The Andersen Ultimate comes in both steel and aluminum versions. However, the hitch in the truck is much lighter than a traditional fifth wheel hitch.0 The Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection hitch corners this market. The big hassle here is that you must have an adapter on your camperвЂ™s pin (to convert it from a pin to a gooseneck coupler). The other type of extender lives in the truck.В It actually raises the ball up from the truck bed to the height of the fifth wheel. So long as the gooseneck ball retracts or removes, youвЂ™ll end up with an empty truck bed. The benefit to traditional gooseneck setups is that you donвЂ™t need anything extra in the truckВ bed except for the gooseneck ball. One specific option: the Reese Goosebox changes the whole kingpin for a gooseneck coupler with shocks and an airbag. Real gooseneck trailers are beefy most campers are light and wimpy. Note in the latter above, itвЂ™s never from actual usersвЂ¦ just people who wonвЂ™t use them. Lots more people are concerned about the extra force exerted on the camperвЂ™s pin area.Lots of people use these without issue.One installs on the camper and вЂњextendsвЂќ the pin (well, connection point) down to the truck bed. There are 2 types of gooseneck extenders. Often times, converted medium- and heavy-duty trucks use air ride hitches to protect the trailer. Lastly, make sure you do some reading if you head down this path if you also want a completely empty truck bed (the couple that IвЂ™ve read about use the standard rails). The first name that I think of when it comes to air ride hitches is Trailer Saver, though there are others on the market. For me, if I put in or took out my hitch with any regularity, this weight would become a burden. I just read an online spec and it said something to the tune of 250 lbs. The other downside is that these air ride are quite heavy. But as I mentioned, theyвЂ™re quite spendy. They take a lot of jolt and movement from towing. The air ride hitches are supposedly fantastic. If you opt for a standard fixed hitch, you can get padded pinboxes like the MORryde Rubber Pin Box or the Lippert Air Ride pin box. However, slider hitches are a lot like insurance: you donвЂ™t need them often, but when you do, itвЂ™s sure nice to have! I have at least one online acquaintance who popped their back window due to camper to truck contact!ДЇor non-sliding hitches, you look at either hitches with air ride (which are spendy!) or a standard fixed hitch. The modern designs have cut away corners up front to aid in tight backup turning that possibly eliminates the need for a slider. There is a lot of discussion around the need for a slider with todayвЂ™s modern-day fifth wheel designs. Lastly, you need to decide on a fixed hitch for 8вЂІ beds vs.

For me, it was an easy choice to decide I did not want rails. If you donвЂ™t have pucks, you have to decide if you want to live with rails in your truck bed or not. For me, having an empty truck bed was a high priority. Get a hitch designed to click into them and installation/removal couldnвЂ™t be easier. The big choices here come down to if your newer truck was prepped for a fifth wheel hitch with pucks. These give you a traditionally secure connection between the truck and camper. Fifth WheelДЇifth wheel hitches are most popular. The biggest difference between the two is the height of the connection in the truck bed:В the ball for a gooseneck is very low where the fifth wheel hitch is a bit higher (close to equal to the truck bed rails).

A gooseneck has a вЂњcouplerвЂќ on the camper and a ball in the truck (very loosely, itвЂ™s sort of reminiscent of a travel trailer setup). A fifth wheel hitch has a вЂњpinвЂќ on the camper and it connects to a flat plate (hitchвЂ™s coupler) on the truck. ItвЂ™s all in the type of connection from truck to camper. I discuss the differences between these in this post. Generally speaking, you have 2 basic options: a traditional fifth wheel hitch or some type of gooseneck adapter. The question often comes up as to what type of hitch to get for pulling a fifth wheel camper.

Pinbox safety chains