Ram 3500 4x4 Superglide setup questions

[XR4rider]

Hi,

I have been reading through various forums and trying to get some advice on the Superglide setup with my 2017 3500 4x4 megacab 6'4" bed (without factory fifth wheel prep and without factory air bags). Because of the standard bed I think I am leaning toward an Autoslide.

The trailer I will be towing is a newer fifth wheel but it has a light hitch weight of about 1,330 lbs. I am concerned with the light hitch weight that the trailer will be nose high.

I will be towing full time so I am not concerned with having a "clean bed" The hitch will stay in the truck bed full time so also OK with standard rails.

Do you think standard rail mounting system with the Pullrite Superglide model number 2700 or 4100 (both 16k hitches) will work? I guess I will need whatever setup that will have the lowest hitch height?

Thank you.

[pyoung47]

You will love the Pullrite. Mine is eleven years old and going on the second fiver. Pain in the butt to get in and out -- you will need a hoist -- but great quality.

[XR4rider]

Wow...doesn't squat very much. Thanks azrving for checking and all the info.

True the Superrail is not available for the 3500, just the standard rail mount. According to pullrite, the lowest profile Superglide they make is part #2300, the 24k rated hitch. It will fit industry standard rails. It is 15.75" tall.

I will more than likely get that hitch even thought it is way overkill as far as capacity. I think it I was to go with a manual slide, I would look at the Reese 16K slider part 30869. It has vertical adjustments from 16" to 19"

But I really like the idea of the autoslide...

[pyoung47]

I don't believe that the "Super Rail" mounting kit is available for a 17 3500 anyway.

[azrving]

I dropped 1 1/4 inches when hooking up today. There is probably closer to 1000 in the truck before hitching up because of all the other stuff in the cab back seat.

So total squat is probably 1 3/4

[azrving]

It looks like mine is 56 3/4 with about 800 pounds in the bed including hitch. I know what you mean about figuring it all out. It was the first time I had a FW so I pretty much bought it and installed it then picked the rig up and it looked like it was mainly riding on the rear axle. From there I drug it onto wood blocks and leveled up and bought the low profile feet and then worked on the FW. At first it just looked like the whole thing was too high with 8 inches at the rails but I now know there is no way I could live with six. As I mentioned before, I go over some pretty rough ground and have backed down into fields in order to get turned around.

I'd have to watch it and measure it again but it doesn't squat a lot. I dont think it goes down over 2 inches. If I can I'll measure it when I hook up in a couple days. My son has a 3/4 long bed with about a 9700 gross FW and I think his squatted about an 1 1/2. My gross is about 12,500

[XR4rider]

thanks azrving...I am in the chicken before the egg scenario here. I need the hitch to get the trailer but need the trailer to get the right hitch setup.

It appears I might, from you and centerline's reply, need to do some type of lift to the trailer to maintain bed clearance and keep a level trailer. I just measured my bed rails. At the axle, from the top of the bed rail to the ground is 57". I am hoping of getting approx, 2" of squat, to get the bed rails to 55". I'm hoping the level trailer overhang will be at least 62" from the ground. Ive contacted a dealer and the manufacturer to see if I could get these measurements. That will give me the 6 to 7" of bed rail clearance I want. then I just need to find the correct hitch height and kingpin position. According to Pullrite, the 24K model hitch (part 2300) is 15.75" tall. This is there shortest autoslide.

[centerline]

im posting the following to give you a reference, but it really means nothing to your set up, but it may satisfy some curiosity you have about what you can do...

I have the superglide slider in my ram 3500 CC,LB and it works well.

I went with the slider because I have 60"long side rail boxes along my bed, and the slider helps to slide the pinbox rearward so the rear of it doesnt contact the aluminum side/storage boxes when in a tight twisting turn...

with the custom installation, the 5th wheel plate is exactly 1" higher than the bed rails to make it all work in this situation....
the squat, measured directly over the axle is 2.25" with the trailer fully loaded.
loaded hitch weight is 4400lbs
the overhang of the trailer is 68" from the ground, and clears my side rail boxes by 9"...
the max trailer heigth at the front (measured at skylight bubble over shower) is 13'2"...

I placed the axles over the springs to bring the rear of the trailer level.. and the A/C (highest point at the rear the trailer) measures 13' even....

without adjusting your hitch height, either at the pinbox, or by customizing your "standard" hitch install, you may need to adjust your axles to get it to level out.

[azrving]

Mine is an 2900 18,000. Superglide 18.5 inches tall

[XR4rider]

Hi azrving,

I was wondering what hitch you have what year Ram you have. Do you happen to know the height of the hitch?

I received some information from Pullrite. It appears to get the lowest hitch height setup using a Superglide hitch, I would need to use the standard rail mounting setup, not using the OEM Ram 5th Wheel prep kit (which I dont have in my truck anyways). The reason why, Pullrite does not make a hitch that plugs directly into the OEM 5th wheel pucks. You need a picture frame adapter and in certain situations you need an additional adapter to use the OEM puck system. So using those adapters can raise the hitch 3" to 6". If using just the standard rail mount, this is about a 1" rise.

From Pullrite, the 16K hitch model 2700 is 17.25" tall. Using the standard rail mount that adds about 1" more...that would be about 18.25" tall

The 16K hitch model 4100 is 14.5" tall. I'm no too sure of the mounting system for the 4100 model hitch so not sure how much additional height that would add?

I was curious if anyone that has a late model 4x4 Ram uses a hitch that is about 17 to 18" tall? If so did you have to do any modifications to the trailer (lift etc..) to get the trailer level?

Another note, I do plan on changing the stock wheels/tires to 16" wheels and LT tires..

[azrving]

XR4rider wrote:
Hi, thanks for the reply. I was mentioning the hitch weight because it is fairly light and wont bring much "squat" to the truck to help bring the nose down. I have read the problem with the Superglide is there is no hitch adjustments for raising or lowering...

Only low profile feet

Edit: Also, my pin box is moved all the way up.

[azrving]

My bed didn't have the factory pucks so I bought the Chrysler kit and installed it myself. Also bought the picture frame from them. How wide is your FW and are the front corners rounded or cut in? I needed all this because of short bed, flat front FW and 101 inches wide.

[azrving]

I just measured mine. My hitch plate is about 1 3/4 to 2 inches below my bed rail BUT I also have the optional low profile feet. The feet go between the picture frame and the hitch. The low profile feet drop the overall hitch height by an 1 1/2.

From the face of my pin box plate to the underside of my FW it's 11 inches. 11 minus the 2 inches my hitch plate sits below my bed rail gives me about 9 inches of bed clearance to underside of FW give or take. I thought I had measured about 8.5 at one time but it depends on how it's sitting when hitched. i may be a little on the high side of rail clearances but I do a fair amount of off road maneuvering and have backed into a few wild looking areas so I like clearance.

I had the standard feet when I bought the hitch. I installed everything and then dug the FW up onto wood blocks until level. At that point I first knew that I had too much rail clearance. When I figured that I woukd drop an 1 1/2 with the optional $80 feet I then subtracted an 1 1/2 from the blocks of wood that were under the tires and determined the amount of lift needed to level up. The first thing I did was go to 16 inch LT tires and new wheels. I then flipped the axles, added a Dexter ezflex and wet bolts.

[azrving]

No matter what the squat is you need to go by the bed rail clearance. I'm runing an 18K superglide with a 3500 Ram. The squat will figure into how level it rides but again bed rail to FW clearance is set first then level the rig which can be a matter of moving the shackle a hole or so, adding a correct track? for a couple inches, flipping axles or going all the way to an additional sub frame.

[XR4rider]

I forgot to state the 5th Wheel...I am looking at the CruiserAire 25rl. Yes that 1,330 hitch weight was just published weight...