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Custom brackets reduce the amount of drilling and time required to install your fifth-wheel trailer hitch. Brackets, base rails and hardware included.
Features:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Shane: Hi, I'm Shane with etrailer.com. Today, I'm going to walk you. how to install the Reese above-bed rail kit on your 2018 GMC Sierra 2500. Adding the above-bed rail kit is going to give you the option to choose from many different fifth wheel hitches.This rail kit is going to be a more permanent installation, which means that your rails are going to bolt to the inside of the bed and they're going to stay installed even when your hitch is removed. That being said, they're not going to stick up very far, only about an inch, so they're really not taking up a whole lot of space. So it's going to give us plenty of room if we're wanting to put plywood or drywall in.Each rail is going to have three different slots for the feet on the fifth wheel.
It's going to give us the option to use different hitches with different weight capacities.This kit is also going to include custom-fit brackets that are going to mount to your frame rails. Both the bed rails and the custom-fit frame brackets are going to be heavy duty steel construction, nice durable black powder coat finish that's really going to help reduce the risk of rust and corrosion. They're going to stay looking nice for a really long time.Now that we've gone over some of the features, let me walk you through the installation. To begin our installation, we're going to lay one of our rails into our bed. What we're going to do is we're going to measure from the end of our bed, make sure it's not the tailgate, from the end of the bed, up the center.
Depending on what size bed you have. If you have the eight foot bed, make sure you follow those instructions for the measurement. We have six foot six bed, so we're going up 24 and five eighths. Keep in mind, inaudible 00:01:37 bed liner if you have one, we're actually going to go up 24 and 11 sixteenths, so we're going to go up to a sixteenth more to give us that added space for the bed liner.Once you get it marked, or once you get your measurement, you're going to mark that spot, and that's going to be to the edge of your rail. Mark the center.
Go to each edge, or each end, and do the same thing. Once you have your three lines for the edge of your rail, we know we're level with the back of the bed. Now we need to center it from side to side. We're going to measure from our wheel well, and just make sure we have an even amount on both sides. We're good there.
Now what we're going to do is we're going to take an eighth inch drill bit. For this back rail, we're going to go to the second hole in. You want to make sure before you do any drilling down below, check to make sure there's no wires, any hoses or anything like that in the way. We're going to go right in the center, and we're going to drill a hole here, here, and same thing on this side.Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my driver's side frame rail, and you'll notice at the ends are a little bit different. This is going to face forward, this is actually going to go over the frame rail. These holes are going to line up with the holes in the frame rail itself that we'll be putting hardware in later. What I want to do is the holes that I drilled on the top side in the bed, I want to make sure that they're lining up with these.You can see what I like to do is take a little screwdriver, you can leave your drill bit down there, and make sure that you're going in the correct hole. Then you can see our two holes that we're lining up with on the frame rail itself.Now that we know that our holes are lined up, we're going to open them up to nine sixteenths. You can use a step bit. If you don't have a step bit, if you have some drill bits, take some drill bits and just step each one up until you get to nine sixteenths. I like to actually use the bolt itself to test the hole to make sure that they go in good. We'll go ahead and start opening these up. Do that same thing with the remaining three holes.Now what we need to do is we need to get our hardware in our frame rail. You can see how I have this one. This one there is a large hole back on the back side here. You can also use this one. What you're going to do is take your pull wire. We're going to be using this hole and that hole. Go through, and come out the hole like that. We're going to take a large spacer block and a large carriage bolt. Thread it on the string end of the pull wire, slide your spacer block in, push it open, pull it out the hole like that. Again, we're doing this one, and this one.Now what we're going to do is we're going to take out frame rail, we're going to put it in place, and then we'll add our hardware onto the bolts. We get our bracket put in place. Again, make sure you're using the correct one for the correct side. Once you get it on, we're going to remove the pull wire, and we're going to do. We'll do one at a time here. Put on a conical toothed washer, make sure the teeth are facing towards the bracket, and you're going to put on a large nut. We're not going to fully tighten these right now. We just want to loosely install them to hold our brackets onto our frame rail. And you're going to repeat that same thing for the other side of the vehicle.Now what we're going to do. We have our frame rails on. I went ahead and inserted my two end bolts on my bracket to make sure we're staying centered. We're going to have to drill a fifth whole, and it's going to be towards the cap. It's going to be in the center right here. Now, before you drill this hole, just make sure that you remove your spare tire. Then we're going to open this up to nine sixteenths. It's a good idea to take some clear coat or some kind of Rust-Oleum paint and paint the bare metal, just to reduce the risk of rusting later on. You want to do that with each of your holes.If you'll notice where our bolt's coming down, the corrugation is different. We're going to have a spacer block that we're going to put in. So anywhere that you have this change where you're going to be putting your hardware, you want to make sure you use one of these so you don't smash that corrugation. For our very back rail, we're going to be using on the underside of the bed. For the front rail, we're going to have one that goes in the center, here, on the underside of the bed, and then you're going to have two on each corner on the topside of the bed.From here, we're going to put on the conical toothed washer, make sure it's facing up. Lock washer, and a nut. Then on our frame brackets, you're going to slide it in between the bracket itself and the bottom of the bed. Again, we want to make sure that we don't smash this corrugation down. And then the rest of the hardware is going to be the same.Now let's slide our base into our very back rail. We'll take our front rail, we'll get it into place. We're going to measure and make sure that we're centered from side to side, or even from side to side. We're going to mark the very front center hole, then we're going to use the very outside holes for our front rail. For our holes that we drill up here, we're going to repeat the process that we did in the back. Make sure you open them up to nine sixteenths. Again, just double check underneath, make sure you're not going to drill into anything.Once you get them drilled, go ahead and paint the bare metal. Set your rail in place. We're going to take our spacer block, as I mentioned before, and put it right over the hole like that. We're going to have two on this end, two on the other end. Once we get our bolts in on top, we can go down underneath and add our hardware on the bottom.Next we need to tighten and torque all of our hardware to the specification in the instructions. We're going to start with the underside of our bed. Tighten and torque all of those, and then we'll move to the bolts on the frame rails.Once you have all your hardware tightened and torqued to the specification in the instructions, go ahead and reinstall your spare tire, get your hitch put together and inaudible 00:09:58 rails, and you're ready to go.Again, I'm Shane with etrailer.com. I hope this video has helped you, whether you're still deciding or installing the Reese above-bed rail kit for your 2018 GMC Sierra 2500.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (193 Customer Reviews)
Custom brackets reduce the amount of drilling and time required to install your fifth-wheel trailer hitch. Brackets, base rails and hardware included.
The installation instructions were detailed and clear. Did it by myself in about 4 hours. Inexpensive solution if you didn't get the 5th wheel prep package.
Received the product the very next day shipping was excellent. Boxes were well taped and secured and complete. This was installed on a 2011 Silverado 2500 HD with a 8 foot bed . My installation was straightforward ,followed the included directions , and it installed very easy. I only have two suggestions ,
Get the spare tire down and out-of-the-way and do whatever is necessary to get around the heat shield. I just cut a small section of mine away . I have done business with etrailer for about five years now. I use to price check and order everywhere off the Internet. I don't do that anymore because I always ended up back doing business with etrailer.com.
For four reasons ... Best price around, quality products, great customer service from a live person, well packaged products with the fast shipping
Fast shipping!! Installed on a new 2016 GMC Sierra 3500 Denali. Only issue was the exhaust heat shield.. It must be removed for easier access to install hardware. It takes about 3 hours to install with one person. Otherwise no issues. E Trailer is great to do business with!! Thank you
Installed on 2017 chevy 2500. Square washers for the 5/8 bolts were to big to fit through the acess holes in pickup frame. I had to fish them through a bigger hole further up the frame rail. Other than that, excellent products. Once I found etrailer, its the only place I shop for trailer products
I purchased the Reese dual jaw slider and install bracket kit. Everything arrived in three days in perfect condition. After watching the install video and reviewing the enclosed instructions I installed the assembly myself. It took approximately 4 hours . As you can see I also did additional steps, cutting the rubber bed mat to fit around the rails. Also undercoating the brackets to blend in the wheel wells. Etrailer is definitely the place to go for all your RV needs.
Kit was pretty easy to install. Definitely watch the video. Some of the bolts are in tight spaces. Overall very good kit. Well constructed.
I purchased fifth wheel hitch rails. They were worked great. We certainly put them through a strong test. Unfortunately we got stuck on a very muddy, greasy road on a hunt. The fifth wheel was leaning at an angle but the rails held! I was extremely relieved and happy that they did. Thank you etrailer.
Fast shipping, all good, no problems
Hi Carol.
I got the package. I hope to install next week. I’m also looking to put a 5th wheel electrical plug in the bed. 2019 Chevy 3500 with the factory prep for the wiring harness. Do you have a correct fit kit to do this?
Mike L.
10/26/2018
We do offer a 5th wheel wiring harness for your 2019 Silverado 3500. Id recommend the Hopkins # 41157, which you can see by using the link provided below. The harness plugs inline right behind the 7-way installed on your trucks rear bumper, between the trucks factory harness and the existing 7-way.
Helpful Links
Custom-Fit-Vehicle-Wiring/Chevrolet/Silverado+3500/2019/41157.html?vehicleid=201913372
Rail Mounting kit arrived in perfect condition, with all required attachment hardware and special bolt insertion tool. All items fit up as advertised on my 2019 GMC 2500HD std bed Sierra. Completely satisfied.
Ralph K.
1/9/2021
After a year since installation and several trips with my 5th wheel, Im still completely satisfied with this rail mounting kit, It has operated perfectly with my Andersen Ultimate Rail Mount Hitch.
The rail kit installation went smoothly. I did the complete installation alone just to see if I could complete it without any assistance from anyone. (The installation honestly took me about eight hours which included quite a few breaks!) The only difficult task for me was installing the two nuts and washers on the front two bolts on the LH Frame Bracket due to the tight clearance around the large diesel fuel tank on my truck. As some of other folks mentioned, removing the spare tire and exhaust system heat shield are a must for installing the rail kit this model truck. The quality of the components is excellent. My wife and I will be pulling our 5th Wheel to the Georgia Mountains with this hitch this weekend!
Great product! Everything fit as it should. Customer service was great they help the entire way even when ups lost part of the shipment!
Installed a Reese custom rail kit (RP50066-58) on my 2016 GMC Denali 4WD DRW. It took approximately 3 1/2 hours to get it completely installed. I had to remove the exhaust heat shield and drop the spare tire but once I did it gave me easy access to the hitch frame brackets. I found it very informative to watch the online video first and took the advise of another persons suggestion to tape over the holes in the top of the frame (it kept me from losing the nuts & washers down into the frame). I simply followed the written instructions that came with the kit and the hitch was installed with out any real issues. I will say it did come in handy to have someone to assist me with some parts of the installation (just to keep me from having to crawl in/out from under the truck to get tools etc). As a side note, if you had access to car lift it would make the installation much faster and easier. I didn't have access to one and it was a little tight but as I said it wasn't all that bad.
I would definitely recommend this product.
Frame brackets were a perfect fit and easy to install. Installing nuts on the rail's proved a little difficult on my vehicle 2018 GMC due to limited clearance over fuel tank and truck frame and exhaust shield (definitely a 2 person job). Otherwise I am perfectly satisfied with the quality of the kit and easy to follow instructions. I would recommend this kit.
Rail kit was great and etrailer was great with fast and free shipping.
Only advice: I installed this kit on my 2014 Chevrolet 3500 and I would not do it again.
I'd spend the extra money and get the RP56001-53 kit...much much easier to install
If you have time and patience, it's worth the savings. Otherwise save yourself the tight quarters of trying to get to those bolts above the frame rails.
I suspect this kit was an earlier design that was or should have been superseded by the later one.
Although the Rails won't be installed until my new truck comes in mid April, I fully expect the product to be as advertised. I was recommended to your site and product by salesman from major manufacturer of the 5th Wheel Hitch currently used.
Arnold
9/22/2014
Has been a year and Product has worked out just fine !!
An installation of brackets are never easy due to items in the way but following the instructions made it doable
Excelent product. Made the install much easier than it needed to be. The video helped a lot. Access to some of the bolts were very difficult (ones above the gas tank). Dropping the spare tire made it easier. Biggest problem was removing the heat shield as on my truck the darn Torx screws stripped. I ended up cutting most of the heat shield off. Bottom line, this is a great product, very heavy duty and very versatile.
Jason W.
6/12/2014
Still working great.
Easily ordered and delivered promptly
after getting the right fifth wheel suport kit for my 2017 chevy 2500 hd the insulation went in just as they say in the instructions thanks again etrailer for providing a product and service
Excellent product. Installation of washers and nut on front passenger rail under bed a little difficult. Probably worth the extra cost to buy the outboard brackets and longer rails. Removal of spare tire required.
Laura E.
11/8/2016
Thanks for your review, Ron. We note that removal or lowering of the spare tire is only temporary.
ordered this with the titan reese hitch
package came quickly and intact via ups
easy to install; great instructions and on-line video
Gary K.
10/23/2017
Both good, happy with the product
This was a nice product easy to install.
The hitch works good the only thing is it is hard to unlock because the jaws are tight. Other than that had no problems.
Mike L.
12/28/2018
If the jaws are difficult to unlock, youll want to make sure the hitch has been lubricated according to the operating instructions. Also, if the fifth wheel and the hitch arent both level, the pin box may be applying some force to the jaws, causing them to bind. Moving the vehicle a bit will usually allow the hitch to unbind.
I really appreciated the very informative videos etrailer provided for the install on my 2015 Silverado 2500. I was able to focus my efforts on the high degree of manual dexterity required to mount the rails to my truck without the assistance of a lift. It was a very rewarding experience and I was shocked to learn the positions I could get my aging body into under that truck.
Couple of Tips from me to the next guy:
1) Use electrical tape on lead wire coil and bolt. Too nerve racking pulling on that wire and hoping it wasn't going to yank free of the bolt.
2) When you go to install the washer, lockwasher, nut combination, put a piece of duct tape over the hole in the top of the frame. When (not if) you drop the nut it will bounce off the tape rather than making the nothing but net swishing sound on it's way into your truck frame.
Really solid hitch. I'm very satisfied with the purchase.
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Steve A.
9/17/2020
Excellent