Anderson Ultimate

[oreo]

I drive a Ram 1500 6.4 box , should you mount Andersen coupler ball to the pinbox in the rearward position or forward for the 5.0 ta opinions ?
Thanks

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by oreo

I drive a Ram 1500 6.4 box , should you mount Andersen coupler ball to the pinbox in the rearward position or forward for the 5.0 ta opinions ?
Thanks

We have a F150 with 6 1/2' box and mount ours toward the rear. It looked like the 5.0 would hit the cab easier if mounted toward the front. After nearly 19,000 miles it works just fine for us.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Kent]

For short bed trucks the base should be mounted with the ball closer to the tailgate.

For the King pin adapter, the piece you mount to the King Pin. It can be mounted either with the Ball Mount in front of the King Pin or behind. You will need to take measurements to determine best mounting position, but the hitch base needs to be installed to take the measurements.

Basically if you mount the adapter with ball mount in front of King Pin and the Pin Box will not hit the side rails of truck when making sharp turns you are good to go. If the Pin Box will hit the side rails or come very close you will need to mount with Ball Mount behind the King Pin.

See Anderson Installation Manuals on there web site under "Support" section and download the manual for Anderson model you are using or want to use.

https://help.andersenhitches.com/ultimate-hitch-help

[Jim Bennett]

At Escape, Dennis mounted ours the recommended way, with the ball to the rear of the pin. Because this brought the front of the trailer closer to the truck and the tailgate only opens when lined up straight, I turned it around to try it that way.

Well, I towed the trailer home and turned it immediately back around. The biggest issue was that the loft frame would come way closer to the tailgate when towing over bumps or through dips.

Now used to it, I do prefer the shorter overall length and can deal with the tailgate thing no problem.

I do have the 6.5' box.

[oreo]

For bumps and dips is the ball best to the rear making the trailer closer to the cab ?

[arniesea]

Originally Posted by oreo

For bumps and dips is the ball best to the rear making the trailer closer to the cab ?

Yes. It is counterintuitive I know. But the issue is the resulting angles between the pin and the trailer wheels. By having the ball toward the rear of the pin-box, one is effectively shortening the wheelbase of the trailer. This results in the combination of the truck and trailer being able to navigate slightly sharper angles between the frame and the tailgate.

Now the other reason I like the Anderson ultimate is that the ball has 3 height adjustments. When I am traveling on good highways, I have the pin in the lowest position because for my particular setup, everything is nice a level.

But I have a steep driveway that flattens out at the top. So before I back up the drive, I drop the landing gear, raise the ball to the highest position to give myself an extra 2" of clearance for the tailgate. I would do the same if traveling on bad back country dirt roads.

[oreo]

Thanks