Anderson Ultimate Fifth Wheel Hitch
- Thread starter JWalker
- Start date
Doublegranch
Mountain Region Director-Retired
Bones: The rear pucks (the safety chain tie downs) only fit in the rear holes....the front are smaller in diameter...so they don't fit..
I took my bed rug out and moved the fuel tank around to get to everything...Does not fit....I will ask the dealer tomorrow...
Not sure why this is, perhaps it has something to do with the rail system designed for the factory fifth wheel set up.....I am at a loss
for an answer...
JohnD.....I don't need a signature, I know who I am!
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Ann....I have never had one....Not my thing.
I took my bed rug out and moved the fuel tank around to get to everything...Does not fit....I will ask the dealer tomorrow...
Not sure why this is, perhaps it has something to do with the rail system designed for the factory fifth wheel set up.....I am at a loss
for an answer...
JohnD.....I don't need a signature, I know who I am!
- - - Updated - - -
Ann....I have never had one....Not my thing.
Bones
Well-known member
Now your gonna make me look at mine. I don't have a factory hitch. I have an aftermarket hitch. A reese.
JWalker
Northeast Region Director-Retired
You have the factory fifth wheel prep package, correct?? I would think that all 4 pucks would be of similar design and size. But I'll be honest, I didn't really look that close at the ones they had on the lot.
Doublegranch
Mountain Region Director-Retired
Yes, It all came from the factory. I purchased the gooseball and tie down kit from the Dealer. I had not even thought about different size until we started this thread about the Anderson frame would not allow the use of the rear pucks...With the frame numbers different than I had originally been told, the 10.5 inches would allow the front pucks to be used...So gave it a try this morning, thinking I was proud of myself....only to find the rear puck holes have a straight cut hole with two very small indentations on each side of the straight hole at the center. The front pucks do not have the indentations and the puck male fitting would not slip into the female side of the bed puck. Go Figure! In reviewing the Ram instructions, it says the pucks are for the rear holes only...
Bones
Well-known member
Yes I have the factory Fifth wheel prep with the pucks. I didn't buy the factory fifth wheel though. and I have never really looked at the pucks other then me adjusting the hitch.
Doublegranch
Mountain Region Director-Retired
Just spent a couple of hours with my Ram service mgr on the factory fifth wheel system. We crawled under his lot trucks as well. We tried several ways to get around the rear tie downs not fitting the front holes. The front holes are smaller and a lot of grinding would be required with no guarantee the tie downs would actually fit once all the re construction was completed. The rear female bed pucks could not be interchanged with the front pucks as they are bolted on differently. The rear are bolted onto a bracket that bolts to the frame. The front are bolted directly to the side of the frame. We could not find the "alleged" pre drilled holes in the belly plate as indicated by the Anderson Rep. The only option for me at this point is to use the rear legs of the Anderson frame for the safety chains. The Anderson hitch will be shipped to me tomorrow and it is too late go back with the Reese Goosebox hitch. Down the road if I am not feeling comfortable with the safety chain issue, I may bite the bullet and order the Reese Goosebox as well.
Ram confirmed they do not make tie downs for the front pucks....no after market front tie downs are yet to be found.
Ram confirmed they do not make tie downs for the front pucks....no after market front tie downs are yet to be found.
What year is your RAM truck? I have a 2013 with the factory gooseneck/fifth wheel system and have the Ultimate Andersen hitch (aluminum but not version 2). I have not used it yet, but a few days ago I placed it in the bed of my truck and centered it over the gooseneck puck and it appeared to give me enough room to insert my Curt tie downs in the rear pucks. Yes, it was fairly close but it looked like it would work. Tomorrow I will install everything to confirm and if it fits I will post photos....
Doublegranch
Mountain Region Director-Retired
I have a new 2016 Ram....the measurements from the Anderson Hitch will be exactly in the middle of the rear pucks...some others reported the same on other year ram's as well.
NOTE: My truck is a mega cab short bed 4x4
NOTE: My truck is a mega cab short bed 4x4
OK, I see....mine is a Crew Cab short bed 4x4 so that must be the difference.
Bohemian
Well-known member
Regardless of model and year, all the Ram pucks are laid out the same. That is thd nature of a standard.
I had to think about it for a few minutes, but now see you are right......the spacing of the pucks (front & rear) in relation to the center gooseneck puck would have to be the same on all RAM trucks regardless of what cab/bed length combo you have. I guess the base frame of my Ultimate Fifth Wheel hitch has shorter dimensions allowing it to not impact the rear pucks.
Doublegranch
Mountain Region Director-Retired
Guy:
I don't have the Anderson yet, will be shipped tomorrow...This is the Ultimate 2 and not sure what you have. Are you saying the frame rear base is in front of the rear bed pucks?
I was told one set of numbers over the phone and received another set of numbers from the web on their drawings....I hope you are correct and my problem really isn't a problem
and the safety chains will work on the rear pucks. Let me know when you have your anderson in the truck. Thanks....I was told the rear frame base is 14 3/4" from the center of
the ball....Now I was assuming the gooseneck ball that goes to the kingpin...perhaps it is from the bed ball which is 5.5" in front of the Kingpin ball....
Edit: The drawings show the rear base 15.5" back from the kingpin gooseball and 20.5" from the bed ball...With the width of the left & right side base this would totally cover the rear pucks....
I don't have the Anderson yet, will be shipped tomorrow...This is the Ultimate 2 and not sure what you have. Are you saying the frame rear base is in front of the rear bed pucks?
I was told one set of numbers over the phone and received another set of numbers from the web on their drawings....I hope you are correct and my problem really isn't a problem
and the safety chains will work on the rear pucks. Let me know when you have your anderson in the truck. Thanks....I was told the rear frame base is 14 3/4" from the center of
the ball....Now I was assuming the gooseneck ball that goes to the kingpin...perhaps it is from the bed ball which is 5.5" in front of the Kingpin ball....
Edit: The drawings show the rear base 15.5" back from the kingpin gooseball and 20.5" from the bed ball...With the width of the left & right side base this would totally cover the rear pucks....
Yes, when I put my Andersen hitch in the bed of my truck to see if the front & rear pucks would be impacted by the frame base they were not. I didn't take measurements, but the front of the base frame was about 5 inches behind the front pucks and the rear of the base frame was just in front of the rear pucks so it appeared they would still be usable for installing the anchors for the chain hooks. I will install everything in the next few days and post photos if someone else hasn't already posted any as a reference.
UPDATE: My memory was a little off, but I think everything will work just fine. The rear of the frame base does in fact go past the rear pucks; however, it fits in between them so you can still install the anchors. The only issue is the Curt anchors I have must face outward for them to work with the Andersen hitch even though the instructions say to face them inwards toward the center of the truck bed. They still lock in place so I'm not sure how much of an issue this is but I would be hard pressed to imagine it impacts function at all. One final thing I noticed is the chain hooks I received from Andersen don't want to latch over the Curt anchors due to the length of the spring retaining clip. I think I can file them down about 1/4" and they willl work perectly, but that is a project for this weekend. The first photo shows my hitch attached to the gooseneck ball and how it fits just between the rear anchors. The second photo is a closer look at the hitch frame in relation to one of the rear pucks with the anchor installed. Note: You will notice my hitch just came out of the shipping box and installed just to take these photos.....it was not fully assembled for towing.
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Chippendale
Well-known member
[FONT="]I have an earlier “rail” version of the Anderson Hitch and therefore am using the Reese rail mount in my Ford truck bed. The Reese rail mount uses all 4 of the puck holes, so there was no way to attach the chains using the rear pucks. After following this thread and reading about the law here in Texas I decided it was time to try again to use my chains. I called Archie at Andersen yesterday and he told me to just wrap the chains around the back legs of the hitch and that would satisfy the Troopers. Hope he is correct and it handles turns properly. I think it is more cosmetic than functional. Personally, I have very little fear of the trailer jumping off the hitch ball when the locking bar is in place.[/FONT]
Bohemian
Well-known member
Ford or Ram?
2013 RAM 3500 Crew Cab Short Bed 4x4
Doublegranch
Mountain Region Director-Retired
Guy:
Thanks...You are giving me hope! I am working on this thing blind right now and on what information Anderson Hitch has given me. Archie told me the same thing to just use the rear legs of the frame and all would be okay. If I can use the tie downs, my mind would be at ease!
Hope to see your Pic's soon.
Thanks...You are giving me hope! I am working on this thing blind right now and on what information Anderson Hitch has given me. Archie told me the same thing to just use the rear legs of the frame and all would be okay. If I can use the tie downs, my mind would be at ease!
Hope to see your Pic's soon.
