Need opinions from Scamp 5er owners

[Darill]

We will be picking up our new-to-us Scamp 5th wheel today! We are excited to get it to it's new home!

We picked up the gooseneck hitch from the previous owner yesterday. It had been installed at the factory in his Toyota F100 pickup when he picked it up new in '03. When I got back to my house I called the same truck/trailer supply place locally which had installed our heavy duty 5th wheel hitches and brake controllers in our big trucks to pull the big 5th wheels. When I described to him what I needed installed in our Toyota Tundra, he said for liability reasons they don't install those kinds of hitches because they are simply attached through the sheet metal of the truck bed, and would rip out of the sheet metal in case of an accident because they are not attached to the frame of the truck. Therefore, under the circumstances, we had to have it installed by a local fab shop.

Have you heard this reasoning? Are you using the hitch which attaches through the wheel wells and floor of the truck bed? If not, what kind do you suggest?

Actually, when I think about it, maybe the hitch 'ripping out' of the truck bed in case of an accident isn't necessarily a bad thing??!!

Thanks for letting me pick your brains!

Sherrie

[Roger H]

When you're pulling a 12,000 lb 5th wheel with a 2500 lb weight on the pin, you need a bullet-proof hitch that bolts through the frame of the truck. You're pulling a sub-3000 lb trailer with a 700lb tongue weight on a hitch ball. The Scamp 5th wheel mount has plates that go on the bottom side of the bed, and the hitch also bolts through the wheel well sheet metal. If you can manage to pull it out, that'll be the least of your worries.


Roger

[Darwin Maring]

Chances are that you would rip off the whole bed of the truck before you ripped the hitch off. It is bolted doen to the floor and bolted through the wheelwells to the truck bed.

We have not seen any stress signs on our 2003 Chevy S10.

[Darill]

Thanks for the replies and the several emails I have received! The concensus is that the installation is totally safe.

We'll pull the 5er in total confidence with the factory hitch setup. Hope to see some of you at PineKnot!

[Darwin Maring]

4got to mention, on the inside fender well side and the underside of the bed, the NUT has a 2 inch square washer that goes with it. The washer is quite thick and it adds to the strength of the system. Without the washer, the bolt / nut could rip through the thin bed steel if sufficient strength were applied.

Almost impossibility with the washer in place.

I spot welded the nut to the washer and glued the washer in place and used lock tight so I could make a 1-person install/deinstall out of it. If I ever change trucks, I will need new washers and bolts/nuts and I will put the bed liner back in place so it will look good.

[Byron Kinnaman]

The talk here and Yahoo Groups about Gooseneck hitches got me to wondering about them. A quick search and looking a specs here I don't think there's much to worry about. Most were rated to pull 30,000 lbs, min was 25,000 lbs. I'm assuming that those are what's being discussed.

[Isaac M]

When we bought our 5er, I was not comfortable with having the hitch fastened to just the sheet metal of the bed. So, I had steel brackets welded to the frame of the truck under the bed and then bolted the hitch to the brackets. I also had the nuts under the bed tacked to the brackets so that I don't have to get under the truck at all to install/remove the hitch (although in 2 years I have not had an overwhelming need to remove the hitch). I've talked to a couple of other 5er owners who have opted to do the same thing.