Contact between the truck and the bottom of my 5th wheel

[Chronobomb]

While parking my 5th wheel, I had to cross a drainage ditch at an angle. The back corner of the 2017 F350 caught the bottom of the 5th wheel and tore the liner underneath. Fortunately it didn’t punch through the wood and didn’t damage the truck liner. I used rubber spray to protect the exposed wood until I can get somewhere to a a more professional job with bondo.

I’d appreciate any advice to prevent this from happening again.

[Country Campers]

You should have at least 6" of clearance between the top of the truck bed and the bottom of the trailer , more is better. You may have gotten into the worst case angle you could get into and may not happen again. That being said , one way I can leave my place to go on a trip takes me out to a road where I turn on to a 2 lane , the approach is steep and the turn is 90 degrees. After getting our 5er I tried this coming home and just scratched the underneath of the front of the camper with my tonneau cover rail, sits up about an inch. We do not go that way anymore. The fifth wheels take a little more thinking and watching when you get to these places.
Sorry for your damage , it happens to many.

Brian

[Bradnailer]

So sorry to hear about your damage.

[xrated]

When I came home with our new 5ver (my first ever 5ver), I had a neighbor and my wife watching everything that I couldn't. Wife watched for tail swing (7 mailboxes in that area), and Rick my neighbor watched the bedrail/underside of the trailer clearance as I made my turn from the hard road, downhill and onto the gravel road to the house. I watched the inside tires as there was 4 water mains, plus the front end so that the front wheels of the truck didn't go over the edge of the down slope of the gravel. Fortunately, I made it with room to spare and when I measured, I had between 81/4" - 81/2" of bed rail clearance. The turn from the hard road to the gravel took away almost 5" of the clearance, so I was very glad I had that much.

[jkwilson]

In some circumstances you will hit regardless of how much clearance. Crossing a ditch at an angle is about as tough a situation as you can get for bed clearance.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

I have about 8” clearance between the trailer and the truck and crossed washes in the desert weekly from November through March in Arizona, some so deep I had to use 4Low to get up the other side and I never hit the bed with the trailer.
You should consider raising your hitch a couple inches thereby increasing the distance between the trailer and the truck, even if the trailer ends up being nose high.


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[xrated]

I have about 8” clearance between the trailer and the truck and crossed washes in the desert weekly from November through March in Arizona, some so deep I had to use 4Low to get up the other side and I never hit the bed with the trailer.
You should consider raising your hitch a couple inches thereby increasing the distance between the trailer and the truck, even if the trailer ends up being nose high.


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I tend to disagree with that answer. Raising the front of the trailer on purpose like that will move more weight to the rear set of tires and less on the front. Doing that can put you at risk for overloading the rear tires especially if they are on the edge/limit of the their weight carry capacity.

[Cate&Rob]

I’d appreciate any advice to prevent this from happening again.

One thing that can improve this situation while keeping a reasonable clearance space for normal towing, is a manual sliding hitch. When I get into this situation, I slide the hitch back and open the tailgate. This brings the rear corners of the box closer to the hitch point which gains clearance in the situation you described. The tailgate has to be open to clear the wings of the pin box. A few things to remember . . . but a viable “work around”.

Rob

[boyscout]

One thing that can improve this situation while keeping a reasonable clearance space for normal towing, is a manual sliding hitch. When I get into this situation, I slide the hitch back and open the tailgate. This brings the rear corners of the box closer to the hitch point which gains clearance in the situation you described. The tailgate has to be open to clear the wings of the pin box. A few things to remember . . . but a viable “work around”. Rob

That's another good argument for a manual sliding hitch and a driver who will remember to re-set the hitch whenever it's required. While I can buy the former I'm not confident I'd be the latter.

In our setup (see signature) when the hitch is in straight-ahead towing position we have only about four inches between the lowered tailgate and the trailer, not nearly enough to execute a turn. When the truck is turned sharply the distance between the truck's rear wheels and the trailer is supposed to increase by up to 14 inches, but I'd guess that tailgate and trailer would meet well before reaching that sharp turn. One of my recurring nightmares is forgetting to raise the tailgate before pulling out of a site... I may yet do that.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

I tend to disagree with that answer. Raising the front of the trailer on purpose like that will move more weight to the rear set of tires and less on the front. Doing that can put you at risk for overloading the rear tires especially if they are on the edge/limit of the their weight carry capacity.

I don’t see how 1” or 2” of lift in the front would alter the axle load enough to have a catastrophic effect.
Not as much as contacting the trailer with the bed rails or tailgate.d
I could be wrong though.


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