5 & 1/2 ft beds and anderson Ultimate ?

[xring]

Here is a question I have that has been almost answered. If I have a Ford 5 & 1/2 ft Bed with a goose neck ball in bed and an anderson Ultimate fifth wheel conversion will I need to worry about hitting cab with a Escape 5.0 TA? Alao is the 2.7 ecoboost enough power to tow. I plan on purchasing a new truck so if a 6.6 bed or a 3.5 ecoboost or 5.0 V8 is needed I can do that but if not needed the 2.7 with 5.5 ft bed is OK I will go that route. Thanks

[trainman]

Originally Posted by xring

Here is a question I have that has been almost answered. If I have a Ford 5 & 1/2 ft Bed with a goose neck ball in bed and an anderson Ultimate fifth wheel conversion will I need to worry about hitting cab with a Escape 5.0 TA? Alao is the 2.7 ecoboost enough power to tow. I plan on purchasing a new truck so if a 6.6 bed or a 3.5 ecoboost or 5.0 V8 is needed I can do that but if not needed the 2.7 with 5.5 ft bed is OK I will go that route. Thanks

I'm in the process of doing the same thing, only with a new 2019 Ram crew cab 1500 4x4 with a the 5'7" bed. I'm pretty sure where the goose neck ball is located when installed it is centered over the rear axle, or very close. I do know that trucks with the short beds the 5th hitch will have to be mounted rear of the center of the axle on the truck, thus if you are going to use the Anderson system it may not work unless your pin can be moved farther back in the bed to clear the cab. There are slider 5th wheel hitches available that will do this, but they do become pricey. Here are some here, https://weekendrvadventures.com/short-bed-hitch-guide/
Any help from those who have done this would be appreciated, thanks, trainman

trainman

[Perry Butler]

I just answered this in Andersen Ultimate or Reese Goose Box but:

We traveled 150 miles to look at a new style 2016 5.0 pulled with a Ram with 5 1/2' box. He had no problem with the recessed goose neck and his Andersen hitch. I believe if you have a 5 1/2' box they turn the Andersen receiver 180 degrees to provide more clearance (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). We aren't even close with our 6 1/2' box. However, if any of us turn over 90 degrees we'll all hit the cab/windows.

I believe Rease has a F150 with a 5 1/2' box and has no problems turning.

We have a 2015 F150 with the 3.5 EB engine and six speed transmission. Considering this engine has never bogged down pulling our 5.0 up numerous mountain grades or up the two block, 17% grade to our condo, I would think the 2.7 EB would be adequate.

We got 13.3 mpg pulling our new 5.0 4,900 miles down the west coast, with our speed changing all the time and once curve after another, Sequoia, Yosemite, Grand Teton NP's and then home. Once at our campsite I fill and don't count the mileage when we're not pulling. Our mileage is figured by dividing miles driven by gallons at the pump, not what the truck computer says (the computer lies).

Three weeks ago we left Lanesboro, MN for the SW. Our first two tanks were driving on snow/ice/water covered roads and we got 11.8 mpg. Since then we're slightly under 14 mpg. We're outside of Tucson now.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Chris R]

I have a F150 with a 5.5ft bed, I use the Curt underbed/hidden ball setup and the Andersen aluminum hitch. The ball install is about 1 " in front of the axle using factory holes. I use the hitch base offset to the back and the upper ball part (red part attached to the trailer) rotated forward. I suppose if I tried to put the trailer at 90 degrees to the truck it might hit, but in 3 years of using it, the trailer has not come close. Normal towing and backing into campsites does not create any problems.
There are several others with short beds, different trucks all using the Andersen setup quite successfully. I do not see a need to have a custom install to use this setup. If one were using a different 5th wheel trailer with a squarer wider front, the short bed/Andersen setup may not work. The design of the front of the TA5.0 trailer allows this setup to work very well.

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by Chris R

I have a F150 with a 5.5ft bed, I use the Curt underbed/hidden ball setup and the Andersen aluminum hitch. The ball install is about 1 " in front of the axle using factory holes. I use the hitch base offset to the back and the upper ball part (red part attached to the trailer) rotated forward. I suppose if I tried to put the trailer at 90 degrees to the truck it might hit, but in 3 years of using it, the trailer has not come close. Normal towing and backing into campsites does not create any problems.
There are several others with short beds, different trucks all using the Andersen setup quite successfully. I do not see a need to have a custom install to use this setup. If one were using a different 5th wheel trailer with a squarer wider front, the short bed/Andersen setup may not work. The design of the front of the TA5.0 trailer allows this setup to work very well.

Hi Chris, do you have the high lift axle? As I have been reading the forum I understand that having the "red part" forward created a potential problem with side rail clearance. I think maybe the high lift axle could reduce this risk. Thanks

[Fox hunt]

i have a 5 and a half bed on my F150 2.7 and an Anderson hitch on a ball. i have turned very tight backing and getting out of tight situations never hit . It might happen but i have gotten pretty close to 90 degrees no problem i watch closely when it gets really close. I think it works fine. but i am careful

[Fox hunt]

i do not have high lift trailer

[Chris R]

I mentioned that I had the red part "rotated forward", I have it rotated back. I did try it forward, although it gave me a few more inches between the tailgate and trailer, I did not like how the trailer towed. Rotated back works fine, less clearance, but rides better.

Originally Posted by Ronn

Hi Chris, do you have the high lift axle? As I have been reading the forum I understand that having the "red part" forward created a potential problem with side rail clearance. I think maybe the high lift axle could reduce this risk. Thanks

I do not have the high lift. With the F150 4x4, I have about 7" between the truck sides and the bottom of the trailer overhang. I have not heard that the "red part" causes any problem with high lift option. The red part is the same vertical height whether it is rotated forward or back.
The Andersen hitch base has 3 different ball heights and the trailer has 2. If your truck sides are high, I would use the high lift at keep a good vertical distance between the trailer and truck sides. Both the hitch and trailer can be adjusted. The only concern with the high lift is there is a bigger step into the trailer.

[Tom and Gay]

Originally Posted by Ronn

Hi Chris, do you have the high lift axle? As I have been reading the forum I understand that having the "red part" forward created a potential problem with side rail clearance. I think maybe the high lift axle could reduce this risk. Thanks

Having the red receiver part of the Andersen turned forward does create a risk of the pinbox hitting the siderails of the truck. When we picked up our trailer I was upset to see ETI had it turned towards the rear, fearing the reduced clearance with a 5.5' bed would cause a greater risk with the cab. I even made them turn it around and prove which was better - they were right. Having the high lift might change the clearance enough - I can't remember how much of the pinbox was going to catch the siderail. I do know that our turnover gooseneck ball is two inches in front of the axle and I haven't come close to contact with the cab in two years - even with the receiver turned towards the rear. I don't like backing up at sharp angles so would stop and pull forward even if I had more clearance

As to the question about engine choice... I would have gotten the 2.7 but I also wanted the 10 spd transmission and in 2017 it only came with the 3.5 which has been a great engine but most of our miles our without a trailer and the extra mpg would be nice. The thing to watch out for with the 2.7 is having enough cargo capacity with the 5.0TA - we wanted to have capacity for sometimes having four adults and extra stuff so only looked at trucks with at least 1700 payload on the door sticker. With the 2.7 engine that required the 2.7 payload package for us but your needs could be less and not require that option. We have 1900 lbs of payload capacity with our 3.5 crew cab but would seriously look at the 2.7 if getting an F150 newer than 2017. The V8 is a great engine but I don't like the higher revs in the mountains but it just depends on your needs and personal preferences.