go ahead and torque it to specifications as indicated in the instructions using the same torque procedure as we did tightening it down. With all our hardware torqued we can go ahead and reinstall the inner fender liners, make sure that our wiring harness is secured out of the way which may require the use of some zip ties. With that, thatll complete our installation of the Reese quick install custom base rails and installation kit for fifth wheel trailer hitches part #: RP50140-58 on our 2006 Dodge Ram 2500.
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (38 Customer Reviews)
Custom brackets reduce the amount of drilling and time required to install your fifth-wheel trailer hitch. Brackets, base rails and hardware included.Service was excellent, making sure I got the right hitch for my truck.
Ordered hitch on Friday afternoon and was here on Tuesday.
Only problem I had was the u bolts for the rail kit were a little short on the thread length as my Dodge Ram 2500 HD is a little thicker in the frame near gas tank then it is in the rear. But I did manage to get flat washer on a then prick punch the threads, as was not enough room for flat washer and lock washer. Just got it all done and will be hauling a D17 Allis Chalmers tractor,a few hundred miles. Thanks for the great service and what looks to be a great hitch.
Item arrived fast. Supplied video was a good primer for installing. Took about 2 1/2 hours to install with 2 people. Clean and neat install with no drilling of the frame of the truck. This was in A 2012 Ram 3500 DRW
I installed this hitch on my 2012 dodge ram 2500 diesel. I want to say first off I have owned and used many reese products in the past, and have installed several similar kits on new ford super dutys. I have also installed a universal mounting kit on the same dodge as I own. All of those products are great installation was a breeze. HOWEVER, this product needs to be redesinged. I am a pretty mechanical guy with plenty of experience in this field. I took me over seven hours to install this product. Most of the nuts on the bottom side are close to impossible to access with your hands. I was only able to get a torque wrench on one, and an impact on two. The rest were a quarter turn at a time with the open end of the wrench and finger tips to turn it. (that is once you figure out how to get the brackets up against the frame i.e. it's a great puzzle) to sum it up this particular product it A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! Buy the universial kit for this vehicle, It's $100 cheaper, and 1.5 hous to install. The same kit for a ford is great 45 min install. I just hope that my review will steer people in the right direction. I read the reviews and didn't listen. I thought it couldn't be that bad, well it is, believe me. Etrailer was a great place to buy, lowest price, free shipping, and fast, had it the next day.
Mike
2/14/2016
Either one of these two kits: http:/www.etrailer.com/Fifth-Wheel-Installation-Kit/Dodge/Ram Pickup/2012/RP30035-186.html?vehicleid=201210901http://www.etrailer.com/Fifth-Wheel-Installation-Kit/Dodge/Ram Pickup/2012/RP30035-023.html?vehicleid=201210900They do require drilling into the frame of the truck, but it saves a lot of time and headache. If you already have the rails, I do believe you can buy just a hardware kit, but Im not totally sure.
The kit is about 95% accurate and the instructions are about 60% complete. First remove spare tire, shield, tail pipe, inner fender liners and support. Second there are 2 types of brackets: welded and bent. The bent brackets go in the back, weilded brackets up front. Third, the front driver side bracket needs to be modified to allow for a bracket mounting location and a ground stud. As for torquing to 72lbs...well good luck
Jeff
2/1/2013
Two more things: 1. Whenever you drill or grind any metal, make sure you re-coat the bare metal with a rust inhibiter. 2. There is a harness on the inside of the driver side frame. It actually needs to be disconnect from the factory mounts in 3 places. Also makes sure it does not chaff on the bottom post of the newly installed U-bolt.
The rails and mounting kit worked great. Installation went as instructed on my '05 Dodge diesel, and the 5th wheel base slipped right onto it. Etrailer staff were very helpful and accurate when I had questions (as they always have been).
Carl F.
6/1/2017
Working great. After a year, just a little lubricant on the king-pin lock, again on a trip to NC for a wand we hooked up to the 5-th wheel and drove to NC for a week and then back to Daytona.
Great kit took me and my son in law 2 hours to install was pretty straight forward. Would recommend to anyone thank you
Hitch installed in less time than anticipated! Quality product and worked like a charm pulling the camper.
Got the boxed but forgot to put the bolts for the Install Kit, I called them and they where shipped the same day. I think they need to see that everything is in the box before they seal it up to be shipped
Steve
2/17/2019
once I got all the parts they didnt ship bolts then it all went in fairly easy
I purchased this kit for my '09 Dodge 2500 Quad cab with a short bed. While a pro could probably install this in the 2-2.5 hours Reese claims, I did it myself (and I'm admittedly a bit anal), so spread it out over a couple of days. The instructions were very clear, and the parts fit my truck perfectly. Some of the fitting locations did make it impossible to properly torque them with a torque wrench, so I had to revert to the way we did it before we had such a thing. After a 6000 mile trip everything is still tight, and ready for our next adventure!
Excellent product and installation instructions. My only recommendation would be to label the type kit that is shipped. I had to count each part and based on quantities provided I was able to figure out what model was sent to me.
The fit of the brackets is not as good as they could be. They cover the mounting holes for the factory wiring harness, as well as interfere with the e-brake cable support. About half the nuts are next to impossible to get a standard torque wrench on, and the directions were obviously written by someone who has never installed one of these.
Product is holding up good. Install was a bit of a pain, there could be a few improvements made here and there such as the spacers that go between the bed and frame, but overall it fits good. Have towed approximately 40,000 lbs including my trailer and no warps, breaks, or unusual wear of any kind is detectable.
Worked great to put my 5th wheel hitch in my truck. Quick delivery.
Fast shipping, didn’t fit as seamlessly as I had hoped. A couple of small spacers were missing from the box, but luckily I had somethings laying around here that would work. I had to do a little grinding and minor modification to get the brackets to fit like they should. All in all, not a bad deal. Would of been a lot tougher to install without some mechanical knowledge and tools to do so.
The installation kit came with all that was need for the job. It does take longer that 2-1/2 hrs though. I was working alone and I had experience doing a similar install. The hard part is reaching where a couple of the nuts are located to get them into position and tightened. But unless you want to pay your local shop $300-$400 to put it in for you, it's a job you can do if you READ THE DIRECTIONS THOROUGHLY!!
Etrailer is always super to deal with and ships very fast.
Product was orginally shipped with to left side U brackets. Etrailer corrected the order and saved the day.
Good quality, easy to install, did not have to drill into my frame, still working perfectly!
This has been a very good hitch. However, it can be a bit sticky when it is time for it to slide. Often need to chock the wheels to get it to slide. I do like the color coded indicators. It lets you know that the hitch is locked up solid.
Great customer service. I installed this on a saturday and it took most of the day. An old fat man with basic hand tools.
Service was fabulous -received the product very quickly. The communication with emails was excellent - the kit itself was a little difficult. Brand new 2012 dodge 3500 crew cab dually laramie longhorn - had to remove exhaust pipe and the mount over gas tank (drivers side front) did not fit right, but made it work.
All the parts were there but no installation instructions so it made it a bit to install. Also it said 4 hour project, figure a bit more time than that. the lack of instructions was my biggest gripe.
Hard to follow directions, wasn't clear at all
Sierra K.
11/22/2021
I apologize that the instructions were not very clear. We do have an installation video of your exact year, make, and model that is visually much easier to follow, if you would like to check your work:
The installation went pretty much as described in the instructions for my 2009 Ram 2500. It was not a two hour job, but I did it myself in about 5 hours. I went slow and measured several times before drilling.
Happy with the great hitch. Went on pretty smoothly, had to install by myself so took a little while longer. Probably total of 4-5 hours.
Was just the right part I needed. Call the tech support before buying and they were the best helped make sure I got the parts called for my truck.
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Jackie
2/8/2016
Hi Mike can you tell me which universal kit I should get