Need 5th Wheel Advice - Which Cab & Box on GM HD2500

[mrnoyb]

I'm trying to decide which GM HD2500 body combination is best to pull a new 5th wheel. Crew or Double Cab - Standard or Long Box?

I'm looking at a Jayco Eagle HT 26.5RLS which is well within the capabilities of any new GM 3/4 ton pickup.

Please share your thoughts. I appreciate any advice you may offer. Thank you.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Long box definitely. More room around the hitch. Double cab if you have more than 2 adults in the truck.

[Chad Heiser]

Long box definitely. More room around the hitch. Double cab if you have more than 2 adults in the truck.

Ditto for me. I will only use a long box to pull a 5er. I never want to worry about kissing the back of the cab with the front of the 5er. I also prefer crew cabs even if there are only two of you. You never know when you will want to take some friends out for dinner or whatever and it also makes a nice pet area while traveling if you have them.

[remoandiris]

Double cab if you have more than 2 adults in the truck.

 

Do you mean "crew cab" if there are more than 2 adults? The CC has more room than a double cab.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

 

Do you mean "crew cab" if there are more than 2 adults? The CC has more room than a double cab.

The biggest available.

[ronmon]

Go for the crew cab. I made a mistake & got an extended cab that I really regretted doing. Even my 5'3" wife didnt have room to extend her legs because GM mounted the front seats 4" forward of the location for standard or crew cab models. They did this to allow legroom for the back seat passengers.

Crew cab & long bed. You'll appreciate the space.

Ron

[whj469]

We went with a crew cab with a long bed. I find that the long

beds ride smother then the short beds. Good Luck

[rynosback]

8 foot bed for sure. A guy at the last CG had a crew short bed and his 5ver hit the upper left of the cab on a turn.

[RV_]

I just got rid of a nice Ram Cummins 2500 short bed and hated it. It rode more like an older truck off load where my previous two long bed Rams drove like luxury car off load and the 3500 rode even better with a load. My first ride in my new to me Ram long bed 2500 was like coming home. Remember that we can park a big truck further back with the mini parking spaces built today, but the ride is with us for longer than a shopping trip.

 

I agree with the storage and room of the long bed. But with a 2500 you really need to be careful not to break over the GCVWR and bed ratings, in addition to the GVWR of the fiver. We only fulltimed with a dually one ton RAM. And that was the old body style 92 RAM 12 valve but was the first year of both the turbo and intercooler. It still had a small radiator and after overheating a few times on long 6% grades I put the under bed Tranny cooler and fan from the 1993 model of the Ram 1 ton dually along with an exhaust brake and an extra leaf on the rear springs.

 

I used an Andersen hitch that attached fine to the existing gooseneck ball in the short bed. IT made the smaller 28.5 foot fiver I have able to do a 90 degree jackknife without coming close to the back of the four door quad cab. But this truck came with a good Reese fiver hitch and the rails already frame mounted, and no gooseneck ball, so I sold the Andersen hitch with the short bed truck as the buyer asked.

 

Remember, you can never have too much truck. Or brakes that are too strong. Or too much storage and weight capacity. The opposites of those are too often the case.