Reese Sidewinder 5th. wheel hitch

[Danimal]

has anyone used a sidewinder hitch, my Rockwood came with one but i have not used it and i am wondering if i should hook it up and give it a try
i have a short bed truck and i have been close to the cab before but so far it has not been a problem

[Rugged Brown]

I use it and am quite pleased with its' functionality. Can take U-turns with no worries. My truck bed is 6'4".

[1Texan]

I installed one on my trailer. I have a crew cab with 5'8" bed. Not that I will ever need to, but I can put the trailer at 90 degrees and have about 4 inches between trailer and cab. I didn't want to deal with a slider, and with the short bed I know I had to do something. I've only had it out once so far, but towed very well down the road even with gusty cross winds.

[muzbomb]

how hard are they to install? i bought one too going to install in spring

[traveler2955]

I can't speak for or against the mechanism, but I think you should always try stuff before you do any serious towing or traveling near your residence.

I'm guessing it'll be easier to fix what's wrong, modify what is close, or discard what doesn't work near your home rather than hundreds or thousands of miles from it.

Just a thought. Good luck.
Mike

[traveler2955]

OOPS, sounded convoluted. Should be: try stuff close to home first, then travel far and wide.

Always fun.
Mike

[1Texan]

Not difficult to install but,.... get a friend to help. And I'm not talking about your wife. Eight bolts and removes the old box. I'm sure you know by now that it comes in two pieces. Bolt them together, and BTW you will need a torque wrench to correctly tension the pivot point. I took some advice from someone on this site that said they sat it on their truck tailgate and lifted from there. Good advice. We put in two bolts and pivoted from those two to put in the remaining bolts. The only thing from there is to adjust the hitch in your trailer to level your trailer if required. The only other thing you will need to do is adjust the block that keeps the sidewinder from pivoting. Instructions are very complete and we didn't have any problems.
You didn't ask how I liked it, but I will tell you, it is great. I've had it out twice now and really like to ability to not have to worry about trailer/cab contact.
The only drawback I have discovered, you have to be dead-on when you hitch up, but not impossible.... just difficult if you are on an angle.
Let me know if you have any other questions.