Bed rail height after pin weight

[It's about time]

I have a stock 2019 Ram 2500 6.4L 4x4 with the 6' 4" bed. The tailgate height is 60 inches. The fifth wheel I'm looking at is the 295RL with a pin weight of 1391lbs. I'm thinking of going with the Anderson hitch so with everything I'll have about 1500lbs in the bed of my truck when I'm hitched. I'm pretty sure there will be a clearance issue between the overhang of the fifth wheel and the bed rails. Anyone out there have this same model truck and if so can you tell me how much the bed squats with a load in it? I'm almost certain I'm going to need to lift the trailer to make this work, but I'd sure like to know how much without having to visit Home Depot and load and unload 19 sacks of concrete to find out how much it squats!

Has anyone else had to raise their fifth wheel to get the clearance needed?

[The Bone]

I think you are looking at something wrong.
First the hitch and pin box are fixed in the truck. There are adjustments you can make to raise the hitch or pin box for the 6' clearance.
Squat is something different. Squat has nothing to do with the clearance with the truck bed.
You may squat if you put a load in the bed. In that case only thing you can do is add air bags to the truck. I thought Dodge came with air ride already?
It's always best to drive with the truck level just like the trailer. If you just camp than you don't need the onboard compressor but if you travel like i do than you need the onboard air. I have had to hook up in the rain before and its nice to air up without getting wet.

[xrated]

I have a stock 2019 Ram 2500 6.4L 4x4 with the 6' 4" bed. The tailgate height is 60 inches. The fifth wheel I'm looking at is the 295RL with a pin weight of 1391lbs. I'm thinking of going with the Anderson hitch so with everything I'll have about 1500lbs in the bed of my truck when I'm hitched. I'm pretty sure there will be a clearance issue between the overhang of the fifth wheel and the bed rails. Anyone out there have this same model truck and if so can you tell me how much the bed squats with a load in it? I'm almost certain I'm going to need to lift the trailer to make this work, but I'd sure like to know how much without having to visit Home Depot and load and unload 19 sacks of concrete to find out how much it squats!

Has anyone else had to raise their fifth wheel to get the clearance needed?

There is a serious flaw in your weight numbers. 1391 lbs is the EMPTY TRAILER pin weight. With a fully loaded trailer, 10,000+ lbs is going to produce a pin weight of over 2000 lbs in the bed of your truck. Add the weight of your hitch, passengers, toolbox?, and whatever else goes in/on the truck and and Total that number and then compare it to your payload number for the truck and then try to determine whether you will be overloaded. If you aren't overloaded, then you'll have to try and figure out how much the truck will squat with that much weight being put on it.

[backtrack2015]

My truck's bed rail was 58.5-inches from the ground with the hitch in it (measured at the axle, no trailer attached). The 28BH overhang was 61" from the ground when level (not hitched, 15" wheels on my trailer). I measured just over 2" of rear-end compression with 2000-lbs of pin-weight (when I hitched them together). Given a bed-rail clearance of about 6.75", the trailer ran a touch over 2" nose-high. I'd speculate that your rig will be pretty similar.

Just incase you don't know it already, the AUH will preclude the use of the turning-point feature of the pin-box.

[BreakfastinAmerica]

I have the 2018 RAM and the AUH. Which the 5er on I found a 2” drop in my wheel well. I have clearance on all sides and the unit sits level when hitched. I did adjust the hitch on the 5er to assist in a more level ride, and played around with the ball ( 3 heights)

[BreakfastinAmerica]

Sorry if upside down

[backtrack2015]

Sorry if upside down

Yikes! That pin-box is close to the tailgate. I might swing that red coupler around so that the pin is ahead of the ball.

[It's about time]

Thank you all for your input. A little more information about this - My unloaded tailgate height is 60" When I measure the overhang of the fifth wheel it is 61" with the trailer level. Assuming the bed of my truck compresses 2" with the trailer (just an assumption, I have no idea how much it will compress), I will have 3" of clearance between the bed rails and the trailer overhang. This model year of the truck has coil instead of leaf springs and I'm wondering if they will compress more with weight than leaf.


The Bone - I'm still learning about fifth wheel trailers so it's quite possible I'm looking at something wrong. My Ram does not have air bags. The truck has a rake built into it, similar to how we used to set up our "hot rods" (or in my case, wannabe hot rod) back in the 70's with the back end higher than the front. With the weight of the hitch and trailer in the bed, I'm thinking (hoping) it will then be level. The squat I am referring to is how high the tailgate measurement will be after loaded than before. Perhaps I'm using the wrong term?

xrated - Payload wont be an issue, one of the reasons I went with a 2500. And I agree with you, a fully loaded trailer will have a higher pin weight. What I'm trying to figure out is what the clearance will be between my truck loaded with the fifth wheel and a stock height trailer.

backtrack2015 - Thank you, that sounds a lot like what I will have, minus an inch and a half or so. Have you had any adverse effects from having the trailer 2" nose high while traveling compared to level? Losing the Turning Point is one of the minuses of the AUH. I'm wondering if the combination of the 6'4" bed in mine vs a true 5'7" short bed and utilizing the hitch placement of the AUH will still allow me a 90 degree turn.

BreakfastinAmerica - Thank you, your post and picture are very helpful. The way you have the AUH set up is exactly what I was thinking of. What is the unloaded height of your tailgate and the height of the level trailer overhang? I'm curious how they will compare to my situation. Also, what is the gap between the trailer and bed rails when hitched, and can you turn 90 degrees with your setup? Thanks for the help and no problem on the pictures, the laptop was easy to spin upside down!

[backtrack2015]

Thank you all for your input. A little more information about this - My unloaded tailgate height is 60" When I measure the overhang of the fifth wheel it is 61" with the trailer level. Assuming the bed of my truck compresses 2" with the trailer (just an assumption, I have no idea how much it will compress), I will have 3" of clearance between the bed rails and the trailer overhang. This model year of the truck has coil instead of leaf springs and I'm wondering if they will compress more with weight than leaf.

backtrack2015 - Thank you, that sounds a lot like what I will have, minus an inch and a half or so. Have you had any adverse effects from having the trailer 2" nose high while traveling compared to level? Losing the Turning Point is one of the minuses of the AUH. I'm wondering if the combination of the 6'4" bed in mine vs a true 5'7" short bed and utilizing the hitch placement of the AUH will still allow me a 90 degree turn.

The leaf-spring axles have the equalizer between them that works to balance the load. I didn't notice any negative consequences of being a bit nose high. If we had dual torsion axles it would be a major issue, but luckily we don't. I expect you'll be fine. As for the AUH, I'm not an expert. I've not yet seen anyone who could really go 90-degrees with a short-bed and the AUH. You can get close though... likely close enough. It's hard on the axles to turn that sharp anyway. I'd probably get a fixed B&W hitch and use the turning-point feature. Then you'd have no worries and it would make the trailer respond a bit quicker when backing. That's just me though.

[Hobo Bill]

A couple considerations, as I had a lot of concern about this same issue. My bed rail/tailgate is 60" high, but fully loaded I squat quite a bit. But squatting is good in a way because when your truck squats your rig squats too - and I can, and did, adjust my hitch up one notch (and could even raise it one more) so that my 5er was then level and I have over 6" of bed rail clearance. So make sure you check everything only after you are fully loaded. And remember, you also have adjustiability in your pin box. Usually, the hitch and pin boxes are initially set at a medium position so that you may have to make a couple of adjustments to get your rig to be as level as possible with the 6"+ clearance you want.