Chevy 2500 HD, hitch advice request

Thought I would add to the thread my experience. I was working through the same thing with my new Silverado 3500. We finally just picked up our 31MB in Colorado Springs from a private party and we live in San Diego. I went with the BW OEM non slider hitch in my standard bed truck. A little worried about levelness on trailer, space from rail to under the trailer and turning radius. I am happy to say all worked out very well. Hope my pictures work here. I ended up pretty level with 7" of space between the bed rail and the trailer. My turning radiuse in a sliver shy of 90 degrees and the tailgate clears fine even at a pretty good angle. In the jackknife photos the truck is actually going up a slight inclince as well.

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I am moving from an old truck to a new one.

New truck: 2023 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD, crew cab short bed (6.8 foot bed)
HAS OEM 5th wheel/gooseneck under bed mounting pucks.

Old truck: 2008 Ford F-250 crew cab short bed (6.75 foot bed )
Uses old-school rail mounts bolted above bed floor.

The old truck and hitch is my first foray into 5th wheel towing and number decisions were made with an abundance of naivete. We used a Husky 16K hitch on a 16K roller mount. (See image attached below.). This set-up functions well but does “clunk” a fair amount and get itself into a mode of “chucking” fore-and-aft where I need to brake slightly to settle it down. As I understand it, the sliding bar type of hitch has some slop in it, as do the slider rollers. This freeplay allows enough fore-aft movement to “chuck”. I have spent time adjusting out as much free-play as I can without causing it to bind up.

We have, however, become accustomed to the manual slider. The rearward position offers allows the tailgate to be open during hitch/un-hitch. And, of course, the peace of mind regarding sharp turns.

In this new truck I’d like take advantage of the OEM mounts and eliminate the chucking. It would be nice to stay with a manual slider. BUT, weight is important. My 3108 lb payload capacity says that I should not use a near-400-lb beast automatic slider, for example.

Plus, I do remove the hitch when not traveling.

I see a few possibilities and want to solicit advice and opinions from folks with the same or similar trucks and fifth wheels.

1a) B&W Companion OEM Slider (RVK3775)
Looks really nice but is heavy, at about 280 lbs. ( I think. B&W is carefully avoids listing weights.)

1b). B&W Companion fixed position hitch:
Lighter than the slider, but NOT a slider (what does this weigh??)
Any folks out there with 303RLS and Chevy 2500/2500 short beds using this? What is your experience?

2) Anderson Ultimate
Super light. NOT a slider. Different sort of hooking up scheme.
Any folks out there with 303RLS and Chevy 2500/2500 short beds using this? What is your experience?

3) Buy an adapter plate (Demco or Curt, for example) and move the old Husky 16K slider into the new truck.
It will work. It will also still be clunky and chucky.
Need to examine the height of the adapter plate versus the height of the rail bolted in the F-250.
The bed of the new truck is a maybe ½ inch higher and perhaps the springs will sag less.

4) Demco and Pullrite
NO manual sliders. I am resisting automatic sliders. Is the foolish?

5) Curt
They have a manual slider, but the whole things seems to be too tall.

What am I missing? What is working well for you?

Here is that photo of the old hitch:

I’ve been following this thread a bit and just thought that I would chime in and say that I have a 2022 GMC 2500 Crew Cab standard bed and it’s 6’-10” not 6’-8”. I suspect that the specs on a 2023 are the same. I’m not being critical or nitpicky but just thought that I would point that out because that extra 2inches could be big and also critical in the calculations.
 
I’ve been following this thread a bit and just thought that I would chime in and say that I have a 2022 GMC 2500 Crew Cab standard bed and it’s 6’-10” not 6’-8”. I suspect that the specs on a 2023 are the same. I’m not being critical or nitpicky but just thought that I would point that out because that extra 2inches could be big and also critical in the calculations.

Thank you for your diligence in accuracy.

Note that my post quotes the bed length as the decimal "6.8 foot"
(Chevy 2023 data sheet says 6.85 feet, I truncated that a bit.)

Converting that to get feet and inches is 6 feet 10.2 inches

Happy Holidays!
 
Thank you for your diligence in accuracy.

Note that my post quotes the bed length as the decimal "6.8 foot"
(Chevy 2023 data sheet says 6.85 feet, I truncated that a bit.)

Converting that to get feet and inches is 6 feet 10.2 inches

Happy Holidays!

I stand corrected (Kind of). Happy Holidays
 
Not sure if you made a new hitch purchase yet,,,,if it helps I have a 2015 GMC 2500 HD 4+4 with 6.5’ bed towing GD REFLECTION 320 mks, currently using Curt’s A20 standard rail mount no slide ( and no problems with ride height or turning ratios) can turn up to about 80 plus degrees. Point of interest I did start out with a slider base hitch but never found the need for it,never got to the point where I needed to slide the hitch while towing with this truck. Good luck with your decision B&W to me is one of the best hitches on the market,
 
I'm towing a 303RLS with a GMC 2500 and I opted for the Curt A16, with manual slider. I'm happy with the Curt hitch. we camped 80 nights last year and I only used the slider once......but, still nice to have.
 
Not sure if you made a new hitch purchase yet,,,,if it helps I have a 2015 GMC 2500 HD 4+4 with 6.5’ bed towing GD REFLECTION 320 mks, currently using Curt’s A20 standard rail mount no slide ( and no problems with ride height or turning ratios) can turn up to about 80 plus degrees. Point of interest I did start out with a slider base hitch but never found the need for it,never got to the point where I needed to slide the hitch while towing with this truck. Good luck with your decision B&W to me is one of the best hitches on the market,

Good to hear that the Curt A20 is working for you.

To help folks joining this thread late, I did buy the B&W Companion hitch with the OEM puck mount. My initial installation is detailed around posts 42-47 of this thread. So far, I have only used it the one time for a test drive. Snowing outside now and the trailer is tucked in bed.
 
Thought I would add to the thread my experience. I was working through the same thing with my new Silverado 3500. We finally just picked up our 31MB in Colorado Springs from a private party and we live in San Diego. I went with the BW OEM non slider hitch in my standard bed truck. A little worried about levelness on trailer, space from rail to under the trailer and turning radius. I am happy to say all worked out very well. Hope my pictures work here. I ended up pretty level with 7" of space between the bed rail and the trailer. My turning radiuse in a sliver shy of 90 degrees and the tailgate clears fine even at a pretty good angle. In the jackknife photos the truck is actually going up a slight inclince as well.

View attachment 43860
View attachment 43861
View attachment 43862View attachment 43862

I keep looking at this and still not sure how you cleared the cab. We have a 2015 2500HD Std. bed with B&W non-slider as well. Our 337 will NOT clear the cab even in the furthest back setting on the pivot arm. We are very close to clear the cab but would contact the back glass. Is the turnoverball located in a differently on the newer model HD trucks? Or is the wheel base been changed on the Std. bed?

Dutchman2
 
I have the OEM puck B&W non slider so the OEM mounting points for the hitch. I believe that 2020 and later trucks mount the hitch further back with the puck system and they even changed the puck mount distances from pre 2020 trucks. The center of my hitch is actually behind the center line of the axle. My bed length is 82.5 inches and I think that is about 4 inches longer that the pre 2020 standard bed also.
 
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I have the OEM puck B&W non slider so the OEM mounting points for the hitch. I believe that 2020 and later trucks mount the hitch further back with the puck system and they even changed the puck mount distances from pre 2020 trucks. The center of my hitch is actually behind the center line of the axle. My bed length is 82.5 inches and I think that is about 4 inches longer that the pre 2020 standard bed also.

That would explain the added clearance. I was not aware the puck system placed the pin behind the axal. Your number look accurate as the inside measurement of our bed is 77". Seems to me that the when we go looking for a new 2024 3500HD we could stick with the Std. bed w/o the slider hitch.

Thanks,
Dutchman2
 
I keep looking at this and still not sure how you cleared the cab. We have a 2015 2500HD Std. bed with B&W non-slider as well. Our 337 will NOT clear the cab even in the furthest back setting on the pivot arm. We are very close to clear the cab but would contact the back glass. Is the turnoverball located in a differently on the newer model HD trucks? Or is the wheel base been changed on the Std. bed?

Dutchman2

I dug around a little bit and found an old press release
https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/vehicles/silverado-hd-cng/2015.tab1.html

This lists the 2015 2500 HD bed length as 6 feet 6 inches long. The 2020-2023 trucks are 6 feet 10 inches. That is quite a difference. Also, on the newer trucks the OEM puck mounting puts the center of the hitch a bit behind the axle. I don't know where the 2015 trucks place the pucks, but if they are centered on the axle, as is common, then bed length and puck location were both changed in the newer trucks in a way that adds more space for trailer clearance.
 
I dug around a little bit and found an old press release
https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/vehicles/silverado-hd-cng/2015.tab1.html

This lists the 2015 2500 HD bed length as 6 feet 6 inches long. The 2020-2023 trucks are 6 feet 10 inches. That is quite a difference. Also, on the newer trucks the OEM puck mounting puts the center of the hitch a bit behind the axle. I don't know where the 2015 trucks place the pucks, but if they are centered on the axle, as is common, then bed length and puck location were both changed in the newer trucks in a way that adds more space for trailer clearance.

Here is a picture of the bed of my 2019 GMC with 6.6 bed and the puck system installed. Definitely forward if the axle.

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Bill
 
back in post #11 of this thread I make a rather confused effort to say just how much centered behind the axle are the factory pucks on the 2023 truck. At this point, I highly recommend that my posted numbers not be trusted. Go find a truck and measure it, or ask me to remeasure mine.

The B+W installation manual for the model 3710 hitch does state quite clearly that with the latest model GM factory puck mounts the kingpin is centered either 1.5 inches or 3.5 inches behind the center of the axle. I put mine in the rearmost configuration.
 
Here is a picture of the bed of my 2019 GMC with 6.6 bed and the puck system installed. Definitely forward if the axle.

View attachment 44328
Bill

I went out and took a picture of my 2023 standard size (6ft 10 inch) truck bed in the same manner as you posted.
The rear of the truck is to the left.

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You can clearly see the difference on the puck and the goose ball locations from your 2019 and my 2023. Everything has been relocated behind the axle.
 
I went out and took a picture of my 2023 standard size (6ft 10 inch) truck bed in the same manner as you posted.
The rear of the truck is to the left.

View attachment 44331


You can clearly see the difference on the puck and the goose ball locations from your 2019 and my 2023. Everything has been relocated behind the axle.

Wow, quite a difference! I wonder what the motivation was for that relocation.

Bill
 
Wow, quite a difference! I wonder what the motivation was for that relocation.

Bill

I am concluding that GM wanted to make the standard bed trucks friendlier to gooseneck and fifth wheel towing. They also boosted the payload rating quite a bit in the 2020 design change.
 
I am concluding that GM wanted to make the standard bed trucks friendlier to gooseneck and fifth wheel towing. They also boosted the payload rating quite a bit in the 2020 design change.

Changes my thoughts on a new 3500HD CC/LB. Looks like the Std. bed will work well W/O a slider as long as you have the newer shaped front cap. Very interesting indeed. Thanks for all quick responses and effort to include pictures.

Dutchman2
 
Changes my thoughts on a new 3500HD CC/LB. Looks like the Std. bed will work well W/O a slider as long as you have the newer shaped front cap. Very interesting indeed. Thanks for all quick responses and effort to include pictures.

Dutchman2

In general, I agree with you. But I caution that the only relevant parameter we are NOT discussing in this thread is the width of the trailer. I have a 303RLS and am happy with that trailer and CCSB 2023 2500 HD truck and a B+W fixed OEM puck mount hitch. As posted earlier in this thread I can turn that "almost" 90 degrees.

You have a 337RLS. Is it the same width as the 303RLS? GD does not put the width on the web site. Others on this forum seem to possess extensive knowledge of trailer width. I do not. In particular folks have pointed out that Solitudes are wider. Perhaps all Reflections are the same? This information needs to found before we can extrapolate.
 

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