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Minimum Clearance over Truck Bed?


skidsareforkids

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I am pulling a 42' Forest River with a Ram 3500 long bed using an Andersen Ultimate.  To get the trailer level I have my Andersen ball in the lowest setting which only gives me about 6 inches of clearance between the bottom of the 5er and the top of my truck bed.  We watched it closely on the 300 mile trip home and it never got close to contacting the  bed rails.  Is this an acceptable amount of clearance or do I need to find a way to get some more clearance between the bottom of the 5er and the top of the bed?  If I need more clearance do you have any ideas without raising the 5er past level?

Truck: 2016 Ram 3500 CCLB DRW

5th Wheel: 2017 Salem Hemisphere Lite 356QB

Two parents, three kids, two dumb dogs. Full-time since 01 April 2017

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I've had the Andersen hitch for five years and have roughly the same clearance.  Never an issue...except for one time when we had to stay in a campground that was on the side of a hill.  Very small place and I had to literally off-road it over a couple of sites and railroad ties to get into ours.  Hopefully, that was a one and done.

You're good. 

2012 F350 KR CC DRW w/ some stuff
2019 Arctic Fox 32-5M
Cindy and Tom, Kasey and Maggie (our Newfie and Berner)
Oh...I forgot the five kids.

 

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I find 6" to be enough for a 6.5' bed but like an additional inch for the long bed trucks because of the additional possible tail movements due to the longer bed.

Roy

 

2011 GMC 3500 SRW CC, SB, Duramax/Allison
2008 HitchHiker LS 29.5 FKTG, 7000lb axles, Glide Ride, HD brakes, dual pane windows, 40" Panasonic, Magnadyne HTS, PD surge protector, etc.
Mods: 5 gal pressure tank, Motosat dish, plumbing reworked, inside steps storage, SeeLevel tank gauges, Rear view camera, major changes to basement.

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Back when we had a Dodge dually, I ran with 6.5" and only had 1 problem hitting a bed rail.  Weird tight right hand turn into a fuel station in Florida where the road dipped down then the entrance went up at a 45-50* angle for 20-25 feet.  As the front of the truck went up, the rear went down, while making a right turn.  The overhang rubbed on the bed rail but only scratched the Rhino Liner.

Jim's Adventures

Old Spacecraft.... Who knows whats next

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