5th Wheel Hitch Installation with a Bed Mat

[Gail Shook]

Has anyone put a 5th wheel hitch in over the top of the bed mat? We are trying to decide it we should bolt the hitch through the mat or cut the mat around the hitch.

Any ideas or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Gail

[Coach George Jessup]

..We are trying to decide it we should bolt the hitch through the mat or cut the mat around the hitch....

IMHO Cut it around hitch. You do not want any flex on what the bolts hold. Too much additional shear forces could be added on the bolts by the mat allowing flex.

Now as a caveat to that... if your talking about a thin mat like 1/8th" then would think should be fine. The more above that you get..... the more you need to consider to cut it out.

Then there is water to consider along with grit and grim that can get under it to rub off bed paint under where the mat is. If the mat helps it hold water then your inviting rust. Especially with those newly rubbed off paint spots and... low and behold; holes drilled to mount it exposing nice fresh bare metal.

[Pete Dumbleton]

As recommended, I would allow nothing compressible or flexible between the hitch hardware and the bed. You want that connection to be very solid because it must deal with every push or pull from the trailer.

[Gail Shook]

Thanks everyone for your great advice. I really appreciate the great resouce everyone is. We decided not to put it under the hitch and instead cut the mat. If anyone is going to cut a bed mat we found a jigsaw works great. It is very quick and easy. Just have another person who can help hold the mat because it really jumps around.

Gail