Ram 3500 - too tall to tow my fifth wheel?

[Benson5thWheel]

Hi all! I am looking at buying a 2021 Ram 3500 (my 2001 Ram 2500 just broke down) and I have a smaller 5th wheel trailer (2021 Jayco 24RE - 30' - 10,000 lbs fully loaded). After reading an article about towing half ton towable fifth wheels with tall trucks (Towing With Tall Trucks - Andy Thomson - Hitch Hints) I'm worried the truck would be too tall and cause a the trailer to be in a nose high position. I checked with Jayco and they simply say "trailer should be relatively level when hitched" but do not give further guidance. The dealer has tried to be helpful but they don't have the drop in hitch in stock that I can test it with.

I also looked up the height of the bed floor, then added 14 inches to that (height of the smallest drop in OEM puck hitch - Curt) and put the nose of the trailer at that height to see what it looked like. It looks ok, but I'm not sure it would clear the bed rails and I'm not pumped about making a $70,000 purchase based on "should be fine."

Anyone have any ideas here?

Also I live in California Bay Area - so if anyone who has this truck w/ fifth wheel hitch and would be willing to hook up to the trailer just to show me that would be awesome!

 

[chri5k]

Can you take the 3500 and put it under the 5th wheel? Lower the 5th wheel to put the pin box / king pin where it would be if the hitch was installed in the truck (14 inches above the bed floor. This would not take into account the squat of the truck when the actual trailer weight is actually on it. However, this should give you a good idea of the bed rail clearance before making the $70K purchase.

 

[Benson5thWheel]

Not a bad idea. If I go this route I won't be able to get the HO and Aisin tranny (that one is 200miles away), but I think would be worth it. Thanks!

 

[IRSmart]

I’ve never owned a trailer, but is getting larger tires to lift a trailer a thing?

 

[crash68]

@Benson5thWheel the height from bed floor to the top rail is 20.2" (per Ram Body Builder specs).

 

[Michael]

I’ve never owned a trailer, but is getting larger tires to lift a trailer a thing?

He could possibly flip the axels on the trailer. If the springs go under the axles they could be moved to the top of the axles to raise the height of the trailer.

 

[Calicajun]

Can you flip the axles? That would give you 4 to 6 inches more clearance. Flipping means to put your axles on the under side of your springs instead on them sitting on top of the axles.

 

[Irishthreeper]

HD trucks are so high that I’ve noticed many (most?) 5W’s are towed nose up to some extent. The pin box on mine allowed it to be raised 2 inches and with the 1 or 1 1/2 inch drop from the weight it put me almost level.

 

[Moose2]

Funny, mine appears to be level....not the best pics.
One of the pluses of alt ride hide with the auto level.

 

[Moose2]

Believe it or not my 17 2500 was “too tall” towing the 5er nose high if I leveled the truck with the bags. I did get it better via hitch adjustment, but not optimum. Only way to be truly level was to air up bags on 5er and run the pin box bag at or slightly under recommended line. Terrible angle with these pics as well, but the 17 2500 sat higher than the new 3500 with auto level. When I ran down the highway, I think I had the bags at 55-60psi. I really liked the 2500, but wanted the bigger badder, but lower, brother.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Get a Ram 5th wheel hitch. Has 3 height positions. Have a new 2021 Ram 3500 and a 2019 keystone sprinter 35 foot 5th wheel. These newer 5th wheel trailers are higher than the older ones. You shouldn’t have height issues with the right hitch.