Curt Crosswing 5th wheel hitch

[Tandembike1960]

We just received our completion date for our 5.0 for mid-July 2023. Has anyone used the Curt Crosswing hitch for your 5.0? Your experiences? Thank you. We have a 21 Chevy Silverado, Crew Cab, short bed, 2.7 L turbo. We have towed a 21-5R Nash 5th wheel in the past with “traditional” hitch.

[davidmurphy02]

Like you we towed an older small fifth wheel for years with a basic Reese conventional hitch. When we got our 5.0 I upgraded to a Demco Recon, similar to the Curt hitch you mention but with a conventional hitch head. I don't know anyone who has tried that Curt hitch so don't know how well its somewhat different attachment mechanism works. I've been very happy with the Demco though, easy to hitch/unhitch especially if you've used a conventional hitch for years, and has a similar design to the Curt hitch that is much lighter than most conventional 5th wheel hitches. The Demco comes in both a rail mount and gooseneck version.

https://www.etrailer.com/Fifth-Wheel...DM8550043.html

[occer]

I just googled the Curt Crosswing.
Watched etrailer video, looks like a nice set up.
I also typed Curt Crosswing review, the biggest negative was its new to the market and unproven.

May not have a lot of responses due to a relative new item, so keep us posted on how well it works.

[dkirk]

There is a review and interview with Curt on the Truck King YouTube channel.

[DanandDaphne]

I saw this one a while back, the only limitation that I saw was that it appears to have little to no side to side to side tilt. We use a conventional fifth wheel hitch and it has a lot of forward backward tilt and maybe only 10% or 15% side to side. I suppose the Anderson has the same all around since it is an inverted ball and socket.

Maybe I'm just not seeing it?

[Tandembike1960]

Thanks. The Demco is definitely in the running as well as the Anderson. Kind of looking for one that gives us a little more turning radius due to the pin being off-set from center of our short bed.

[DanandDaphne]

Here is the previous conversation about this hitch.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...ion-23194.html

[DanandDaphne]

Originally Posted by Tandembike1960

Thanks. The Demco is definitely in the running as well as the Anderson. Kind of looking for one that gives us a little more turning radius due to the pin being off-set from center of our short bed.

Sure, another option is to mount your fifth wheel rails a few inches farther back towards the tailgate. I have read here where lots of people do this with the short beds.

[occer]

Originally Posted by DanandDaphne

I saw this one a while back, the only limitation that I saw was that it appears to have little to no side to side to side tilt. We use a conventional fifth wheel hitch and it has a lot of forward backward tilt and maybe only 10% or 15% side to side. I suppose the Anderson has the same all around since it is an inverted ball and socket.

Maybe I'm just not seeing it?

With all three of the movements, forward, backward, side to side, and rotation of the 5th wheel pin it probably has as much ability as any of the hitches in an uneven situation of connecting, un-connecting and traveling movement.

With conventional 5th wheels and the Andersen you can come in at a 45 degree angle or more and hook up and/or drop. I wonder how off you can be with the Curt.

One reason I lean toward the Andersen is the coupler on the 5th wheel pin can be installed forward or backwards And the hitch in the truck can be installed toward the tail gate or toward the Cab giving little more flexibility / option of different truck bed lengths.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by DanandDaphne

I saw this one a while back, the only limitation that I saw was that it appears to have little to no side to side to side tilt. We use a conventional fifth wheel hitch and it has a lot of forward backward tilt and maybe only 10% or 15% side to side. I suppose the Anderson has the same all around since it is an inverted ball and socket.

The Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Solution is not inverted - it is the conventional orientation with the ball on the tow vehicle and the trailer-mounted socket sitting on top of the ball. There are inverted ball-and-socket hitches, including PullRite's SuperLite.

The angular movement of the Andersen Ultimate is of course unlimited around the vertical axis (yaw, or turning corners) and is limited in the other axes by the dimensions of the ball stud versus the ball, and the location of the locking pin in the socket.

Originally Posted by DanandDaphne

Maybe I'm just not seeing it?

It's not obvious.

The Curt CrossWing is a strange design. Hitches are generally of two types:

1. ball-and-socket (all axes of rotation are around the ball centre), or
2. separate vertical, lateral, and longitudinal axes (e.g. fifth wheel, with the vertical axis around the king pin)

The CrossWing is in the second category, with separate pivoting axes. The two within the truck-mounted hitch assembly are perpendicular to each other, there is a pitch pivot (lateral axis) on the bottom on the high assembly, and the vertical axis is the adapter spinning on the vertical king pin. The twist is that instead of being horizontal, the other axis (formed by the coupling pin sitting in the receiving vee-shaped socket) is sloped. That means that when the rig turns, the hitch pivots on just the king pin, but when the truck and trailer roll relative to each the hitch would need to move around a combination of all three pivots at the same time.

The amount of roll will be extremely limited by the small difference in "vee" angle of the two parts which couple together - it might be nearly zero, and I assumed that it would be in the previous discussion. It will also be limited by the amount of pitch allowed (rotation around the lateral axis), and that is limited by the cushion buried in the hitch head. It is not unusual to have some sort of elastomer (e.g. rubber) cushion limiting roll movement of a fifth-wheel hitch, and traditional truck fifth-wheels don't allow any roll at all (the trailer and truck suspensions and frames just have to deflect).

[davidmurphy02]

On the gooseneck mount version of the Demco, the hitch head is offset slightly (2" perhaps) to the rear behind the gooseneck ball so that would give you a bit more tailgate clearance and distance to the cab. Plenty of people are towing a 5.0 with short bed trucks and no issues. In 20 years I've never been in a situation where I had to do anything close to a turn that put the trailer at 90 degrees to the truck, in most normal situations that will never be an issue.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

Like you we towed an older small fifth wheel for years with a basic Reese conventional hitch. When we got our 5.0 I upgraded to a Demco Recon, similar to the Curt hitch you mention but with a conventional hitch head.

A similarity between the Demco Recon and the Curt CrossWing is that in both cases the head is on a vertical square post which mounts at your choice of height in a vertical socket in the hitch mounting frame. This is a compact way to go, and allows height adjustment with just one bolt to remove and replace (although that probably isn't a big deal because most people will adjust this only once in the life of a truck and trailer combination).

[Brian B-P]

If anyone wants to see the parts of the CrossWing in more detail, the eTrailer product page for it includes a link to the installation manual.