Andersen/ 2017 F350 SB

[SkiSmuggs]

I had the same conversation with dealer. I already knew I wanted to have the funnel close r to the rv for similar reasons. I have the Andersen on the lowest setting. I do only get maybe a 70 ish degree before hitting cab.

I am a little confused. It sounds like you are equating the ball height with hitting the cab and side rails. That is for clearance above the tail gate and leveling the fiver. If your pin box has no problem hitting the side rails or tail gate in turns, then the socket should be in front of the pin to keep the fiver further from the cab. Otherwise, put it behind the pin. My extended pin MorRyde pin box will strike the sides of the bed sides if the adapter is mounted the normal way so I reversed it and was pleased to get 90 degrees in a slow and careful turn on level ground. Keep in mind that a 90 degree turn is bad for the trailer tires and suspension, so being able to make 80 degrees without problem should be sufficient.

[Jims94vmx]

Pinbox is angled. So a little higher would equate to more room to bed rail.

[Jims94vmx]

Just thinking out loud, will try it so no 1st hand knowledge.

[Paul & Deb]

I had my "cup" forward initially (3 years ago) and ended up with the pin down plates striking the bed rail on my Silverado during a very tight off camber turn. I since switched it to the alternate position (cup to the rear) and it's perfect all the way around. I also set my ball shaft (wow, did I really just say that on a public forum?) to the highest position.

I suspect the difference, from those who swear by the other position being completely clear, may be my MorRyde pin box.

[ncitro]

I have a 2012 F250 and originally had the cup facing forward. I found it hit my tonneau cover rails and switched it to face rearward. In my shortbed I was looking for the extra cab clearance from having it forward, but the back of the pinbox came out too far and caused me issues for sure. I find now that I may have lost a bit of turning radius to the cab, but its not much. Still plenty of room by the bumper although I need to be pretty straight to put the tailgate down.

[SouthTX]

I've certainly learned something from this thread. Today I noticed a little nick in the plastic edge on my tailgate. No real damage, but there is no mistaking that a corner of the pinbox hit it. Thinking back, I think I know where it happened and it was a pretty significant dip/hump at an intersection.

Needless to say, I rotated the hitch adapter so the funnel is now aft of the kingpin. Sorry if my earlier post mislead anyone.

I'm giving some thought, too, to lowering the rear of my TV by an inch or so to allow me to raise the hitch by the same amount.

[breweraz]

I measured the distance from the center of the Andersen receiver (the location the ball will fit in the Andersen adapter) to the back of the pin box. I then measured the distance from the Andersen ball to the side of the truck. When I had mine facing forward, the distance from the receiver to the back of the pin box was greater than the distance from the ball to the side rail of the truck. In other words in a hard turn the back of the pin box would hit the top of the rail of the truck.

When I moved the Andersen adapter facing backward the distance from the center of the receiver to the back of the pinbox is 4 inches less . That distance is shorter than than from the ball to the side rail so it clears and will not hit.

That is how I made the decision to turn my facing backward and no issues.

I also installed the chains and the blocking plates because the Grand design has the roto flex the bars stop the horizontal movement. I have not seen a big change either way but just another thing not to think about.

No issues and love the Andersen set up.

Breweraz

Breweraz

[SkiSmuggs]

I measured the distance from the center of the Andersen receiver (the location the ball will fit in the Andersen adapter) to the back of the pin box. I them measured the distance from the Andersen ball to the side of the truck. When I had mine facing forward the distance from the receiver to the back of the pin box was greater than the distance from the ball to the side rail of the truck. In other words in a hard turn the back of the pin box would hit the top of the rail of the truck.

When I moved the Andersen adapter facing backward the distance from the center of the receiver to the back of the pinbox is 4 inches less . That distance is shorter than than from the ball to the side rail so it clears and will not hit.

That is how I made the decision to turn my facing backward and no issues.

I also installed the chains and the blocking plates because the Grand design has the roto flex and they will stop the latteral movement.

No issues and love the Andersen set up .

Breweraz

Breweraz

There you go, confusing everyone with facts and science!

[boozygoose]

So I ended up picking up our new 303 yesterday from the dealer (took longer than promised to finish the punch list, no surprise).

As it was a Sunday, service dept was mostly empty except for my delivery adviser, a tech, and Service Manager. Had a long discussion about the pin adapter orientation with the 3 of them, showed them pics from JerryR from this site, etc. So, as I stated in the OP, another tech had installed with funnel forward. As we had the luxury of a little time and a mostly empty area, and they were very willing to try. Tried with Andersen ball in both middle and highest position. Fins cleared by a couple of inches in highest, maybe 1 inch in middle. The difference between the overall nose height of trailer between the two ball heights was negligible, and got around 75-80 degrees with 3-4 inches still left between trailer and cab so left as is.

Drove home and backed into storage without incident. I may change in future, hard to argue with math above, so will definitely measure on our 303, and experiment a bit. On an unlevel surface, I don't think I would be as happy with the 2" clearance of fins. Wish I had been smart enough to take pics yesterday...

Regardless, thanks for all the commentary.

[jasonl78]

I have a 2017 Ram 3500 Mega Cab with 6'4" box. I also have the Rambox storage boxes and an Access tonneau cover. Because my bedrails are wider than a normal truck, I had to run with the ball in the highest position and turn the funnel so it was in the rear position. This position gives me plenty of clearance to bed rails, the tailgate and the cab. I have a 2018 28BH. For a camper. So far this setup has worked well for me. Camper rides pretty level with this setup too.