5th Wheel Hitches 101

For many cross-country adventurers, 5th wheel trailers offer a spacious and comfortable home-away-from-home. If you’re thinking about getting one for your own travels, great! However, you should first familiarize yourself with the 5th wheel hitch.   

In this post, we will discuss the features, mechanics, and capabilities of 5th wheel hitches, preparing you to be the proud owner of one!   

1. What Is a 5th Wheel Hitch?   
2. Key Parts of a 5th Wheel Hitch 
3. How a 5th Wheel Hitch Works 
4. 5th Wheel Hitch vs. Other Hitch Types 
5. Types of 5th Wheel Hitches 
6. Weight Capacities & Ratings 
7. 5th Wheel Hitch Installation Overview 
8. Tips & Best Practices for Towing with a 5th Wheel Hitch 

In the simplest terms, a 5th wheel hitch is a hitch designed to clamp around the kingpin (a thick cylinder of metal installed under the overhanging part of the trailer) of a 5th wheel trailer, connecting it to the tow vehicle. These heavy-duty devices rest in the tow vehicle’s truck bed, right above the rear axle, and operate very similarly to a semi-truck and trailer hitch system.  
 
5th wheel hitches are popular for heavy-duty towing for several reasons:  

• Stability: The location of the hitch places more direct weight on the tow vehicle, giving you a stable ride with less sway.  
• Maneuverability: The wheel-like shape improves your trailer’s maneuverability by letting you pivot without your hitch system hitting your bumper.  
• Capacity: The unique design makes it capable of handling more weight than other hitch types – up to 30,000 pounds!  

Let’s take a quick look at the components you’ll find on a 5th wheel hitch:  

• Head: This part of the hitch serves as the main connection point between trailer and tow vehicle. The important components of the head are:  
  • Skid Plate: Also known as the hitch plate, this horseshoe-shaped metal plate rests atop the head and serves as a sort of ramp guiding the trailer’s kingpin into position.  
  • Pivot Mechanism: This part allows the head to fluidly articulate with the movement of the trailer.  
  • Jaws: These interlocking parts clamp onto the kingpin, holding it securely in place. 
  • Handle: This part opens and closes the jaws, uncoupling and coupling the trailer, as well as locking it in place.  
• Body: The central piece of the hitch which supports the structure of the head and the towing connection.  
• Legs: These sturdy metal bars connect the hitch’s body to the mounting rails, attaching the hitch to the truck bed. Note: sliding 5th wheel hitches do not have legs, as they need to be able to move along the truck bed.  

In many ways, 5th wheel hitches work like any other hitch would — you install them on your tow vehicle, then attach a trailer to them, then use this connection to tow the trailer. Pretty self-explanatory!  
 
However, a 5th wheel hitch stands out because its unique construction — particularly the pivot mechanism — allows the hitch to smoothly respond to any turns and absorb minor bumps in the road. The result: a ride as smooth as butter!  
 
Of course, in order to make use of a 5th wheel hitch, you need to know how to properly hitch and unhitch your trailer to it. Let’s look at the hitching process first: 

1. Position your tow vehicle in front of the trailer.  
2. Lower the tailgate of your tow vehicle and check that your hitch is at the correct height to receive the kingpin. 
3. Use the handle to open the hitch’s jaws. 
4. Slowly back up your tow vehicle until the hitch is a few inches away from the kingpin. 
5. Adjust the trailer’s jacks until the bottom of the kingpin’s pin box is roughly half an inch lower than the top of the hitch.  
6. Slowly back up until the kingpin slides into the skid plate and engages the jaws’ locking mechanism.  
7. Lock the jaws in place with the hitch’s safety pin.  
8. Perform a gentle pull test to check that the hitch is properly engaged.  
9. Close the tow vehicle’s tailgate and raise the trailer’s jacks.  

Now let’s look at how to unhitch your 5th wheel: 

1. Park your trailer in the desired place.  
2. Place chocks around your wheels to make sure your trailer stays in place. 
3. Disconnect anything else attaching your trailer to your tow vehicle (breakaway cable, trailer wiring system, etc.).  
4. Lower your trailer’s jacks until the trailer’s weight is removed from the hitch’s skid plate.  
5. Lower your tow vehicle’s tailgate.  
6. Relieve any remaining pressure on the hitch by slowing reversing your tow vehicle until the kingpin is all the way into the hitch’s head. 
7. Take out the hitch’s safety pin and use the handle to open the jaws.  
8. Slowly pull your tow vehicle forward until the kingpin slides out of the hitch.  
9. Close the tow vehicle’s tailgate.  

While these processes may seem a little complicated written out like that, they are actually pretty simple to carry out. Once you have it set up, it’s easy to hitch up and be on your way (or to unhitch and be on your way). 

While 5th wheel hitches are great at their jobs, they’re not meant for every situation (or trailer, for that matter). When choosing the best hitch for you, you will need to consider your tow vehicle, preferred driving style, desired weight capacity, budget, and other factors.  
 
To get a better idea of what you’re looking for, let’s compare the pros and cons of the 5th wheel hitch to two of its main competitors — the bumper-pull hitch and the gooseneck hitch.  
 
Let’s start with the 5th wheel hitch, which is designed to pull heavy 5th wheel RVs and campers.  

• Stable Towing: The hitch’s construction absorbs bumps and smooths out the towing experience. 
• Tighter Turns: Due to the hitch’s design and pivot mechanism, it makes tight turns easy. 
• High Weight Capacity: These hitches can normally handle between 20,000 to 30,000 pounds. 

• Heavy Hitch Assembly: The hitch itself is pretty hefty, especially compared to trailer ball-based hitches. They can weigh up 130 pounds or more.  
• Takes Up Space: The hitch and the rails it rests on take up a considerable amount of space in the tow vehicle’s bed, reducing the amount of cargo you can store in it.  
• Needs Pickup Truck: Since the hitch is designed to rest in a truck bed, you need a truck to use one. 
• Expensive: Depending on the individual hitch, they can cost $350 to $1,200. Professional installation can bump that up to $750-$1,700.

Next is the bumper-pull hitch, which is mounted underneath the tow vehicle and used to tow lighter RVs and trailers.  

• Versatile: These hitches can be installed on most types of vehicles, from trucks to vans to sedans.  
• Low Cost: Most of these hitches only cost between $150 and $400, with professional installation only adding $75 to $150 to the bill.  

• Less Stability: These hitches’ simple design unfortunately means that you’ll have less control on the road. This means a greater chance for big bumps and trailer sway. 
• No Tight Turns: If you try to make too tight a turn, the trailer may crash into the tow vehicle or the hitch set-up.  
• Less Weight Capacity: These hitches can only handle between 2,000 and 5,000 pounds.  

Finally, there’s the gooseneck hitch, which is mounted in the tow vehicle’s truck bed and used for commercial and agricultural towing.  

• Low Cost: These hitches typically cost between $250 and $500. Remember that professional installation can add hundreds of dollars to that though.  
• Takes Up Less Space: Compared to the 5th wheel hitch, these hitches take up far less space in the tow vehicle’s bed, leaving more room for cargo. 
• High Weight Capacity: These hitches can handle up to 30,000 pounds or more.  
• Tight Turns: These hitches are also capable of making tight turns without risk of damaging any equipment.   

• Needs Pickup Truck: Like the 5th wheel hitch, these hitches can only be used by trucks due to being installed in truck beds.  
• Less Stability: These hitches do not give quite as stable of a ride as 5th wheel hitches do, as the latter was designed to keep a living space intact while on the move.  
• Noisy: Compared to 5th wheel hitches, these hitches can make quite a racket.  

Are you certain a 5th wheel hitch is what you need now? Excellent! Now, let’s discuss some of the different types of 5th wheel hitches you can purchase.  

A traditional but reliable option, the standard fixed 5th wheel hitch is what you’ll likely picture when you think of a 5th wheel hitch. Its body is held up by sturdy legs, which are in turn bolted to rails on the truck bed, holding everything securely in place.  

As their name suggests, this type of 5th wheel hitch is a more lightweight option. Their reduced weight is easier on your tow vehicle (and you, whenever you need to move it) and they still provide a strong connection. However, their smaller size often means they can’t handle quite as much weight.  
 
The CURT CrossWing™ is an exceptional example of a lightweight 5th wheel hitch. Despite weighing as little as 60 pounds, they can safely handle 20,000 pounds of weight. Where most lightweight hitches are made of aluminum, the CrossWing is composed of high-grade steel to ensure maximum durability.  

Unlike the standard fixed variant, a sliding 5th wheel hitch can move forwards and backwards in the truck bed. This is especially useful for tow vehicles with short beds — when making tight turns, a trailer with a fixed hitch risks crashing into the back of the truck cab.  
 
A sliding hitch will slide closer to the tailgate, giving the trailer room to make the turn, before returning to its previous position. This mechanism makes maneuvering through campgrounds, narrow streets, and offroad paths much easier.  
 
Unfortunately, the additional parts required for a sliding hitch mean that they’re heavier, cost more, and are more at risk of wear-and-tear due to metal parts moving against each other.  
 
Note: Sliding hitches come in manual and automatic forms. While automatic ones are more convenient to use, they are more expensive. 

If you already have a gooseneck hitch setup and need to tow a 5th wheel trailer, you will need a gooseneck adapter. These devices are attached to the trailer’s kingpin, converting it to gooseneck use. These adapters offer a sturdy connection between trailer and tow vehicle without the cost of a separate 5th wheel hitch system.  

When discussing weights, hitches, and towing, you’re sure to hear several different terms — weight capacity, hitch rating, trailer weight, towing capacity, etc. This can easily get confusing, so let’s try to clarify things.  
 
Before we even get to the 5th wheel hitch itself, we need to discuss your tow vehicle’s gross combined weight rating (GCWR) and towing capacity. The GCWR is the maximum allowable weight of your tow vehicle and trailer, which you can calculate by adding the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) to the gross trailer weight rating (GTWR).  
 
The GVWR is the total amount of weight the tow vehicle can safely support, including cargo and passengers. The GTWR is the same, but for the trailer.  
 
Once you know your GCWR, you can calculate your towing capacity by subtracting your vehicle’s curb weight (the weight of the vehicle and the fluids required to run it, and no more) from your GCWR. 
Why do you need to know your towing capacity? Because it’s the maximum amount of weight your tow vehicle can safely pull, and you never want to exceed it. This means keeping an eye on not only your trailer’s GTWR, but on your hitch’s weight.  
 
Remember, 5th wheel hitches can weigh a hundred pounds or more, so you will need to include your hitch’s specific weight in your calculations of GVWR, GCWR, and towing capacity.  
 
You also need to consider your hitch’s weight rating, which is the maximum amount of weight the hitch itself can safely support. For safety’s sake, it is best to have a hitch rated for about a 1,000 pounds more than your trailer’s GTWR, in order to avoid overloading the hitch. If you’re not sure what your hitch’s weight rating is, contact the manufacturer.  
 
Why is it so important to know all these different weights and ratings? Because you don’t want to risk placing too much weight on your tow vehicle, your trailer, or your hitch. Too much weight leads to unwanted strain and increased wear-and-tear on your equipment.  
 
If you exceed your hitch’s weight rating, it may malfunction while on the move, which can be inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst. Make sure that your chosen hitch will be able to handle what you expect of it!  

A hitch’s reliability is only as good as its installation…let’s make sure yours is great! There are two different methods for installing a 5th wheel hitch: puck systems and in-bed mounting rails.  
 
A puck system is a pre-installed structure in a truck’s bed, named for the puck-shaped holes in the bed. This installation method’s biggest advantage is ease — all you need to do is remove the holes’ covers, drop the hitch’s legs into the holes, and lock it into place. Unfortunately, in order to use a puck system, your tow vehicle needs to be a model that includes it. If you want to use an older truck, chances are you’re out of luck.  

Mounting rails are the standard installation method for 5th wheel hitches, consisting of metal rails bolted to the bed of the truck. A tried-and-true system, these rails keep your hitch stable in your truck bed. One problem with mounting rails is that they take up a considerable amount of space in the truck bed. You will need to keep them in mind when loading any additional cargo. Another thing to consider is the more complicated installation process. Without the convenient puck holes, you will need to drill into your truck bed to bolt the rails, making sure that everything is the correct difference apart.  

While you can install a 5th wheel hitch yourself, there’s no shame in having a professional do the job. Remember, a properly installed hitch is key to your safety on the road!  

To finish off, let’s discuss how to successfully and safely tow with a 5th wheel hitch. First, make sure your tow vehicle is up to the job. Most pickup trucks can be divided into three different categories based on their cargo capacity: 1/2-ton, 3/4-ton, and 1-ton. The greater the cargo capacity, the bigger the trailer your truck can tow.  
 
Most 5th wheel trailers require 3/4-ton or 1-ton trucks to tow them. You may be able to find a trailer small enough for a 1/2-ton truck (it would have to be under 10,000 pounds fully loaded), but generally more powerful trucks are better.  
 
Next, you need to keep weight in mind. Every vehicle has a payload capacity, the maximum amount of weight the vehicle can safely carry, including cargo and passengers. You will need to make sure your hitch system doesn’t cause you to exceed it. Consider: 

• Pin Weight: Otherwise known as hitch weight, this refers to the downward force the 5th wheel trailer applies to the tow vehicle through the hitch. The pin weight is typically 15-25% of the trailer’s gross weight.  
• Weight of Hitch Itself: As we previously stated, 5th wheel hitches can weigh 100 pounds or more.

Both of these weights will be part of your payload, so remember that as you load up! 

Another thing to consider when loading up is proper weight distribution. While you obviously can’t move all the furniture in your trailer, try to follow the 60/40 rule: 60% of the weight should be placed in front of the trailer’s axles, while 40% should be placed behind them.  
 
This ensures that there isn’t too much weight placed in the wrong place, which can cause damage to the trailer and lack of control while towing.  
 
Now that you’ve prepared your tow vehicle and trailer, let’s give your hitch system a once-over. We’ve already told you how to hook-up your trailer (and you should follow those instructions carefully each time you do so), but let’s go through an additional safety checklist:  

You’re finally ready to get on the road! Just remember that driving with a trailer is different than driving without one. You’ll have a giant weight rolling along behind you, pulling and pushing you if you’re not careful.  
 
In general, the best thing you can do is slow down. Driving slowly gives you better control over your trailer and more time to respond to potential hazards. If you need to turn or change lanes, do so carefully. Doublecheck for other drivers and give yourself plenty of time and space to move. When it comes time to park, continue to go slow and careful. Keep your eyes open for any obstacles. When backing up, have a friend stand behind you and guide you into place.  
 
Remember: practice makes perfect! Practice towing, turning, and reversing in an isolated place, such as a parking lot.  

Disclaimers: These photographs, recommendations, and approximations are intended for demonstration purposes only and do not reflect the specifications of any particular tow vehicle, recreational vehicle, or trailer. Always consult the manufacturer’s Owner's Manual.