Fifth Wheel Hitch Options for 2016 Ram 2500 with Short Bed and OEM Rail Kit

Question:

My truck package came with the goose hitch preinstalled. I just recently bought a fifth wheel camper and I’m currently trying to decide the best setup or route I should take. My question, is a Reese goose box a good change out on the camper or since I have a shorter bed mega cab should I have some kind of offset in the bed without damaging the body or bed of the truck? I’m a first time rv owner so I really don’t know what to expect. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

asked by: Shane

Expert Reply:

The Reese Goose Boxes are really great setups if the truck has a long bed but if the truck has a short bed you most likely won't have the needed turning clearance between the cab of the truck and the nose of the trailer unless the trailer has a tapered nose.

So based on knowing that your 2016 Ram 2500 with the OEM rail kit is a short bed truck your best option is the B and W Companion Slider hitch part # BWRVK3670 which will fit the rail kit directly and since it has a slider mechanism it will give the clearance needed.

But let's say you don't want to mess with a slider hitch and would rather use a fixed hitch there is a solution for that which would allow you to use the Companion part # BWRVK3600 instead. For that you'd need to swap the pin box of your trailer to a Sidewinder.

Sidewinders are pin box specific so you will first need to know what pin box you have now in order to pick out the correct one.

There should be a sticker or a stamping on the OEM pin box of the trailer that will list the pin box number that is on the trailer.

Once you figure out which pin box you have you can check the FAQ I attached that has a chart that shows the correct Sidewinder to get based on which pin box you have.