Curt Custom 5th Wheel Installation Kit for Ford - Carbide Finish

Video Transcript for Curt 5th Wheel Kit Installation - 2015 Ford F-350

All right, today on this 2015 Ford F-350 Super Duty we're going to show you part number C16424-204. This is a Curt Custom 5th Wheel Installation Kit. All right, this is what the rails look like when it's installed in the bed of our truck. Now, we have a typical 5th wheel hitch installed on the rails to give you an idea how it works. These rails will work with a variety of other brands of hitches that are out there. One thing to note, that the hitch and the hitch pins that are shown here do not come with the rails.

Okay We see the rails on top. Now, let's go ahead and take a look at the frame kit that goes underneath the bed of the truck. This is our frame bracket right here that bolts to the frame using existing holes, so there's no drilling into the frame whatsoever. Our cross rails on top bolt to our bracket through here. This is the rail that's closest the tailgate.

Now, these holes you do have to drill, of course, to install your rails. One thing you know is that on the front rail up here, our bracket connects to the bolt that is closest to the tailgate, and then our bolt up by the cab uses the structure of the bed itself for its attachment. Now, our rail kit is designed to work with all the weight capacities that are available in the 5th wheel trailer hitches that out there. Also, double check with your owner's manual or the manufacturer of your truck to make sure that your truck can pull these kinds of weights. All our components are wrapped up in a powder-coat finish as well. All right, the first thing we need to do to install the 5th wheel kit is get our truck ready. To do that, it helps to have the truck lifted as far as possible to get the weight off the suspension.

Also, if you can, take the wheels off. It gives you a little bit better working room. Not mandatory, but it makes things easier. You will have to lower the spare tire for some work underneath the truck. All right, now we can go ahead and make some marks in the bed. We'll go ahead and work with the rail closest to the cab of the truck.

It'll measure out as described in the instructions. We want to start from this edge here of the bed, and not the tailgate, and measure back. Go ahead and make our mark. Do the same thing on the other side. Now we'll go ahead and take our rail, and we'll go ahead and put it up to our marks. We're going to use this edge of the rail. We want to make sure that we have it even left to right. Next, we'll go ahead and mark and drill our holes. I like to take a 1/2" drill bit and make my mark first with it. We're going to be doing two holes on the outside of the rail. This will be the same thing on the passenger side as well. Next, we'll go ahead and drill out a pilot hole. Anywhere around a 1/8" size will work. Now, it does tend to come out right on this angle right here, so you kind of start out at an angle and then end up straight. Okay, with our pilot holes drilled, I'm going to leave my bit inside here for now, and we'll double check to make sure our frame brackets will match up with holes. We'll go ahead and look on the side of the truck. We're at the driver side. Here's a drill bit sticking through. This is the hole that's closest towards the tailgate. We put our bracket up. When we put our bracket up, one side with the one tab here goes towards the front. We'll line up the existing holes. It looks like we're good to go. We'll repeat this process on the passenger side and then we'll enlarge our holes to 9/16". Okay. Once you're satisfied with the placement of the holes, I like to go ahead and save this hole for the last one to drill out. We'll go ahead and do the same steps as before. We'll mark and drill and do our pilot hole. All right. Now, we'll go ahead and drill out to our final hole size. You may even want to use multiple size bits to work your way up. We're going to work our way up to 9/16". All right. Now, I'm going to use a step bit to get to the final hole size. Also, it helps clean out the burrs. With our frame back, I'm just going to line up the existing holes. One, two, and three. All right. Let's put this back down, and we'll install our first piece of hardware from the inside. We'll use a large bolt right here with this block and we'll run it to the inside. We'll take our bracket and put it over that bolt. We'll go ahead and install a matching flange nut just enough to hold it together. We can still move it around if we have to. Now, we'll install our hardware for these two holes, which will be identical, which will be a 1-1/2" long carriage bolt and a long block. Now, there's some shorter blocks in here, but you want to use the long ones. It'll be easier to reach underneath to push these in. On the inside of the truck looking out, here's our hole, and we'll install our hardware. We'll put a matching flange nut on the other side as well. Our next thing, we need to add these spacers between the hat channel and the corrugation of the bed. Now, a lot of times it's going to be a tight fit, so you'll probably have to get it started and then tap it into place. Make sure our opening will match up to the bolt. Now, it may not sit really close to the bolt. Make sure it has clearance for it. Don't be surprised if sometimes you have to work the metal down. Since we have this loose, we can always take this back off and give yourself some more working room. All right It's going to be the same thing on the other side of our truck. However, there'll be a few obstructionism in the way of other components, and will show you how to get the hardware inside of the frame. Now, this bolt in the center is going to be a little bit of tight fit, but it'll go in. This bracket is really close to the hole here. What I like to do is take the little block and kind of hold it in place up to the bracket so it doesn't sit on top of it. We want our block to sit like that, and then we'll install our larger bolt. This one will be easy to get to, so we can simply push in like we did before. All right, now, this hole is kind of obstructed by some lines above the gas tank. You can probably reach in and over if you're flexible enough and install the hardware, but the kit does come with a bolt leader, so we'll just push through the hole, back through the top of the frame, and install our hardware this way. Same block as before, push it over the bolt leader, thread in our 1-1/2" long bolt, then pull it on through. Make sure it's seated in the block and we'll go ahead and take the bolt leader off and install a flange nut. All right Now, we'll go ahead and take our spacer blocks and put them in like we did before. All right. Now, we'll go ahead and install our longer carriage bolts. We'll just drop them through in all five holes. All right. Here is your carriage bolts we installed. Make sure you install the 2" long carriage bolts. This block will go on the bottom . and flange nut. For now, we're done with our passenger side. One more time on the driver side. Okay, let's go ahead and add our hardware to the bolts that are in the center. We'll add one more spacer to it . and then the flange nut. Okay, just enough to keep everything together. All right, let's grab our second base rail here, and we'll go ahead and put it into place. We're not going to worry about measurements right now. We'll go ahead and use the hitch to help place it. All right, now, for a hitch putting a rail in place, we'll go ahead and make sure it's even, just like we did before. We'll also measure diagonally to check to make sure it's square with the front rail. Okay, same process as before. We'll go ahead and mark and drill our holes. After our hole is drilled out, we'll go ahead and put a rail back in place and install our hardware, just like we did before. At this point, it's a good idea to go ahead and install the hitch pins for your hitch. Make sure everything fits the way it's supposed to. This will also help keep everything in alignment once you tighten it down. Same thing as before, we need to go ahead and install our blocks between the hat channel and the corrugation of the bed. Done with the passenger side. One more time on our driver side. We'll go ahead and install our hardware here as well. May have to push the bolt up, in this case, and put your block in. At this point, all our hardware is installed. I like to go ahead and snug down these bolts for now. Get our frame brackets next to the frame. For this hardware here in here we'll use a 3/4" socket. For this hardware, we'll need a 1-1/8" socket. This is our driver side. One more time over on our passenger side. Now, with these four bolts here, will go ahead and tighten these guys down with a 3/4" socket and we'll get those as hand tight as possible. Okay Now, all our hardware hand-tightened for our rails, we'll go ahead and torque them down as best by the instructions. All right. Now, with our cross rails all torqued down, now we'll go ahead and torque down our side plates to our frame. With all our hardware tightened down, we can go ahead and reinstall our tires and our spare tire as well. Okay. With that, that'll finish it for Curt Custom 5th Wheel Installation Kit, part number C16424-204, on this 2015 Ford F-350 Super Duty.