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Install your fifth wheel trailer hitch in half the time with this custom bracket kit. Requires less drilling than universal kits and provides a custom fit for your . Includes everything you need for installation.
Features:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today on our 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500 we will be taking a look at and installing a Curt Custom Fit 5th Wheel Installation kit, part number c16418-204. Here you can see the custom base plates installed. They're gonna provide a nice stable base for our customers 5th wheel that you see here. The custom brackets mount beneath your truck bed and provide attachment points for those 5th wheel brackets that you see here. Now this is going to be a custom fit for each and every vehicle. As you can see here it's gonna have a real nice look in the back of your truck. The complete kit and brackets with the rails and hardware included and just minor drilling the frame and through the bed.
They're gonna have a carbide finish and be black powder coated to help prevent any kind of rust and corrosion and the anodized bolt will also resist rust and corrosion. This will be compatible with your Curt, Draw-Tite, Hidden Hitch, Reese, Valley and Husky 5th wheel hitches. First thing we're gonna do is come around to the back and open up that spare tire door and lower down our spare tire to give us extra room underneath. Another thing that we're gonna do for video purposes is going to remove the rear tires just to give us a little bit more room to work and so you can see what's going on. Now that we've got the tires removed on the back and the spare tire dropped down we're just gonna take out this section here and this section here just on the other side of the channel on both sides of the axle. That way to give us room for our bolts coming through. Now on the back part right behind the rear axle and the back side of the exhaust you can see where we made a line here.
We're gonna trim out that heat shield and then we'll pull all this down. Now that we've got it cut you can go ahead and remove it. All right now that we've got that everything taken care of underneath for the moment we'll go ahead and grab our front rail. We're gonna bring that up so we can position it in the inside of our truck. For our short bed truck that we have here today, we're gonna measure from the edge of the bed, right here where the tail gate goes up and measure up that distance recommended in our instructions. Once we have it where we want it we're gonna make a mark using our permanent marker or a paint pen if you have one.
Do that on both sides, once we have that where we want it go ahead and grab our front rail and bring it up and set it, the back side of it up against that dot. Now what we're gonna do is get it centered between our bed. We'll measure from the sides, get it about the same on both sides. Now that we're there we're gonna go ahead and make a small dot in the center of our outer bolt holes on the front rail. Then the center one closest to the cab. Now we can move this out of the way, punch our hole and then use a pre-drill bit, go ahead and drill it out.
Remember to be very careful when you're drilling through to make sure that you don't hit anything underneath the bed. Now we'll go ahead and position our side brackets. Set them up into place, now we stuck a small screw driver through our hole so we could check our alignment on our pre-drilled holes that we made up here. Want to test those out and make sure they're where we want them. We'll put the bracket up into place, make sure those holes will line up. Our final resting place for our bracket should be about right there. All right now we have our mounting locations here in the bottom hole going straight through the frame as well as in the front in the big whole going through the frame. Now we are going to have to drill a small half inch hole directly above on this side on the front towards the cab of the vehicle. Let's go ahead and get our big bolts in place so it holds our side bracket in. That way we can use our side bracket as a template to drill our hole. We're gonna have two different size hex-bolts, you can see the difference there and two different size washers. The thin washer is going to go with the small hex-bolt and the thick one with the longer one. Longer one's going to go in the back and the shorter one's gonna go in the front. Now there is enough room to where you can reach up back behind the frame. Once we have the back one in, go ahead and grab our flange nut, you'll have two of these. Make sure you have the teeth facing towards the side bracket, we'll just start it on there. Once we've got it started on, we'll go around the other side and push this one through and then place on the flange nut up here in the front. Once you have it through go ahead and place your flange nut on the other side. Now that we've got our side brackets in place and just temporarily fastened up there with our two big bolts in place. We're gonna repeat that process on the passenger side. Now we're back up here in the bed of our truck. We're gonna take and drill out our half in holes and use the step-bit process to take to up to 9/16. We'll go through our pre-drill hole since we've already checked them out to confirm that they're exactly where we want them to be. We'll go ahead and slide our plate over our holes and then we'll take our carriage bolt and drop them though. Now on the two end ones we want to make sure that we put our blocks underneath, in-between the crossbar and the bed of the truck. That way the corrugation doesn't flex once we tighten them down. Then the one in the center will just drop straight through and that block will actually come up on the bottom side. Make sure that they all sit flush all the way around and they aren't canted or twisted. Now we can go ahead and place on our blocks and our flange nuts underneath those carriage bolts that we just slide through from the top of our bed. We're gonna lift it up, lift up that side bracket, place our block underneath then we place our flange nut underneath the bottom and thread it on. We're gonna put it on our next one, and if that front one if it's easier for you to reach around the outside and place in your black you can do that and come under here and place that other. Now for the one coming through the center on the front we're gonna place our block, our square block and then our flange nut. Now we're gonna take our customers 5th wheel, lift it up and slide that rear bracket into place. Once we have it where we want it go ahead and adjust it and make sure it's square in the bed before we drill out our other holes. Now for this back rail we're gonna be using the second hole in on both sides. Sit right on top of the corrugation. We'll take a marker and mark out the center and then use our punch to punch it before we pre-drill it and use our step process just as we did on the front. Make sure that you have it taped and measured on both side to make sure it's even and centered in the bed. Then on the center one we're not gonna do the one closest to the cab we're gonna do the one closest to the tailgate. Now that we got those marked we'll go ahead and drill them out. We'll go ahead and lift if back up and slide our plate back in now that we've got our holes drilled. You see there that all of our holes line up so we'll go ahead and slip our carriage bolts through the top just as we did on the front side. Except we're not gonna be using the blocks on the top this way round. We're just going to be putting our carriage bolts in inaudible 00:09:03 flush on all five of these attachments. Go ahead and drop through those long carriage bolts. Needs to look about like so, let's go ahead and go underneath and we'll secure everything up. Take your U-shaped blocks, place them over the top of the side bracket on this back attachment. Put it around the bolt this way when we press it up it doesn't bend in that corrugation. Take your block, place it underneath and then your flange nut on the bottom side. It should look about like so. Same thing on the passenger side, go ahead and place those U-shaped blocks over the top, take our square blocks on the bottom side and our flange nuts. On the middle one it's going to be the same thing with the U-shape and then the square block over the top. Once we got it there go ahead and place on our flange nut with the teeth facing towards the block. Now go ahead and tighten and torque down our center bolts on the inside to manufacturers specifications. Then we'll come back out and with these once still not torqued down yet we can go ahead and drill out that hole for that half inch bolt that's gonna be going through. Once we have that drilled out we'll go ahead and put that bolt through and torque down the side plates. Now once we've got this side drilled out we'll go ahead and repeat that same process on the passenger side. Now we'll go ahead and take our half inch bolt leader, feed it into the hole that we just drilled and out the backside of the frame rail where we can grab it with our other hand. Go ahead and place out block over it, and then we'll go ahead and get our half inch carriage bolt that's still remaining. These are going to be the two shorter carriage bolts in the kit that you still have left. Go ahead and thread that on the bolt leader, we're gonna pull it back out the hole that we just drilled. Grab that other end that we still have hanging out of our hole, pull it through and out the hole. Go ahead and unthread the bolt leader and then thread on our flange nut with the teeth facing towards the side plate. Now go ahead and repeat that on the other side. Now we'll go ahead and put the tires back on our vehicle, run our spare tire back up and secure it into position. That will do for the review and installation of the Curt Custom Fit 5th Wheel installation kit, part number C16418-204 on our 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500.
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (159 Customer Reviews)
Install your fifth wheel trailer hitch in half the time with this custom bracket kit. Requires less drilling than universal kits and provides a custom fit for your vehicle. Includes everything you need for installation.Nice well made with thick material. Time would tell how sturdy it is. Easy to install, clear instructions with everything you need for it. (Nuts and bolts).
This is my second mounting kit that I get for my trucks.
High quality, heavy duty system. Bolted right in and instructions were easy to follow. I feel good about pulling our camper with this set up. Only issue was shipping, the box was damaged and was missing the pins that were ordered. But customer service quickly got thing fixed and resent.
Upon delivery the box was a little banged up. Everything was inside was still in good condition. To my time with install to insure proper alignment, the only thing I can say negative about it is, you need 4 additional 3/4 inch washers for the frame bracket bolts that are not included, at least I did! On both sides. In the end it was a rather easy success.
Jacob
6/30/2022
There were no parts missing! Just 4 extra 34 inch washers were needed
Installed on my 2005 Chevrolet 2500. Used install videos from your website and had no problems at all installing. Fast shipping also. Thank you for a great website!
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500HD, installed the Custom 5th Wheel Installation kit along with the Q16 Slider Hitch. Product arrived very quickly after ordering. It was shipped in 3 different boxes. One box was a little beat up during shipping, but all of the parts were there and undamaged. I watched the installation video once, then my brother-in-law and I tackled the job which took us about 2 hours. This was not difficult to install other than trying to get the 1/2" bolt through the hole on the driver side of the frame (the frame is boxed there). The included wire guide helped, but you still have to manipulate the bolt into the right position in a very tight spot. Everything turned out to be a perfect fit, no modifications needed. Also, I removed both rear wheels before starting which gave us plenty of working room. I have purchased from etrailer in the past and will continue to use them in the future.
This kit is perfect! Comes with everything you need with easy to install instructions. I’d recommend this and other etrailer products. They match all factory specs. Simple and easy
Keagan K.
11/8/2023
This system worked perfectly, and was very easy to install.
Well built. Some bolts are a bugger to get tightened up but not bad. Didn't remove the heat shield.
Had an issue with my bank denying my order of two of the same items. Talked to Adam with customer service and he was fantastic. He got everything straightened out and received my order in less than two days
Great product, fits like a glove
Perfect fit and great quality.
Very strong product I would give five stars except the instructions would not be good for an every day truck owner but the E trailer video is really good the only issue with a long bed is you have to drill 4 holes in the front of the frame two on each side and be aware if you do have a long bed truck you will need a big drillbit for instants I used a 7/8 but the overall product is good shipping was great could not imagine having to install the universal brackets and this kit made it so much easier
Jeremiah
10/16/2017
Update I have probably put about 5000 miles of towing With this kit I have not had an issue with it still looks good no rust all the bolts are still tight
I wish I could give two ratings for this kit, one for quality of product, and one for quality of fit and instruction. The product quality, once it is installed is very nice and heavy duty.
The instructions, and the fit on my 2005 GMC one ton dually leave a lot to be desired. They say it should take about 90 minutes to install. Plan on about 8 hours if you don't have a lift, and plan on drilling 3/4 inch holes in the frame rails. You better have access to a compressor, cut off wheel, 1/2 inch impact gun, 1/2 inch drill motor and 3/4 drill or reamer. This is NOT for the average "weekend warrior" with a small set of hand tools to install.
Jeff M.
6/23/2015
Very heavy duty. Very secure. No problems aside from the initial installation. Nice setup.
Just received this and haven't installed it yet. I plan to add it to my truck in about 2 weeks. This is exactly the same as my last truck which was a perfect fit. It also worked great pulling my 35-foot fifth wheel RV. I look forward to the same quality as before, perfection.
James
7/5/2021
Checked the install to make sure everything was still good. No problem found even after a year.
Just got everything delivered today. Looking forward to installing it. More to follow
Brian
2/17/2023
Very satisfied with the 5th wheel hitch and the kit I received to install onto my 2002 GMC Sierra. The online videos really helped I will recommend this set up to anyone I know who is considering a 5th wheel tow package
The Help & professionalism of Quinn F @ etrailer.com was outstanding. He confirmed that the product was the best choice for my vehicle & purpose, his personal response & follow through impressed me (including an e-mail letting me know my parts were delivered a couple days early). I will definitely be using Quinn F @ etrailer.com for all my RV related needs.
The installation kit had everything I needed & fit perfectly as it should have. I would have given a five star rating but neither the instructions nor the video mentioned lowering the gas tank which was neccessary on my 2009 Chevy dually with the 35 gal tank. Aside from that the install went smoothly. I would have no problem recommending this kit & etrailer to anyone
Another success from etrailer! Ordered a 5th wheel rails kit for my Chevy 2500 Duramax. It arrived within a couple of days as scheduled. Even though I didn't install it myself, the install fit my truck well and looks very clean. I didn't get any nasty calls from my installer so I am guessing there weren't any issues. Lol. I will continue using etrailer as my go to place for quality parts that fit well at a good price!
Installation was simple enough with the guide. Measurements were spot on and bolted through the bed correctly. The frame rails are a different story...the front holes shown in video were for a short bed. On the long bed version, the two front holes have to drilled on each side. Make sure to tighten the bolts in the bed first to ensure alignment. The driver side frame rail doesn’t allow for the fish wire for the larger of the two bolts, because the fuel tank support straps are directly behind and Chevy made this section of the frame narrower. The bolt must be installed from the outside with a small person, daughter-in-law, holding the nut inside the frame and tighten from the outside. The passenger side, no problems at all. Once those four holes are drilled everything else is a cake walk. May be different on other models than Chevy, but would have been nice to know before and to have a large enough drill bit on hand. If not for the extra drilling and frustration this would have received a 5 star.
The curt custom kit was very well made I have a 2005 chevy 3500 Dully long bed A couple of things that you will have to do when installing the kit you will have to drill two holes in your frame for the installation of the frame brackets on the front a 1/2 inch hole and 7/8 hole you will have to remove your spare tire you will not have to drop your gas tank or cut your exhaust heat shield out of the way but the only thing you will have to do is cut a quarter inch off of the large bolt on the driver side front three-quarter inch bolt because it will not fit in The frame area properly without doing that other than that the install was great and very well-made it Took me 3.5 hrs to install and my hands are beat up good luck and safe travel
The system installed super easy. And works like a champ.
Time to install is way off
My order arrived quickly, as promised. It was an easy process of ordering it. I reserve 1 star on my rating as I have not opened the box and installed it yet. I'm hoping - all the pieces are present and the installation goes easy?
I just received the hitch. I ordered it very late New Years night. It shipped the next day with an estimated delivery of Friday before 8pm. I received it on Thursday about noon. Awesome super-fast shipping. It came in 3 HEAVY boxes, one of which was slightly damaged but I have not unpacked it yet. I hope to do so this weekend. I have bought from etrailer before and have no doubt this will be as good as the other purchases I have made.
Jim H.
1/4/2019
My son and I installed this hitch without a lot of problems. It arrived complete with all parts intact. It took us about 2 hours of leisure effort to get everything installed. The only thing we could not do was torque the larger frame bolts since I do not have a torque wrench that goes that high. One call to a truck shop got that settled for much less than it would cost for a new wrench.Everything else went together easily.
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Sierra K.
6/30/2022
I emailed you a picture of the parts list, which items are you missing?