First Post New to Grand Design 5th Wheel. Stepping Up from TT's

[COFFEECAMPER]

Making the step up from Travel Trailers to the 320MKS. Picking it up on Sat. This will be the 5th RV but 1st 5th whl. Have owned a Towlite, Rockwood, Outback, Northtrail and am signing the pw on Sat on a 19' 320MKS. Going to utilize the Andersen Hitch which I luckily found second hand but have a question which I have not been able to find an answer to on the forum. I will be pulling with a 2015 F250 Crew 4x4(not FX4) with the shorter bed and am trying to see if anyone can recommend the ball height setting in the bed and the king pin setting for the coupler(fwd to truck or backward to trailer). I will have to attach it in the parking lot after our walkthru and am trying to save time rather than going thru trial and error. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[avf100]

My truck is a GMC 6.5. Bed and this should work for yours also.
The ball is in the middle position and the couplerfacing forward.

[Country Campers]

Congrats on the new 320MKS , welcome to the forum.
We have a great PDI , pre delivery check list , that you can print to take with you , this helps with things to check on your walk thru , if you do not already have a list.

Brian

[howson]

Making the step up from Travel Trailers to the 320MKS. Picking it up on Sat. This will be the 5th RV but 1st 5th whl. Have owned a Towlite, Rockwood, Outback, Northtrail and am signing the pw on Sat on a 19' 320MKS. Going to utilize the Andersen Hitch which I luckily found second hand but have a question which I have not been able to find an answer to on the forum. I will be pulling with a 2015 F250 Crew 4x4(not FX4) with the shorter bed and am trying to see if anyone can recommend the ball height setting in the bed and the king pin setting for the coupler(fwd to truck or backward to trailer). I will have to attach it in the parking lot after our walkthru and am trying to save time rather than going thru trial and error. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I can't help with your question, but want to welcome you to the forum. (I like your username! I can relate, as I read the forum this morning while drinking my coffee...)

[COFFEECAMPER]

One of my favorite things to do when we set up at a new campground....get up early the next morning with a fresh cup and sit under the awning and watch the campground come alive. The excitement of the kids as they wake, the smell of bacon frying....you get the picture.

[jasonl78]

Making the step up from Travel Trailers to the 320MKS. Picking it up on Sat. This will be the 5th RV but 1st 5th whl. Have owned a Towlite, Rockwood, Outback, Northtrail and am signing the pw on Sat on a 19' 320MKS. Going to utilize the Andersen Hitch which I luckily found second hand but have a question which I have not been able to find an answer to on the forum. I will be pulling with a 2015 F250 Crew 4x4(not FX4) with the shorter bed and am trying to see if anyone can recommend the ball height setting in the bed and the king pin setting for the coupler(fwd to truck or backward to trailer). I will have to attach it in the parking lot after our walkthru and am trying to save time rather than going thru trial and error. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I was in your shoes a few years back but I had never pulled anything bigger than my fishing boat. I had to install the coupler at the dealership and adjust the height of the ball to get the clearance I needed. Did some experiments in their parking lot. I ended up with the coupler reversed, ball socket behind kingpin, and the ball in the middle position. I have a short bed truck with Ramboxes so it adds more complexity to the situation. I'm a little nose high but not bad.

[COFFEECAMPER]

Just a quick update on the new rig and Andersen Hitch. Took some measurements in the parking lot on the day I picked it up and ended up setting the coupler to the rear and used the ball in the middle setting. After hookup, the truck squatted a little too much for my liking but made the 250 mile trip back ok. Since the first pull, I went ahead and installed the Firestone Ride Rite airbags on the truck this past weekend. I am very anxious to see how much of a difference the air bags will make in the ride and am hoping for a marked improvement. So far, my wife and I have spent 2 nights in the rig and it has been everything we had hoped so far except for the frig. It took 8-10 hours for it to get to a decent temp but luckily, we didn't have too many perishables on the first short trip. Love the massage recliners. Can't understand why they would put the island light switch in such an odd place. Smaller awning seemed a little sticky but it could have been due to how we were set up. Stove/oven worked really well. Have not tried the outside cooktop yet. I really don't think we will ever totally use all the storage as it seems to be everywhere in this camper. The king mattress slept great. The shower was very roomy even for me at 6'3". Looking forward the next outing.

[Country Campers]

Just a quick update on the new rig and Andersen Hitch. Took some measurements in the parking lot on the day I picked it up and ended up setting the coupler to the rear and used the ball in the middle setting. After hookup, the truck squatted a little too much for my liking but made the 250 mile trip back ok. Since the first pull, I went ahead and installed the Firestone Ride Rite airbags on the truck this past weekend. I am very anxious to see how much of a difference the air bags will make in the ride and am hoping for a marked improvement. So far, my wife and I have spent 2 nights in the rig and it has been everything we had hoped so far except for the frig. It took 8-10 hours for it to get to a decent temp but luckily, we didn't have too many perishables on the first short trip. Love the massage recliners. Can't understand why they would put the island light switch in such an odd place. Smaller awning seemed a little sticky but it could have been due to how we were set up. Stove/oven worked really well. Have not tried the outside cooktop yet. I really don't think we will ever totally use all the storage as it seems to be everywhere in this camper. The king mattress slept great. The shower was very roomy even for me at 6'3". Looking forward the next outing.

The RV fridge will take at least 10 to 12 hours to cool down properly. We generally turn ours on the night before we are going to leave and put some items in it that are not perishable , jug of water , ketchup , mustard or such. These gives the unit something to cool and also get to proper temp before putting in the good stuff. If we are going soon after we come back from a trip , 1 week or so we will just plug it back in and leave the fridge run.

Brian

[xrated]

Welcome to the 5ver club....I'm a new owner myself. Regarding the squat, that trailer has a GVWR of 14,000 lbs and may be a bit much for your truck. I suspect your actual payload number on the truck, as found on the white/yellow sticker on the driver side door post is going to read approx 2200 lbs if you have the diesel. If you have the gas motor, you will likely be in the 2900-3000 lb range, depend upon how the truck is equipped....XLT/ Lariat/King Ranch/etc. And yes, RV refrigerators seem to take forever to cool down and most of us have experienced that, so we load food/drinks that are already cold and allow sufficient time before hand to let it "chill out"!

[COFFEECAMPER]

I took a look at the numbers before making the purchase and think we will be ok. Ford towing guide shows that I should be able to get to 15900 GVWR in a fifth wheel set up and my wife and I tend to travel light. I don't feel we will get to more than 1500lbs of gear/food etc and will only pull with full water reservoir for no more than 15 miles ever. Doesn't matter, not in a position to switch out tow vehicles right now so we will just make the best of it.