Hitch/Rail Question

CS98671

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2017
Messages
11
Location
Washougal, WA
Hi,

Brand new member here, don't even have a 5th wheel yet!

I've encountered an issue as I prepare my truck to tow a 5th wheel. My hitch will not fit in the rails on my truck.

The truck is a 2009 Ford King Ranch short bed. When I bought it, it already had the rails installed but no hitch. Last week I bought a Reese sliding 16k hitch that looked like it would drop into the rail slots.

Today I was messing with it and discovered three of the mounting pins will go into the slots on the brackets, but the fourth is off about 1/4" and will not drop down into the slot. No amount of pounding (with a dead blow hammer) or re-positioning seems to help.

Either one of the mounting points on the hitch is bent (doesn't look like it) or the rail in the bed of the truck is installed slightly off. I think my options are:

* Grinding a slight amount of metal off the rail so the hitch will drop in (may not be a good idea to remove any metal)!

* Loosing one of the rails under the truck and see if it will move slightly allowing the hitch to drop into the mounting slots.

* Starting over with a new hitch and rails.

Anyone ever experience this or have any ideas?

Thank you,
Chris
 
Option 1, maybe a little metal but that's all.
Option 2, sounds like the way to go. Its definitely worth a try before resorting to.....
Option 3
 
Well, if you had succeeded in hammering the pin in--it would probably been permanent.
So, yes to 1, then 2. Shouldn't hurt to take some of the metal off for a fit.
Welcome to the forum.
Joe
 

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