Ask around at any campground or dealership and you will hear that an 8 foot bed is considered a necessity when it comes to towing a 5th wheel. The 8 foot bed puts enough clearance between the cap (front) of the 5th wheel, and the back of your truck allowing for tight, 90 degree turns. Shorter beds, with a traditional set up can often end in disaster. Why? In a short bed truck, a 90 degree turn will cause a crash of the back of the truck cab, and the front of the rig.
So what about those of us with short (5 foot) or medium (6.5 foot) beds? The first, and most common solution is a sliding hitch, but we didn’t like how these weren’t easily removed in between camping spots and take up the entire bed of truck.
Our solution? A Sidewinder by Reese and a traditional B&W Companion 5th wheel designed for the puck system in our truck. The Sidewinder is a replacement pin box for the 5th wheel RV itself, and works by moving the turning from the 5th wheel hitch, to directly under the trailer, in the pinbox itself. It hooks up just like a normal 5th wheel, but it has a wedge that prevents it from turning in the hitch. The pin box, has a rotating turret that becomes responsible for the turning. This moves the turning point of the RV back about 2 feet, and provides plenty of clearance for those of us in short bed trucks!
Installing the Sidewinder:
Installation Time: 1 hour-ish (If i had to do it again, it would take about 30)
People Required: 1 person for most of it, but will need 3 to lift it in place. (Its heavy!)
Do I need to be a mechanic? No. 4 bolts in the sidewinder. 8 to attach it, plug and play.
Putting the Sidewinder in was pretty easy. It involved taking off the old pin box. Lubing up the moving parts, screwing and correctly torquing the four bolts that hold the Sidewinder together, finally lifting it to where the original pin box was. Honestly, that was the only tricky part, and that’s only because the thing ways a lot. I attempted to lift it and place it in its spot by myself, but was quickly aided by another RVer. Together we lifted it while Cheynne put the 8 bolts in. Than all we did was torque those down and we were ready to the final step. All that was left was to hook up the RV and place the wedge in the appropriate spot, than torque that down as well. After that, we were rocking and rolling!
How is driving with the Sidewinder?
Its awesome. The trailer tracks beautifully and rides smoothly. It makes navigating tight campgrounds a breeze, well, relative to towing a 35 foot 5th wheel that is. With my 6.5 foot bed I can make over 90 degree turns with no fear of causing damage to the truck or rig. This allowed me to wedge the RV into the tightest, and often times best spots. An onlooker actually said to me, “I really don’t know how you made it in that spot.” I should also point out, this particular spot is on a one way road, with room for one car, and is wedged in a small valley so there are dips on both sides. When towing, there is nothing additional to think about, it tows just like a normal 5th wheel. And because we doing have a sliding hitch, we doing have to get out of the truck, and adjust the 5th wheel position every time we want to turn; a big advantage over a sliding hitch.
What is the best thing about the Sidewinder? Peace of mind. There are a lot of things that you have to think about while towing, now, there is one less. Before we installed the Sidewinder, backing into a spot meant I had 3 sets of corners to watch. The back corners, the middle where the cab could hit the RV, and the front of the truck. The ability to make these sharp turns actually allows me to turn around in a cul de sac, something I couldn’t do before. It just works, and saves us the hassle of having a long bed here in San Diego.
Down Sides?
Truthfully, there is only one downside to it. Hooking up is a bit more involved than it was previously. With the traditional hitch, you can be a little off and it will adjust and you will be fine. With the Sidewinder, you have to be dead straight to the pin box (which may or may not be straight) and not the RV. It still occasionally takes me a couple tries to get it right but all and all its still way better than anything else.
We have now been using the sidewinder for a little over 6 months, and we still love it. We highly recommend looking into one before you go and get a sliding hitch if your trying to solve the short bed truck problem
Triathlon, Trails and Tails 