Quote:
Originally Posted by taxgod4u
as long as you have 5-8 inches of clearance between the bed rails and the 5'r overhang, AND 5'r is level, you are fine.
|
That's the key, a level floor (front to rear) inside the 5er when you're on the road. If the floor is not level front to rear when hooked up and ready to ride, then unhook and either lower the truck or raise the trailer until you have a level trailer.
Most fifth-wheel hitches are adjustable up and down, so you can raise the hitch to get adequate clearance between truck and trailer. But that will raise the nose of the trailer so the floor of the trailer is no longer level with the world.
DO NOT hit the road with a trailer that is not level front to rear.
So if the trailer is high enough off the ground that you can hook it up and still have adequate clearance between the bedrails and the bottom of the overhang while also having a level floor in the trailer, then it shouldn't matter much if the truck is lifted.
However, as others have noted, that probably ain't gonna happen. Most fifth wheel RV trailers will have to be raised on their suspension to make them towable by a stock SuperDuty 4x4 truck, so it's not likely you can get a 5er level behind a raised tow vehicle. Some call raising the trailer "flipping the axles", but you don't literally turn over the axles. On trailers with normal leaf springs and shackles suspension, you move the spring packs from under the axles to over the axles, which will raise the trailer about 3" or 4". If that's not enough, then you can also replace the spring shackles with longer shackles if you use some really heavy iron to do it with. That can get you another coupla inches of trailer lift.
And if your trailer has the wonderful Dexter Torflex axles instead of leaf springs, I don't think there's an economical way to raise the trailer on its suspension.
So in a nutshell, if you want to tow a trailer with a lifted SuperDuty pickup, then don't choose a fifth wheel or gooseneck trailer. Go for a tag trailer instead. With a Hensley Arrow hitch, a tag trailer will tow as good as a 5er. And you can replace the receiver with one that - when combined with an expensive adjustable shank - will have enough drop to make the trailer level when ready for the road.
