Gen-Y 5th wheel gooseneck hitches on sale

[John303]

Welp, frustrating weekend at my campsite.

I received the GenY and recruited a couple neighbors to help me install -- that is at a minimum a three man job. Three of us lifted it into place, with lots of sweating and cursing, and my wife slid the bolts in. Got em torqued down.

Today I tried to hook up, just to read just us in our current site.

I'm in a 2014 F450. With the 376TH's front jacks extended all the way, the gen Y hangs just high enough to BARELY clear the bed of the truck, with no hope of getting it over the ball.

It is installed in the lowest position, as I was concerned about clearance between the bed rails. (I'm mounting to a standard BW Turnover ball, can't use the 3" high raised one in the installed hitch system)

My truck isn't lifted, but the campsite is at a slight angle, where I'm backing the truck up slightly up hill. I don't think this is going to be possible for me. If anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to NOT have to unbolt and figure out how to ship it back to Gen Y.

Pics are from after giving up hitching up for the day and leveling back out, just to give an idea of what I'm working with. Again, with the jacks fully extended up front I'm still way too low to get over the ball. Mounting it up higher by one slot on the pinbox would only net me an additional 1" maybe, which won't be enough either.

Attachment 33496Attachment 33497Attachment 33498

Can you chock it well, slip a board between the bed and the hitch, retract the jacks to put more blocks under the jacks, and then extend the jacks again gaining the extra height you need?

Critical part is to make sure nothing moves forward or aft, only up or down.

Or possibly support one corner, retract that jack to get more blocks, extend the jack and repeat on the other side?

Just throwing spaghetti here.

[Diesel_And_Desflurane]

Hey, I appreciate the reply,

Yeah I suppose that's an option, but I'm honestly not sure how I'd go about it. Also, this campsite doesn't seem that crazy to me in terms of slope, so if this system can't work here, it seems like I may well run into issues at other sites down the road.

The only other thing, that I'm not sure about, because this rig is new to me: did I actually get the jacks raised all the way? I took the slides in, disconnected from water, shore power, etc. Then came to the front driver side corner of the rig and used the keypad out there to raise the front jacks. I did not adjust the rear jacks.

1) is it bad to have the front jacks fully extended? Can that put too much stress on the rear jacks as the trailer takes on a more nose up tilt?

2) is there a way, or is it required to raise the rear jacks to continue raising the front?

I stopped when the front jacks stopped raising and loud creaking sounds were beginning to come from the rig. The jacks seemed to be at their full extension, and I didn't want to damage anything.

I'm in a '19 376TH

[minnow101]

Your rear jacks need to be fully retracted when hitching/unhitching. The rear jacks are only used to stabilize the trailer after you've unhitched.

It won't damage the RV for the short amount of time to extend the front jacks fully to hitch and unhitch(as long as the rear jacks are fully retracted).

[Diesel_And_Desflurane]

Hah, well that's good to know! Thanks! Man, I even watched the video on the One Control screen about hitching, but didn't get that bit of info somehow. I wonder if I could try again without putting all the slides back in, just to see if I have the necessary height?

I hate being a noob. Especially with an expensive item.

[John303]

Your rear jacks need to be fully retracted when hitching/unhitching. The rear jacks are only used to stabilize the trailer after you've unhitched.

It won't damage the RV for the short amount of time to extend the front jacks fully to hitch and unhitch(as long as the rear jacks are fully retracted).

Good catch, I should have mentioned to retract the rears.

[FT4NOW]

Your rear jacks need to be fully retracted when hitching/unhitching. The rear jacks are only used to stabilize the trailer after you've unhitched.

It won't damage the RV for the short amount of time to extend the front jacks fully to hitch and unhitch(as long as the rear jacks are fully retracted).

This is really only true for electric jacks. When I had my 399, I would leave the rear jacks down all the time when hitching up to the truck. With the hydraulic system, the rear jacks will adjust if raising the front landing gear. Did it this way for 4 years, no issues, no leaks.

Now with the electric jacks on my 311, you definitely need to retract the rear and middle jacks before hitching up to the truck.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[John303]

Hah, well that's good to know! Thanks! Man, I even watched the video on the One Control screen about hitching, but didn't get that bit of info somehow. I wonder if I could try again without putting all the slides back in, just to see if I have the necessary height?

I hate being a noob. Especially with an expensive item.

I would be uncomfortable with large off level conditions with the slides out, but I cannot say for certain. Maybe someone else knows more.

I think if you can get it hooked up once, you will be able to start from a better position afterwards. You will have the option to use more blocking under the jacks. I am curious about how high you have to raise the unit from its position on the goose ball to clear it; ie 3 inches, 4 inches, more?

[Diesel_And_Desflurane]

Success! My first trip took 8 hours and we went approximately 8 feet. That's an average speed of 1 foot per hour, or 0.0001893939 miles per hour!

Once I retracted the rear landing gear, I was able to raise the front plenty high. Lesson: when you hear something that sounds bad (like I did when raising the front with the rear gear still down) STOP!

The main challenge after that was getting the ball to line up just perfect with the hitch. I'd be well positioned under it, and then lower the front and the rig would lower, but not straight down. It would kind of shift left and right as it lowered itself down. I was doing this through the one control app on my phone. So by the time I was closing in on the ball, I'd now be off midline by a half an inch or so, and the hitch wouldn't tolerate that. Somehow I finally got it.

From there it was smooth sailing. Got the rig backed up, I can now bring my motorcycle out of storage and park it in the garage. I was also able to delete a sewer hose extension, and hopefully my wife can bring her car down and park here.

The only casualty was this dog bowl, which got bit by the kitchen slide.

Also, what do you guys think about the clearance between my bed rails and the front cap on the rig?

[John303]

Success! My first trip took 8 hours and we went approximately 8 feet. That's an average speed of 1 foot per hour, or 0.0001893939 miles per hour!

Once I retracted the rear landing gear, I was able to raise the front plenty high. Lesson: when you hear something that sounds bad (like I did when raising the front with the rear gear still down) STOP!

...........

Also, what do you guys think about the clearance between my bed rails and the front cap on the rig?

Congratulations! Glad you finally got it. As far as clearance, is there a picture? Usually clearance is thought of as a minimum, with a minimum of 6-7" between the truck rails and the bottom of the camper. I have about 7" and there have been some close calls depending on turn and incline.

[Diesel_And_Desflurane]

Hey, I've added photos to that last post. A few more of the whole fiasco can be seen here.

Also, is there any kind of visual confirmation that the hitch and ball are locked together? Beyond lowering it into place and watching it actuate over the ball, is there anything else to do (other than safety chains and e-brake)