Is 20K Sidewinder Compatible with 2000 Ford Super Duty with 8 Foot Bed

Published 11/05/2019

Products Featured in This Question

Reese Sidewinder 5th Wheel King Pin with Rotating Turret - 20,000 lbs

(43)

$1350.54

5th Airborne Custom Wedge for Select Series Fifth Wheels

(25)

$71.65

Question:

Hi Jon, Thank You advance for your assistance..Pin box # 4x4FW CC 273 V00 4958. I did get the wedge in a pretty good place, but had to wiggle the truck back and forth to get the hitch to lock...not a perfect or comfortable feeling. Will send pictures of the Hitch, PinBox, wedge both sides of the wedge. Further when I torqued the 5/8 bolt down to 150 lbs. the rear bolt stripped. Maybe you have suggestions for that situation?? If I leave the wedge off, the hook up is very smooth. Will attempt to send the photos taken to this email. Thanks so much Regards

asked by: JAMES E

Helpful Expert Reply:

The Sidewinder 5th Wheel King Pin with Rotating Turret # RP34FR will work just fine with your 2000 Ford F-250/F-350 Super Duty but there are a few things to note.

The first thing is that since you have the long bed you shouldn't have a need for a Sidewinder or even a sliding 5th wheel hitch as these products are meant to help add clearance for short bed pickups so the trailer doesn't make contact with the truck cab during tight turns.

The second thing to note is that determining the correct pin box replacement actually relates more to the 5th wheel trailer than the truck itself. For example, this Sidewinder is designed to replace the following pin boxes:

Fabex 663 and 665
Lippert 0719, 1621 and 1621HD
M&M 663 and 665

The last thing to remember is that while the Sidewinder is compatible with a good majority of 5th wheel hitches out there, there are a handful that it won't work with. If you can let me know what 5th wheel hitch that you have I can let you know if it is compatible, how to orient the universal wedge, or let you know if you need a custom wedge.

I have attached a link to one of our helpful articles that can help you determine what pin box you have. If you send me a picture of the sticker on the pin box I can verify this for you as well.

expert reply by: Jon G

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James S.

11/5/2019

Jon G.

11/5/2019

Thank you for the info and all of the pictures! Since you already have the Reese 20K Sidewinder you just need a custom wedge for it to work properly with your Reese 14K Classic 5th wheel hitch. We have reached out to Reese in the past about this and they have informed us to use the 5th Airborne Custom Wedge for Select Series Fifth Wheels # SWW-03 for the 14K Classic 5th wheel hitch. This will take care of the problems you are experiencing with your Sidewinder pin box and should help make connecting easier. Trucks with 8 foot beds actually don't require the functionality of the Sidewinder pin box (since they have sufficient clearance) so in your case you could actually just lock out the rotating turret and use the Sidewinder like a regular pin box since you have a much easier time connecting without the pin box. I'm not sure why your 5/8" bolt might have stripped when you torqued it to 150 ft-lbs as that is the typical setting for grade 5 bolts. You might want to make sure the threads are clean prior to installation.