When we bought our 2000 MY Scamp 19 it came with the old bed mounted hitch that looks a bit homemade, but gets the job done: two flanges that mount against the wheel arches in the bed and a heavy bar that mounts between them and is height adjustable.
We mounted that in our 2000 F-150 and it works well. Our trailer has a 3 inch lift from when we replaced the axle last year and we have 14 inch tires on it. All good. Lots of clearance.
But now we are planning longer trips and we would like our grown kid to join us so we are upgrading to a roomier 2018 F-150 SuperCrew. It is a lot fancier, even though both are work-truck spec. I'm in the process of moving the hitch from the 2000 to the 2018 and I'm wondering it it is worth upgrading to the new Reese hitch.
Does anybody have experience going from the old hitch to the new and how they compared on ball height? It looks like the Reese crossbar has some height adjustment, but I'm just not sure how the range compares.
I imagine I will end up with some larger tire to compensate for the bedrail height. Not a big deal since we have the two-step fold out entry step and the lower step is near the ground now anyway.
I never had the old style hitch, so cannot say how they compare, but the advantage of the "new" one is that it uses the standard rails. The hitch with the 2" ball is then easily removable and the bed is clear for other uses. All it takes is pulling the four pins* and some muscle. It weighs about 60 lbs. I am researching and working on a lightweight, non-adjustable, single purpose version of the hitch for myself. One possible option is made by Andersen. https://andersenhitches.com/Catalog/...onnection.aspx
or something like it.
*) I replaced the four pins with 1/2 inch bolts to eliminate the annoying rattle.
I just got a 2015 F150 Supercrew with a 6.5' bed. My camper came with the original Scamp hitch from the previous owner. I did not install it. I am modifying a standard Reese 5th wheel hitch to be exactly like the one Scamp sells. Very easy to do and a lot cheaper. Another advantage of the Reese hitch is they sell no drill frame mount brackets specifically for your truck. I would only use the original if it was mounted to the frame. No way I would trust any truck bed to attach a 3000 pound trailer to and our bed is made out of aluminum. I can measure the range of adjustment on the two hitches if you want.
I just measured my Reese hitch as it sits on my garage floor. It is 12.5" from the floor to where the bottom of the ball will sit. There are four vertical adjustments and I am currently on the second from the bottom. Each adjustment hole is about 1.25" apart so I could go up another 1.25" or down 2.5". I am not sure exactly where it will sit when I mount in the rails, it might move up slightly. My Scamp old style hitch is 10" from the floor to the top of the side bracket. If you need an adjustment outside of this range or have the 5.5' bed you may want to have a two inch receiver hitch welded on the Reese cross member and use a standard stinger to provide additional adjustment range and to move the ball rearward to provide sufficient cab clearance. I have seen someone with a late model Tacoma do this modification on this forum.
Do you have any pictures of your new F-150 backed up under the Scamp?
Thanks Paul O. and buff30 for your posts. Those measurements really help.
One of the problems I have in looking at this issue is that I don't keep my trailer at home. That is one of the reasons this site is so useful for me: I can't just go out and test fit this. This pictures of the hitches next to each other are awesome!
We got the 2.7 ecoboost because we found a good deal on the lot and it seems more than adequate for the job. It has the ten speed transmission and four wheel drive, so I think it will work out quite well for such a light trailer.
We have the short bed, but I never really thought about the trailer coming close to the cab since it has a pretty long tongue. Our current truck has the 6.5 foot bed and it has never gotten anywhere close. I guess I'll need to take a closer look at that.
If you follow the Scamp specification for the distance of ball to bumper corner (in a plan view projection), there will be at least 8 inches between the truck and the trailer. How close the Scamp loft gets to the cab depends on the turning radius, but should be no problem. When done with the installation, test it in a parking lot, or such. Of course, when backing up, all bets are off if the trailer jackknifes.
Keith it sounds like a very nice truck. I am sure you will have zero issues with the 2.7 and power to tow the Scamp. If you use the frame mounts and bed rails that I posted a link to you will be to close to the cab to do a 90 degree turn when backing up. Your options would be to mount the a-frame in the standard spot over the axle and extend the ball mount location aft. Or mount the rails and a-frame aft of the axle and use the universe frame brackets. Attached are few pictures of the latter and a link to his blog for his Scamp 19.
I found the picture of the 2" reciver hitch welded in to extend the pivot point aft. To measure the required clearance go from the center of the hitch to the side of the camper. You need at least that amount of room between the cab and the hitch ball to do a 90 degree turn with out hitting. If I remember the 5.5' bed has about 28" between the cab and the axle. I can't remember the last time I measured my camper but I think it was like 38" or 40" from the hitch center to the side of the camper. I should be installing my bed rails and hitch this weekend and can take a picture of anything you like.
Thanks for the info buff30. I love John's blog and have copied many of his tips. He seemed to be more concerned about having clearance for his hitch while hooking up, which is an annoying issue.
Does anyone else here have trouble with their Scamp 19 coming close to the cab on a 5.5' bed? It seemed to have tons of clearance on the 6.5' bed, but I never got out to measure it. The shape of the scamp tongue is so different from the standard fifth wheel that I figured it wouldn't be an issue. On your drawing the contact points on the scamp would be behind the "king pin" instead of in front of it, for example.
Some people insist on being able to back the trailer up to a tight spot and need a 90 degree angle between those two. I do not think it is important. Backing up I would hit the cab to the loft long before I reach 90 degrees. Pulling forward, in the tightest turn you probably still have plenty of margin.
Remember that the Scamp 19 is so short that in a mall parking lot, the whole rig fits perfectly in two car spaces, like this:
paul the previous owner of our 13f added 2f to the hitch thus making it longer. I didn't like it at first but someone here told me not to fool with it I see now why. it makes it a lot easier to back up and seems to tug well.
I had a 5th wheel but not a tag along trailer. the extra 24in makes a big difference to me.
I don't understand scamps geometry on the 19s except to know it works I have seen it in person.
The previous owner of my camper left this mark as a reminder to me. He had a matching dent on the back of his cab. He had an older Chevy Colorado, I forgot what bed he had but it was either the short or the shorter bed. He said he wished he mounted the hitch further back.
Universal rails for Scamp, Escape, Bigfoot 5th wheel
We currently have a Scamp 16' and have decided to upgrade to a 5th wheel in the near future. In preparation, we had universal rails installed in our '06 Tundra by a local professional shop. The installer was very helpful and said he installed the rails a couple inches behind the axel because he knows from experience that Tundra's need the installation to be like that.
Fast forward to now, and after speaking with Scamp and doing the research we probably should have done before rail installation, I'm wondering if we have enough clearance. In particular, the measurement from where I estimate a ball will go to the corner of our bumper is almost exactly 60 inches.
Does anyone have any thoughts on whether or not this is going to work at all?
Also, if it turns out that the rails needed to be a couple inches further back, is there any kind of modification we can make to hitch or Scamp for the extra length?
Alternatively, is there a specific hitch we should buy that will give us some more room?
Note that we're trying to avoid moving the rails back and we do realize that the best way to find out if the trailer will fit our rails/truck is to actually meet the trailer in person. I'm just trying to get a bit more information before that day comes.
Thanks for your advice!
P.S. Does anyone know if Escapes and Bigfoots have the same measurements as Scamp 5th wheels?
__________________ LUCINDA 1989 Bigfoot 5th Wheel | Steve, Rosemary, Maude Pod & Tripawd Hope
'Glass trips: Moab 03/10 * The Swell 5/26/11 * Antelope Island 12/21/11 * Strawberry Res 6/12 * Whitney Res 6/14 * Uintahs 7/15 * East Fork of Black's 6/16 * St Mary-Ennis-Lava 6/18
Steve and Rosemary I would not worry to much. I just installed my hitch and it is about 1" forward of the axle in a 2015 F150. I am right at 60" from my hitch ball to the corner of my bumper and I have about 4" of clearance between the truck and the Scamp 19 when turning. I might move the ball aft of the hitch cross member a few inches for extra piece of mind as I have my ball on a temporary mounting plate right now.. You could have the same thing done at any welding shop.
This is interesting. The older Scamps had the two tanks mounted separately on the outside, the newer (don't know when they changed) have the tanks next to each other in the middle, with the battery on the port (left, driver's) side. Maybe the older configuration provided more room for the bumper corner to swing through when doing a tight turn. I am pretty sure the new specification is 59.5 in. from ball to bumper corner (call it 60 if you want). Also the ball ends up exactly half way between the standard rails if using the new Scamp hitch as purchased.
Steve and Rosemary I would not worry to much. I just installed my hitch and it is about 1" forward of the axle in a 2015 F150. I am right at 60" from my hitch ball to the corner of my bumper and I have about 4" of clearance between the truck and the Scamp 19 when turning. I might move the ball aft of the hitch cross member a few inches for extra piece of mind as I have my ball on a temporary mounting plate right now.. You could have the same thing done at any welding shop.
Hi buff30,
I too have a 2006 Tundra. Mine is a 4 door Limited 4x4 and am wondering where exactly to place the rails relative to the axle. At the moment, I too have about 60 inches from axle center to the corner of truck bed. My Scamp 19 measures about 60 inches from ball center to propane tank bracket.
I would like to maintain the ability to open and connect with the tail gate open then close the tail gate. Are you able to open/close your tail gate? If so can you walk me through how you do it?