[DutchmenSport]

My first obstacle I had to over come after a lifetime of travel trailer towing was how to hitch my first ever fifth wheel. I have a 4-fold bed cover over my long bed which does not allow me to see the hitch at all. Add to that the crew cab and It's impossible to see the hitch by simply turning around in the driver seat ... impossible in my truck with the cover.

At first I purchased a set of the magnetized balls on the telescoping stick. And actually, these worked great! But putting them on the fifth wheel hitch every time was a real pain. But after about 5 or 6 hitches using them, I began to get the idea of how this "hitching" actually works.

Now, I use the plastic mirror on the camper, and it actually comes in very handy.

At first, I put a white strip of tape down the center of the truck bed. Looking at the mirror, I could follow the white line . That was good until the tape came up, which did not last very long on my sprayed bed liner and actually hauling stuff in the bed.

With my previous travel trailer, I had put a small piece of black electrical tape in my rear view window, right in the center of the window, near the bottom. The truck at that time, had a shell. I put a piece of tape in the middle of the back window on the shell. On my trailer, I put a small piece of tape in the center of the end cap. When the 3 lined up in my rear view mirror, I knew I was OK. This worked great for over 15 years of travel trailer owner ship.

With the fifth wheel, I ended up putting a bubble level over the fifth wheel king pin. I also put a piece of white tape on the center of the fifth wheel hitch in the bed of the truck. I kept the tape in the back window of the truck.

Using the rear view mirror, using the mirror on the front of the camper, and using the center line of flip top cover on the bed of my camper, using the center of the bubble level, and using the center of the hitch head, I have 4 center points I can see all the time when back up. When all 4 are in a straight alignment, using my rear view mirror, I am in perfect alignment to hitch.

I stop the truck when the king pin almost touches the fifth wheel hitch in the bed of the truck and get out. I check for the height. Sometimes I have to raise or lower the trailer a bit. Once at the right height, I can simply go an extra 8 inches and "SNAP!"

Ever since I started using my 4 center point alignment method, I've not had any problems whatsoever. Now .... getting everything aligned in some tight campsites .... that's a different story!