5th Wheel Bed Rails / Gooseneck solution

[VAMike]

The 5’1” box isn’t ideal but the Andersen ultimate hitch moves the pin back 6 inches. (Hitch recommended by Escape). The pin weight is 600lbs, not 900.

The pin weight is 630 dry and is rated up to 900. One of the features of a 5th wheel is that it puts more of the weight on the truck and less on the trailer. So 5500 pounds of 5th wheel eats further into your payload than 5500 pounds of ball-mount. And yes you can move the pin back (though only moving it 6 inches is going to really restrict your turning radius) but the further back it is the more it will affect how it handles until at some point it is just an oddly high ball mount without the main benefits of a fifth wheel.

People pull the Escape with the Colorado as well.

I'm sure they do--but a lot more seem to be pulling it with an f150 or a silverado. It's really aimed at being a comfortable trailer for the full size market, as opposed to a larger fifth wheel that could be towed by an f150 but really needs an f250.

One thing you'll find is that manufacturers always stretch how light their trailer is and how easy it is to tow.

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[WpgLariat]

One thing you'll find is that manufacturers always stretch how light their trailer is and how easy it is to tow.

Ya right, next you'll try to tell me that advertised Fuel economy isn't accurate!

I think the biggest challenge (for me) is that the ranger is a shorter, narrower tow vehicle. I am not a huge fan of tow behinds in general. (sway, size, awkwardness, maneuverability etc.)
There are a few brands that are miles ahead of the competition like NuCamp or Safari Condo, but the overall experience is the same.

The Ranger is such a capable truck for it's size, that it is making me entertain these wilder options.
3000lbs seems like the sweet spot for easy towing. I've always been told to use 60/60% of Tow/Tongue to be safe. Some guys use 75/75% or even 80/80%.
It seems like until you hook up and go, its all conjecture.

The Escape has been towed by the Ranger, through mountains. I follow the Escape forums for info on people's tow vehicles and experiences.
That got me considering it.
The last thing I want to do is tow at ridiculously high RPM's for extended periods.
I see ton's of happy people towing with Colorado's and Canyons and think the Ford must be better given that most of these people aren't even using the Diesel. Hell, most pics I see are short boxes as well.

Here is a pic of the goose neck installed in a Ranger:

And another GM:

 

[WpgLariat]

Agreed! Just because "most people don't do it" doesn't mean it can't and shouldn't be done. If we all thought that way then there would never be any innovation or change.

Also, I've always wanted a retractable roof Alto from Safari Condo. Man do those things look nice! So much natural light and open-ness. They're just so expensive. Especially for a young couple getting their first camper like us. I'll just have to save up for it as our next one, eh! haha

That Alto is amazing. Can you imagine the views? And it fits in a garage!

My dream solution would be this, if we could get them here:


Link:
https://camp-crown.de/portfolio-items/mono-6-wohnkabine/

 

[VAMike]

As I said, I'm sure people can make it work. Whether it works well, whether they've actually checked that they aren't over the limits of the tow vehicle, whether there's a good safety margin, ?‍
People are far more likely to talk on the internet about how the crazy setup they rube goldberg'd together after they were told it was a bad idea is great than they are to talk about how they were wrong and they wish they had spent their money differently.

Diesel colorado actually has a payload about 100 pounds less than the v6, so would probably make things worse rather than better.

Anyway, if you're careful you can make it work without exceeding the limits, just be aware that you aren't "well within" the limits and that it wouldn't be hard to go over, and keep a strict eye on things while using an actual scale.

 

[WpgLariat]

Someone beat me to it,

 

[txquailguy]

Just my 2 cents....I traded my SuperDuty (6.7L, F250) for my Ranger. The only reason I owned that truck was the wife and I did the RV thing for a couple of years when I got out of grad school and we didn't know where we wanted to live. Anyway, that 3/4 ton truck could handle quite a bit more than rated. I pulled a 42' 5th wheel around like a toy...24K loaded. I would not have any problem installing a 5th wheel hitch or gooseneck system in the bed on rails attached to the frame. But only to pull a Scamp or some other lightweight 5th wheel. I would not take it to the limit with that setup. The frame twisting involved is what would concern me. It's definitely not designed for that setup.

 

[JimG_AZ]

There is a reason that you rarely see half-ton trucks pulling 5th wheels. The pin weight (@ 20%) is just too heavy. Even a lot of owners of ¾-ton trucks that are pulling 5th wheels are finding very little room with the 5th wheel pin weight and the GVWR of their truck. If you don’t believe me, just go on the rv.net towing forum and read some of the posts with real world data. I used to pull a 32’ Nomad Rampage 5th wheel with a Ram 2500 diesel and when that trailer was loaded the pin weight was over my GVWR and I was right at the axle capacity rating. I did have a few thousand pounds under my GCWR. My Ram did handle that trailer fine, but technically I was over some of the ratings.

The other thing is you will need a minimum of 6’ bed length. As I recall, the 5th wheel hitch pivot point should be just in front of rear the axle. If you have to mount the hitch behind the rear axle, to get enough clearance between the trailer and truck cab, then you are surrendering the towing advantages of a 5th wheel. In this case I would take a bumper pull trailer with a Hensley or Pro Pride hitch over the improperly mounted 5th wheel any day.

 

[VAMike]

Once again, you guys seem to be assuming that OP is going to try and hook up to a monster triple axle house on wheels with his Ranger. When in fact, there are a handful of much smaller and lighter 5th wheels, ones that are made for lighter duty trucks like the mid-size. And those are the ones OP is looking at getting.

Again, nobody is assuming that. Above I looked at the numbers for one of the trailers marketed as good for mid-size--it technically works, but it's pretty tight and would be much more comfortable on a full size. There are lies, damn lies, and marketing. Yes the trailer is smaller but so is the truck--the same problem with manufacturers understating how much it takes to tow their product is still there, just scaled down. And it will always be there because the trailer manufacturers want people to buy their product, not get scared off because they need to spend more on a bigger tow vehicle.

So yes, the scamp seems like it has plenty of headroom, but it was mentioned in the same breath as another trailer that doesn't because it's so easy to add just a little bit more--and we didn't even get to a triple axle house on wheels.

 

[txquailguy]

I wouldn't want to tow anything big whether I could or not. SuperDuty diesels are for towing.....if I still had my 5th wheel I would not own my Ranger and that would be a bummer...lol!!!

 

[VAMike]

"Technically works" means that it works, and sometimes that's all it takes.

The flip side of that is "worked fine on a straight line on an open road, then flipped the rig when things got hairy because there was no margin left". You see people driving around with stuff all the time with things that technically "work" in that they managed to get it to the highway and up to 88 mph but I don't want to be anywhere near them.

Once again, just because some people do stupid stuff and overload their rigs doesn't mean everyone will.

And once again, if you're down to 100lbs free payload on the specs, it's too easy to overload without doing anything so obviously "stupid" that it's obvious to back off. You keep bringing up strawman "giant trailers" with pin weights that are thousands of pounds over payload, but the paper margin on the trailers actually under discussion is a couple of cans of propane and a bad day at the warehouse store with the wife.

 

[JimG_AZ]

Once again, you guys seem to be assuming that OP is going to try and hook up to a monster triple axle house on wheels with his Ranger. When in fact, there are a handful of much smaller and lighter 5th wheels, ones that are made for lighter duty trucks like the mid-size. And those are the ones OP is looking at getting.

Just because some people do stupid things doesn't mean everyone does.

Okay…so the original poster appears to own a SuperCrew and it is probably a 4x4 since he is up in Canada. That gives him a 1560 lbs. payload capacity. Since 5th wheels have a heavier frame, lets just assume this trailer weighs 6000 lbs fully loaded. Assuming the 20% pin weight (that 5th wheels typically have) that is 1200 lbs leaving 360 lbs for the cargo, people, hitch, gas, etc. The OP will almost certainly need to factor in air bags and load range D or E tires. This just covers the weight issue. What about the issue with the 5’ bed? If the hitch is properly positioned just in front of the rear axle, you will have limited space between the front of the trailer and the cab. Better not make any tight turns, or the trailer will hit the cab of the truck and do body damage and take out the back window.

 

[WpgLariat]

Okay…so the original poster appears to own a SuperCrew and it is probably a 4x4 since he is up in Canada. That gives him a 1560 lbs. payload capacity. Since 5th wheels have a heavier frame, lets just assume this trailer weighs 6000 lbs fully loaded. Assuming the 20% pin weight (that 5th wheels typically have) that is 1200 lbs leaving 360 lbs for the cargo, people, hitch, gas, etc. The OP will almost certainly need to factor in air bags and load range D or E tires. This just covers the weight issue. What about the issue with the 5’ bed? If the hitch is properly positioned just in front of the rear axle, you will have limited space between the front of the trailer and the cab. Better not make any tight turns, or the trailer will hit the cab of the truck and do body damage and take out the back window.

The trailer is 3000lbs with a 300lb pin weight.

 

[JimG_AZ]

The trailer is 3000lbs with a 300lb pin weight.

Goosenecks and 5th wheels typically run 15%-20% pin weight. If the trailer is that light, then you are correct that it should be well within the limits of the Ranger. You will still have to deal with the 5' bed length issue, which will probably require you to have the hitch mounted behind the rear axle. If you feel that this is what you want, and its a good match for your truck, then go ahead and buy one. Don't let us stop you.

I would strongly recommend that you checkout out rv.net forums and see what kind of info you can find of the trailers you are interested in. I have not been on that site for years, but when I owned travel trailers, I found a lot of info on those forums.

 

[WpgLariat]

Goosenecks and 5th wheels typically run 15%-20% pin weight. If the trailer is that light, then you are correct that it should be well within the limits of the Ranger. You will still have to deal with the 5' bed length issue, which will probably require you to have the hitch mounted behind the rear axle. If you feel that this is what you want, and its a good match for your truck, then go ahead and buy one. Don't let us stop you.

I would strongly recommend that you checkout out rv.net forums and see what kind of info you can find of the trailers you are interested in. I have not been on that site for years, but when I owned travel trailers, I found a lot of info on those forums.

There are already people towing the Scamp with short box Rangers, Canyons, Tacomas.(see pics posted previously)
That was never in question.

I want my rails to be frame mounted, not bed mounted. That seems to be the issue. No one makes a bolt on solution for the Ranger.
I’d rather not have to Frankenstein a solution.
Scamp provides and installs a hitch, but only bolted to the bed.

 

[Crash]

I’d be afraid of my bed folding up like the simulated beer can it is. Aluminum bed not going to handle the stresses of that setup my opinion.

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