5th wheel towing with Nissan frontier crew cab

[ladavidson]

Hi we have towed our 5th for several years with a toyota t-100, we now have a 2014 frontier crew cab with short bed. from the front of the bed to two inches in front of the rear axle is 20". With that distance the front corners of the camper will hit the cab when turning or backing sharply. what is the distance I need from the front of the bed to the hitch ball needed to get for clearance so the camper will not hit the cab?

Larry

[Dennis mn]

I tow my Scamp 19 with a short box Nissan Frontier crew cab. Prior to that, I had a Toyota Tacoma crew cab with short box. In the Toyota, the hitch was mounted 8" behind the axle so that I could have the truck at 90 degrees to the trailer. When I mounted the hitch in the Nissan, I located the ball at exactly the center of the bed. It works quite well.

[ladavidson]

Did you mean front to back?

Larry

[Dennis mn]

Originally Posted by ladavidson

Did you mean front to back?

Larry

Yes! It seems to be about 2" behind the axle.

[ladavidson]

Thanks Dennis I will give a try

Larry

[Dennis mn]

My thought process was that since the allowable tounge weight for a Tacoma or Frontier is 500 lbs at the bumper, any location ahead of the bumper would not overload the rear axle, or take to much weight off the front. I know that the rule is to locate the hitch slightly ahead of the rear axle when pulling a fifth wheel, but with a Scamp 19 foot, it seems to work to violate that rule. I did learn that with the location that I chose, when hooking up the trailer, and with the tail gate down on the Nissan, the tailgate comes very close to hitting the frame (propane rack) on the trailer. I have to be very carefull to back up to the trailer straight. With the additional 6" at the Tacoma, and with a tailgate 3" shorter I could approach the trailer at any angle.

[Bob from Lewes DE]

Install a sliding 5th wheel hitch in your Frontier. A sliding hitch allows an over-the-rear-axle towing position and a behind-the-rear axel maneuvering position. Typically, during towing the relative angle between the tow vehicle and trailer is small, but increases during low-speed maneuvering. Sliding the hitch to its rear-most maneuvering position allows a much larger interference-free relative angle between the tow vehicle and trailer.

I tow an Escape 5.0 with a 2006 Silverado 2500HD and use a sliding hitch to minimize the distance between the trailer and cab while towing. I tow with the hitch at its forward position and manually set the hitch to its maneuvering position when needed.

Bob

[Dennis mn]

I think that it would require a bit of engineering and fabrication to adapt a Scamp hitch to a sliding fifth wheel. The Scamp is actually a Gooseneck, using a 2" ball and proprietary hitch, unlike the Escape which is a true fifth wheel.

[Bob from Lewes DE]

You're absolutely right. I didn't take notice that you're towing a Scamp 5th wheel. But... I'm willing to bet that with some basic design a welding shop can modify a sliding 5th wheel hitch to accommodate Scamp's gooseneck connector. It may be one of a kind, but I'll bet it would work.

[Dennis mn]

Originally Posted by Bob from Lewes DE

You're absolutely right. I didn't take notice that you're towing a Scamp 5th wheel. But... I'm willing to bet that with some basic design a welding shop can modify a sliding 5th wheel hitch to accommodate Scamp's gooseneck connector. It may be one of a kind, but I'll bet it would work.

Absolutely no doubt it could be done. I have done engineering and my son is a weldor/fabricator. We adapted my Scamp hitch which was bolted directly to the box of the Toyota to Reese rails, so I can pull four pins and easily remove the Scamp hitch from the truck for hauling.

[Bob from Lewes DE]

If you were closer I'd say lets get together and design and fabricate a sliding gooseneck hitch!

[Dennis mn]

Originally Posted by Bob from Lewes DE

If you were closer I'd say lets get together and design and fabricate a sliding gooseneck hitch!

If you are really interested, the distance is no issue. I own a CAD company, and e-mail drawing all over the country! I chose not to go with a slider, because of the cost, and I did not think that mounting the hitch a bit behind the axle was an issue, and after 14 years of pulling the Scamp set up that way, I feel the same way. If I owned a bigger camper with more tounge weight, I would have used a different system, but then, I wouldn't be towing with a Nissan Frontier, would I.

[Keith2000]

Dennis: do you have any photos of your setup?

[Skrunqi]

Hi there I’ve been doing a deep dive into putting a gooseneck into a Nissan Frontier, I understand it doesn’t normally work, but I have a very small trailer and it meet payload/towing capacity but I’m getting mixed reviews on installing a hitch in it. Is anyone still active on this thread that has done this that might help answer some questions and or recommendations.

[Dennis mn]

I have towed two different Scamp 19's with 2 different Frontier's. I love the combo. The first was a modified “Original” Scamp hitch modified to work with Reese rails. The current Scamp is hitch to the truck using the current Scamp Hitch. The new Frontier is equipped with a 3.8 liter d i engine with a 9 speed auto transmission. I used the Reese universal rail kit with brackets that attach the rails to the frame.

[Skrunqi]

This is great news, I’ll look into the Reese rails specifically. Just a few questions: How far is your hitch behind your axel? And do you have any problems with clearance on sharper turns? Do you happen to know the distance from your hitch to the front of your camper? (I’m using a different yet similar sized trailer) and lastly did you install it yourself or have someone do it? At least so far all the actual RV/Hitch places don’t want to take the liability

[Dennis mn]

With the first Nissan, I had a trailer dealer instal the rails. When I got the new Frontier, I ran into the issue of hitch installer not wanting to accept the liability, so I had a friend install the rails. The hitch ball is located in the exact center of the bed. Turning going forward is not an issue, you know that Frontier's are not known for short turning radius. You will have to be cautious in reverse, as the trailer will contact the rear of the cab, if you are not careful.

[Skrunqi]

Thanks for all your responses! I’ll talk to a few other places/ friends with better equipped garages and expertise. See if I cant make it happen.

[Keith2000]

I would look for a local shop that does a lot of trailer work but isn’t a part of a large brand. Call, don’t use email. Don’t ask if they can do it, ask for an appointment to have it done and an estimate. Just based on my experience.