5er hitch cover rubbing rails

[kypix]

I have a Truxedo roll up bed cover on my truck. The ABS hitch cover on the Sundance scrapes the bed cover rail when getting close to jack-knife angle. There is plenty of clearance between the fifth wheel and the truck. It is just the decorative cover on the trailer's hitch that scrapes. The Truxedo adds about 1.5 inches to the truck's bed rails.

Options, as I see it, are:
1. Remove bed cover. Really don't want to do that.
2. Cut out a section of the bed cover rail. Section on each side could be clamped back in place when not towing.
3. Trim hitch cover. Seems to just be a decorative plastic cover. Hangs well below hitch and should not affect aesthetic very much to remove some material.

Any other ideas or suggestions? How would you cut the cover? Demel? Disc grinder? Remove or cut in place?

Kypix

 

[JWalker]

We had to trim ours on the bottom. Ran a strip of tape back were I wanted to trim it. Used a Dremel tool. Cut along the tape line. Removed the tape. Done.

 

[caissiel]

Took mine out on first trip. Sure was not needed on mine. Have tried to give it away and no one wants it. An other useless option.

 

[kypix]

Well, that certainly is an option I had not considered. I figured the hitch is like me. Neither of us look good naked.

kypix

 

[C-Haert]

Yup...I have the same problem with my Pullrite hitch. I'll be trimming the cover to keep it from gouging the rail and worse. I thought it was cherry when I first saw it.

Spoke to my dealer's tech about it..."Never heard of the problem." Yea, right.

C-Haert.

 

[JohnD]

Pictures anyone?

 

[Bob&Patty]

It has been an issue on the 2011 and newer trucks. The bed rails are taller than the older models. If you like the looks....trim it. With most after market pin boxes they won't fit anyway without a lot of trimming.

 

[EPaulikonis]

Running into a similar issue on Ram 3500 long bed, Hensley TS3, and MORRyde RPB72-1621HD pin box combo. Any others with images or recommendations for a fix are appreciated. Really don't want to call Lippert and ask about cutting the ears to give clearance. That's a Band Aid on a sucking chest wound. Ears travelling over the rails = truck damage at some point in the future.

I have a Peragon tonneau and the trailer frame ears are making contact and the assembly does go over the truck bed rail as well when I approach 90 degrees. Contacted MORRyde (Gary Wheeler) and provided images of my current setup, but no solution from MORRyde is possible. Gary did say they had a shorter pin box (~9" shorter) but he didn't believe it would work due to clearance distances available and pin weight.

Working with my local RV shop (Dave Arbogast in Troy, OH) to try and resolve the problem. Hopeful we can find either a shorter kingpin that will fit. That would bring the ears inside 28" pin center radius, allowing the entire kingpin connection assembly to be inside the bed rails and tonneau tracks. No good to raise the assembly up because the trailer is running level at current 17 1/4" hitch height.

 

[GOTTOYS]

Running into a similar issue on Ram 3500 long bed, Hensley TS3, and MORRyde RPB72-1621HD pin box combo. Any others with images or recommendations for a fix are appreciated. Really don't want to call Lippert and ask about cutting the ears to give clearance. That's a Band Aid on a sucking chest wound. Ears travelling over the rails = truck damage at some point in the future.

I have a Peragon tonneau and the trailer frame ears are making contact and the assembly does go over the truck bed rail as well when I approach 90 degrees. Contacted MORRyde (Gary Wheeler) and provided images of my current setup, but no solution from MORRyde is possible. Gary did say they had a shorter pin box (~9" shorter) but he didn't believe it would work due to clearance distances available and pin weight.

Working with my local RV shop (Dave Arbogast in Troy, OH) to try and resolve the problem. Hopeful we can find either a shorter kingpin that will fit. That would bring the ears inside 28" pin center radius, allowing the entire kingpin connection assembly to be inside the bed rails and tonneau tracks. No good to raise the assembly up because the trailer is running level at current 17 1/4" hitch height.

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I have the exact same problem. Plenty of clearance for the bottom of the trailer to the the bed but if I turn too sharp the trailer frame where the pin box mounts hits the bedrails. I have seen where someone had cut the frame off behind the pin box at an angle and rewelded a brace in there. Looks like it worked but I'm a lttle nervous about doing that. I've looked at SOB trailers and the frame extends a little farther forward so they can use a shorter pin box...Don

 

[EPaulikonis]

I did make a call to Lippert yesterday to chat. Trailer is in the shop right now, but I need to pull the frame number before we can get into the meat of the problem. If trimming the ears is the answer, I'm going to have to figure out how to get the rig to someone who will do the modification. The repair facility I go to will not even consider making modifications to the ears; it's a safety/liability concern, and rightly so.

I also called Heartland to see if they had a technical solution from previous work, but they hadn't seen the problem before. Guess nobody has ever brought it up as an issue because they've been using the same MORRyde pin box for a long time without issue/complaints from users.

I'll get in touch with Lippert to see what they say. I'm almost 100% sure my fix is going to require a different Tonneau cover and a slightly shorter pin box since clearance over the truck's bed rails is the real concern.

I have the exact same problem. Plenty of clearance for the bottom of the trailer to the the bed but if I turn too sharp the trailer frame where the pin box mounts hits the bedrails. I have seen where someone had cut the frame off behind the pin box at an angle and rewelded a brace in there. Looks like it worked but I'm a lttle nervous about doing that. I've looked at SOB trailers and the frame extends a little farther forward so they can use a shorter pin box...Don

 

[GOTTOYS]

I did see on another forum where one person did trim the frame behind where the pinbox mounted. They then welded a short piece of angle between both side of the frame much like the original was. I'm still nervous about doing this. I had the same problem when I used a Super Glide on my last truck a 2010 Dodge....Don

 

[JohnD]

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I don't know . . . but that hitch hookup looks pretty low (at least compared to mine)!

Of course, I have a short box and a slider hitch . . . but even at extreme angles, I've never seen my kingpin that close to rubbing on the siderails of my truck box!

I have no solution . . . other than to say that maybe you should consider a slider hitch!

Slider hitches are NOT only required on a short-box truck!

 

[cookie]

I have no solution . . . other than to say that maybe you should consider a slider hitch!

Slider hitches are NOT only required on a short-box truck!

The only thing a slider will do is keep the front cap away from the cab.
The pin still swivels on the hitch so it will do nothing to keep the pin box away from the side rails.

Peace
Dave

 

[EPaulikonis]

I contacted Aaron from Hensley and he's sending me the 2" spacers to add on the hitch. That will help get the saddle up to 19" for now.

I'm also going to pull the Peragon cover off of the truck to do some additional checks of the kingpin and frame ears in the upcoming week or two. I believe I may have been wrong stating the ears travel over the bed rails; it's probably just hitting the tonneau cover with little distance between the ear and bed rails when at a 90 degree position. I'll post more pics with the tonneau removed to do comparison.