Scamp 5th Whl + F350 4X4 P/U?

[Jerry Laskody]

I have a '99 Ford F350 4x4 P/U that I use on the ranch to haul a gooseneck stock trailer. My wife and I are interested in the Scamp 5th wheel and have asked the factory if they can accomodate this vehicle with their trailer. No answer yet.

I have a B&W turnoverball hitch on the truck and I do not want to use the Scamp bed hitch because it defeats the purpose of my existing hitch. I believe I can get a ball extension that will accomodate the the Scamp requirements but the height of the tailgate and the swing distance from the ball to the extreme edge of the rear bumper is what will cause the biggest problems I'm sure.The tailgate is 57 inches high and the from the turnover ball centerline to the extreme right or left edge of the rear bumper, the distance is 67 inches. I know the trailer can be lifted with a high lift axle, but how far?

Has anyone had this problem before and if so, how was it solved?
Thanks in advance.

[Pete Dumbleton]

I'd call Scamp again, but you may have too much truck -- IIRC, the normal pickup height is a max of 48 inches -- The trailer can be raised three inches by welding a spacer between the axle brackets and frame (Scamp welds the axle brackets directly to the frame), it sounds like you are needing more like 11 inches...

[Jerry Laskody]

Thanks for the put, Pete. I was afraid of that.

[Darwin Maring]

There have been pictures on this site of a tandam axel being placed under a Scamp 5th wheel and that required an additional frame so the camper would be raised so the tires would not rub. That was a high lift.

The normal Scamp 5r has quite a bit of clearance on the sides when it is hitched up. To bad you can't find one close by to go look at.

[Frederick L. Simson]

There have been pictures on this site of a tandam axel being placed under a Scamp 5th wheel

I searched and found this:

There is an article about installing dual axles on his 1993 Scamp fifth wheel in the Winter 2001 SOI News. The owner reports the rig handles better than it did with one axle.

-- Dan Meyer

His name is Merle, and he was at the 2005 Oregon Gathering.

[Jerry Laskody]

There have been pictures on this site of a tandam axel being placed under a Scamp 5th wheel and that required an additional frame so the camper would be raised so the tires would not rub. That was a high lift.

The normal Scamp 5r has quite a bit of clearance on the sides when it is hitched up. To bad you can't find one close by to go look at.

I searched and found this:


Attachment 5039

His name is Merle, and he was at the 2005 Oregon Gathering.

Thanks for the info. I'm still waiting to hear from Scamp.

[Brian B-P]

I'll respond here to a post from a related topic, Your opinions on the 17'Casita Freedoom Deluxe Trailer:

...I also need 67 inches of swing clearance( do know if that's the correct term) to keep frm hitting the bumper edge on either side from the centerline of the hitch when turning. I'd really like to do a 5th wheel ...

I don't know if it is the right term either, but it's clear what you mean. Is the F-350 a dually, and is it the protruding fenders which increase clearance requirements? I would expect the rear corners of the box and bumper to be the restriction, and the axle-to-box-end dimension shouldn't be significantly different from other full size pickups, regardless of the chassis series (e.g. F-250 versus F-350).

If this dimension is a problem, the hitch could be mounted somewhat behind the axle, slighting compromising the fifth-wheel advantage, but the F-350 should easily handle the hitch load further back. For that matter, it should also easily handle any Scamp, Casita, Trillium, or Escape conventional trailer without a weight-distributing hitch, so there is not so much advantage of a fifth wheel or gooseneck as usual. I suspect that keeping the hitch load back further, causing load transfer from the truck's front axle to the rear, will only help handling and traction.

[Lizbeth]

Jerry, I thought there was a discussion here about bedside/tailgate height but I can't find it. We are contemplating purchasing a new to us Dodge 4x4 with the hope of it being able to pull a fiberglass 5th wheel when we upsize from the 13fter.

[Roger H]

When I sold our 5th wheel this spring, we took the hitch out of the S10 crew cab in which it was installed squarely over the wheelwells (and axle) and mounted it into a Toyota T100 standard cab, long bed pickup. I don't recall what the ball-to-corner distance was exactly, but it is something around 60". The hitch had to be installed signficantly aft of the centerline of the axle in the T100, per Scamp's instructions. They will fax you the hitch installation instructions on request.

I still don't think an F350 will work.

Roger

[billpool]

I have a '99 Ford F350 4x4 P/U that I use on the ranch to haul a gooseneck stock trailer. My wife and I are interested in the Scamp 5th wheel and have asked the factory if they can accomodate this vehicle with their trailer. No answer yet.


Has anyone had this problem before and if so, how was it solved?
Thanks in advance.

Better Late than Never (on my part)

FWIW I've been looking real hard at the Scamp 5Wh and have called to Scamp and had to call a second time and got this info:
I have a 1999 F250 superduty XLT 4x4 and was pretty much concerned about the same as you. I was asked if I was planning to get the deluxe model or the standard. They explained that the deluxe model comes equipped with 14" wheels & tires and the standard does not and they'd have to be optioned. I was told that with the 14" wheels/tires I'd have no problems. Previous to this I'd mentioned that I was aware of the "lift" mod they put on at the factory and then to the aforementioned conversation. I am assuming that the no problem statement is a unit with the "lift" and 14" wheels and tires.

Kinda makes me wonder what the situation is with the Escape 5Wh along these lines. I understand that they travel on 15" wheels/tires already and they have an entirely different type of hitch.... Heard anything in that regard?

Sorta late but HTH
bill

[Donna D.]

Kinda makes me wonder what the situation is with the Escape 5Wh along these lines. I understand that they travel on 15" wheels/tires already and they have an entirely different type of hitch.... Heard anything in that regard?

Sorta late but HTH
bill

Yes, the Escape does run on 15" tires and Yes, the Escape uses a standard 5th wheel hitch...not the gooseneck that Scamp uses.

See this topic in General Chat for all kinds of Escape 5.0 pictures!
Escape 5.0 Has Hatched!

AND, thanks for coming back and posting the information about your 350, etc.

[billpool]

Better Late than Never (on my part)

FWIW I've been looking real hard at the Scamp 5Wh and have called to Scamp and had to call a second time and got this info:
I have a 1999 F250 superduty XLT 4x4 and was pretty much concerned about the same as you. I was asked if I was planning to get the deluxe model or the standard. They explained that the deluxe model comes equipped with 14" wheels & tires and the standard does not and they'd have to be optioned. I was told that with the 14" wheels/tires I'd have no problems. Previous to this I'd mentioned that I was aware of the "lift" mod they put on at the factory and then to the aforementioned conversation. I am assuming that the no problem statement is a unit with the "lift" and 14" wheels and tires.

Kinda makes me wonder what the situation is with the Escape 5Wh along these lines. I understand that they travel on 15" wheels/tires already and they have an entirely different type of hitch.... Heard anything in that regard?

Sorta late but HTH
bill

Further information for those of us with larger tow vehicles... give http://www.hitch-buddy.com/default.aspx a try. Might help.

bill

[Brian B-P]

Another discussion here involving the Hitch Buddy: Possible to convert Scamp 5th wheel?

A Scamp 19' uses a 2" ball, which is abnormal for hitch-over-axle setups. The Hitch Buddy uses a Firehawk II interchangeable towing head, for which I think only a common 2-5/16" ball, and not a 2" ball, is available. Unless I am mistaken about the Firehawk's ball options, custom fabrication would be required to make this work. The Firehawk was discussed in Firehawk II 5th hitch, A better Hitch 4 your Scamp 5er.

Aside from the ball size, I can think a several reasons why this interesting idea (the Hitch Buddy) is not a suitable solution in this case... or in any case. But that's another large topic!