Hitch Decision

[Baldicon]

sapest and richfaa,

Can either of you tell me what the height of your BD3 is? Do you have it mounted on bed rails? I have the factory puck system so will also have to add either a Trailersaver or Reese adapter. I will be adding a BakFlip MX4 bed cover to my truck and want to make sure the BD3 plus the adapter will fit under the cover.

Thanks

[sapest]

Bottom of bed hitch rail to top of hitch head pivot (where the zerk fitting is) is 17.5".
Top of hitch head pivot to truck side rail is about 3.5".

There is some bracing (steel) material that is higher than the hitch head pivot, about the height of the zerk fittings, maybe another .5".

So in my case there is about a safe 3" between the highest part of the hitch and the top of the truck bed side rails.
HTH's
-Steve

[Baldicon]

Originally Posted by sapest

Bottom of bed hitch rail to top of hitch head pivot (where the zerk fitting is) is 17.5".
Top of hitch head pivot to truck side rail is about 3.5".

There is some bracing (steel) material that is higher than the hitch head pivot, about the height of the zerk fittings, maybe another .5".

So in my case there is about a safe 3" between the highest part of the hitch and the top of the truck bed side rails.
HTH's
-Steve

Thanks again Steve.

[AlphaFez]

Thanks for your post, do you have an 8' or short box?
I'm trying to decide which hitch to purchase. Our new truck is almost ours, a Ford F350 SRW 6.7L Powerstroke Diesel, Lariat with 6.75' box. New Montana 3121RL, 2400# hitch wt, 16,000#GVW

[sapest]

A-Fez
If you are asking me, we have a long box.

-Steve

[AlphaFez]

RR, do you have short or long box truck?

[Baldicon]

Originally Posted by sapest

Bottom of bed hitch rail to top of hitch head pivot (where the zerk fitting is) is 17.5".
Top of hitch head pivot to truck side rail is about 3.5".

There is some bracing (steel) material that is higher than the hitch head pivot, about the height of the zerk fittings, maybe another .5".

So in my case there is about a safe 3" between the highest part of the hitch and the top of the truck bed side rails.
HTH's
-Steve

Sorry to pester you again Steve, I want to make sure I understand your measurements. When you say "bottom of bed hitch" do you mean the truck bed surface? Or is that from the bottom of the hitch? How is your hitch mounted? Bed rails? I have the Ford factory puck system, so I will be mounting the hitch on an adapter (either Hensley or Reese) which will raise the top of the hitch compared to yours if it is mounted on bed rails. I'm guessing that the top of the adapter where the Hensley hitch will mount will be around 2" above the truck bed which will subtract from your 3" of clearance depending on how your hitch is mounted. It looks like your truck side bed rail is 21" above the truck bed, which is what I measured on mine. One more question, are these measurements with the air bags deflated? I assume that after you unhitch the trailer and let the air out of the bags, the hitch head will drop some which may give some additional clearance. I really want to use this hitch, but it must fit under my backflip cover and with using the puck adapter it sounds like it will be close.

Thanks in advance.

[Baldicon]

Originally Posted by AlphaFez

Thanks for your post, do you have an 8' or short box?
I'm trying to decide which hitch to purchase. Our new truck is almost ours, a Ford F350 SRW 6.7L Powerstroke Diesel, Lariat with 6.75' box. New Montana 3121RL, 2400# hitch wt, 16,000#GVW

Like Steve, not sure who you are asking, but will reply. I have a F350 long bed, and will be pulling the same camper in a couple of months.

[sapest]

My hitch is mounted on rails. I was trying to be very specific in my description, because neither the rails nor the truck bed floor are flat. So when I said "bottom of the bed hitch rail", I mean I measured from the surface of the hitch rail that faces down, facing the truck bed floor, up to the 'top' of the hitch.
Said another way, 17.5" from floor of truck bed to top of hitch.
So to answer your first question - yes.
Yes, measured with no air in the bags. Yes the hitch head assembly moves up quite a bit when the air bags are inflated. You get a good sense of that the first time you un-hitch without deflating the bags first!
I would talk to Hensley about what you want to do. They may have some suggestions to get you the clearance you need. They may have some custom mount ideas.

-Steve

[Baldicon]

Originally Posted by sapest

My hitch is mounted on rails. I was trying to be very specific in my description, because neither the rails nor the truck bed floor are flat. So when I said "bottom of the bed hitch rail", I mean I measured from the surface of the hitch rail that faces down, facing the truck bed floor, up to the 'top' of the hitch.
Said another way, 17.5" from floor of truck bed to top of hitch.
So to answer your first question - yes.
Yes, measured with no air in the bags. Yes the hitch head assembly moves up quite a bit when the air bags are inflated. You get a good sense of that the first time you un-hitch without deflating the bags first!
I would talk to Hensley about what you want to do. They may have some suggestions to get you the clearance you need. They may have some custom mount ideas.

-Steve

Thanks Steve, that clarifies it, I'm a little slow. I'll talk it over with Hensley.

[Wicked1]

We just picked up our 3121RL couldn’t be happier with our choice. Found a few minor issues dealer has corrected some and ordered parts to fix the other issues.

I wish I had gotten an F350 Dually but at the time I got a good deal on my 2016 F350 Crew SB PSD, didn’t like the Dually in 2016

[sapest]

B-con
There is nothing wrong with slow and careful when dealing with 5th wheels and or lots of $$! No need to apologize.
I hope Hensley has what you need. Its a great hitch.

-Steve

[Baldicon]

Originally Posted by Wicked1

We just picked up our 3121RL couldn’t be happier with our choice. Found a few minor issues dealer has corrected some and ordered parts to fix the other issues.

I wish I had gotten an F350 Dually but at the time I got a good deal on my 2016 F350 Crew SB PSD, didn’t like the Dually in 2016

I know I've bugged Steve a lot about the Hensley hitch, but he should be thankful he wasn't around when I was asking questions about trucks! I started out looking at CCSB, but knew the payload would be limited (was looking at Anderson hitches then because of their lite weight). Also would like to add an aux fuel tank. It will mainly just be me and the boss so I switched and started looking at a super cab long bed. It's wheel base is only 4" longer than a CCSB with about 300-400lbs more payload. We really didn't need the crew cab, so traded some cab space for extra bed space. Then I stumbled onto a SCLB dually, and when I saw 5700lbs on the yellow payload sticker, I was hooked. Ordered in September and took delivery in November. Since I'm semi-retired and work from home, it's not a daily driver. If I did have to drive it daily, I probably would not have got it.

We have been looking at 5ers for about a year now, and have settled in on the 3121. It has most of what we wanted and is just the size that I wanted. We will probably pull the trigger in a couple of months. Need to sell our TT first. Hope you have continued good use with yours.