WHAT TO KNOW WHEN TOWING WITH A STANDARD SHORT OR LONG BOX PICKUP?

Standard short bed trucks for our purposes, are 6ft or longer and less than 8ft long. They don't have the cab clearance between cab and trailer required to make turns and as such will require a fifth wheel hitch with a slider. 

For a SHORT BOX TRUCK, it would be necessary to keep the hitch behind the rear axle to prevent the trailer from hitting the back of the cab. The slider is a rail designed for short box trucks which slides the head of the trailer and hitch back from its mounting position to add clearance between itself and the back window of the cab.

It's worth noting not all 5th wheel hitches with sliders or rollers are auto-sliding. MANUAL sliders are very common and they require you to get out of your truck and engage the slider to allow for more clearance to make the turn, then once the turn is complete, you must set the 5th wheel back in its towing position and lock it in so it cannot slide while towing. This sort of arrangement is very practical, economical but a little less convenient than the auto sliding hitches as they engage the sliding mechanism as needed, and automatically. PullRite and Hijacker are the only two brands who offer a 5th wheel with the auto-sliding feature, all other brands such B&W, Curt and Reese have manual sliding 5th wheel hitches.

For a LONG BOX TRUCK (8FT BOX), a sliding 5th wheel hitch is not required since there's enough clearance between the hitch and the cab of your truck to make a turn while towing.

SHORT & LONG BOX 5TH WHEEL HITCH RESOURCES