To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
Custom brackets reduce the amount of drilling and time required to install your fifth-wheel trailer hitch. Brackets, base rails and hardware included.
Features:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today, on this 2015 Ford F-250 Super Duty, we're gonna review and install the Reese Quick-Install Custom Installation Kit with Base Rails for fifth wheel trailer hitches.All right, this is what the rails look like when it's installed in the bed of your truck. You see it's a conventional 10 bolt system with two rails that can attach to your fifth wheel, or gooseneck adapter.Let's take a closer look at some of the details here. You notice all these slots on top for rails on both of them. These are intended for different size hitches that are out there. Some are wider than others depending on weight capacity, and also the narrower ones here are used for your gooseneck adapter hitches.Installation-wise, this is a 10 bolt system. You can count five bolts on each rail.
These are the only holes that you drill into your truck. When we go underneath the vehicle, we'll see the brackets and there's no drilling required underneath there.Here's our side bracket. We're looking under the driver's side of the truck. There's one continuous piece of steel that attaches to the truck using existing holes here and here. All of the hardware is included with the hitch.
Gonna be grade five or above to install this hitch.Now checking out the reviews for our hitch, you can see a common theme is how well it fits. If we take a look at the frame bracket, you can see that it does fit flat on the frame. However; wherever it needs it, if you look on the holes here, depending on the truck and accessories that it's built with, either gas or diesel, long or short bed, it can accommodate that frame.Now this is the Reese product and of course they'll work with Reese hitches, but also work with Draw-tite, Hidden Hitch, Pro-Series, Valley and Husky hitches. Although the one Reese hitch it will not fit will be the Reese Elite Series or the Valley UBS series hitches.First part of our install is to remove the spare tire to give us some extra work room underneath. And also we wanna lift the frame off the suspension using some jacks and some stands to give you more work room underneath here 'cause you're gonna need that.We'll start off in the bed of our truck by laying out our rails.
We need a measurement from the edge of the bed, not from the tailgate, going up towards the truck, as described in the instructions. So measure it out. Now mark it. We're gonna do this on two sides of the truck. That way so when I put my rail up to it, it'll be even.Now that I have my front to rear distance set, I'm gonna measure left to right at these seams on both sides, to make sure it's equal left to right.Next I'll carefully find the center of the hole here, and using a 1/8" drill bit, I'm gonna drill through the bed.
And you have to always end up on that seam right there. Now we'll drill out these two on the outside here and we'll also drill out this hole right here for center. Over here on our passenger side, we'll do the same thing we did on our driver's side.We'll check our work by taking a frame bracket. We're on the driver's side here. We'll hold it, make sure if this bracket fits around the hatch handle here. Push up against the frame and make it sure it lines up the holes we drilled. We're gonna look for our drilled holes out in the center of our frame. Once we're satisfied with our pilot holes, we'll go ahead and drill it out. I like to use two bits. Roughly, maybe 1/2" then finish off with 9/16" drill bit. You will have two layers of metal to go through, by the way. We'll continue the same process for our remaining holes.We'll clean off all our tailings from our drilling and then we'll seal off our hole using some spray paint, or you can use some clear coat as well.Okay, we'll get out of the bed of the truck and move on to the brackets that go on to the side of the frame. Put them back where they we're originally and we checked our drill holes. Then we're gonna take our hardware that's provided with the kit, we'll put it through these holes here and here. At this point you want an extra set of hands to help hold this up in place while I install the hardware on the back, which will be these handle nuts.Looking on the inside of the frame on our driver's side, here's our bolt and here's our handle nut. We'll start them on and when we tighten it down you can see how the handle nut will hit the side of our frame. There's one here and we'll do the same one going up towards the front. You have to reach over the wiring and the lines to get to it though, but it can be done. We'll also repeat the same process over on the passenger side, which is a lot easier. I'm gonna hold my bracket up against the bottom of the bed, and I'll snug down the bolts using an 18 millimeter socket. Now I just wanna snug them down, not gonna tighten them down fully. I just wanna take up the slack.We're getting close to installing the hardware from the bed to the frame bracket. However; to do that there's this gap between this piece of metal here, the hatch handle, and where the corrugation goes up. We have to fill it up with a piece of metal. To make it easier, take a pry bar or a big screwdriver, and try to work that hatch handle down a little bit, just enough to help get the spacer block to go in there. This is the spacer block that needs to fit up against the corrugation and slide in and over the hatch handle. That way we got constant metal to metal contact all the way through. A lot of times it's gonna be a tight fit pushing this in there. You may have to tap it into place. We'll have to repeat this same process on this side, and eventually on the hatch handle going toward the front of our truck as well. And also on both sides of the truck.You can see the corner of our block that we pushed in. You wanna use an alignment tool or maybe a big screwdriver to help get it into the right spot so it doesn't overlap the hole. We'll take a rail, put it over top of it and drop our 2" long carriage bolts. Any luck, they'll go through both pieces and out the bottom and we can attach our hardware. We got these two done, we'll drop one into center, and the other two on the other side.On the bottom, we'll need to attach this block with the round hole. Conical tooth washer, you notice there's teeth on the washer. That's gonna go facing towards the block. Then a 1/2" nut. Now it may help to have somebody in the bed to help push down the bolt to help get it started as well. We got our hardware installed here and here. And repeat that same process on the other side of our truck.On our bolt on center, I pushed it back out 'cause I have to put this block again, to make metal, metal contact through here. So I'm just gonna slide it, get started. I did pull this out a little bit and I'll just work it in. I'll pry it in and I'll drop my bolt back through. I'll install the conical tooth washer and nut.Now I'll find a placement for our second rail. To do that, we'll be using the hitch that we'll be using with the truck. I'll line up with the first rail we put in, make sure it fits okay. Then align the second one. That'll put it in place for us. We'll check for square and then mark and drill our holes just like we did with the front rail.I also like to put the pins into place to make sure it all centers up properly in the rail. And I'll check for square on each side.Now we'll drill them out just like we did before. Our pilot bit, we'll double check on the bottom, drill out our 9/16" hole. When we do that, we'll take all the hardware and pieces out of the way for our last hole size.Now our hardware's gonna be pretty much the same. We have our spacer block in between the hatch handle and the bed frame. Here's our bolt, and we're still gonna add another flat block, a conical tooth washer, and a nut. The main difference being that this does attach to the bed support here. There's not a frame bracket for this bolt to attach to.With all the hardware in place now we can go ahead, hand tighten all our bolts. I wanna hand tighten my bolts going to the frame bracket, to the cross rail on top. Now to tighten all this down I'm using a 3/4" socket. After I have these hand tight on both sides I wanna double check my hitch to make sure I can easily remove it and put it back into the rails. Then I'll torque these bolts down as specified in the instructions.Now we'll tighten down the frame brackets to the frame and we'll be using an 18 millimeter socket for that.Now I'm finished with the Reese Quick-Install Custom Installation Kit on this 2015 Ford F-250 Super Duty. Video: Etrailer.comExpert service800.298.8924.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (52 Customer Reviews)
Custom brackets reduce the amount of drilling and time required to install your fifth-wheel trailer hitch. Brackets, base rails and hardware included.Does what it is supposed to do! Installation was a breeze. Great service from etrailer!
It does not fit the 5th wheel; do I have to drill new holes in 5th wheel????
This product works great! Easy install took about 2 hours with my brother and a couple of basic shop tools, very satisfied
I received the Reese 5th wheel 16,000 lb slider hitch from etrailer in June 2019; installed it in July 2019. Took around five hours to install the base rail kit and Reese hitch start to finish. So far so good, this heavy duty slider hitch works flawlessly with my F250/fifth wheel combo. It arrived in multiple boxes, had excellent instructions and an operating manual. For myself and other do-it-yourselfers, etrailer provides excellent support and installation videos to help with the install.
I ordered the Reese Custom install kit for their 5th wheel hitch for my 2011 F250 Diesel Lariat, short bed. It was shipped quickly, was well packaged and came with clear directions. etrailer was fantastic about customer support and making sure all the pieces parts were there. I'm planning on installing in a couple of days and am looking forward to using it. I'm glad I went this route vs the other generic kit. This one is cut to fit this exact vehicle, so no hunting for good mounting spot, moving lines or drilling the frame etc.
Well, this is my third purchase of the same exact custom rail kit. Needless to say, I'm getting pretty good at it. This has been the best experience this far do to one simple change from the last two kits. They have added a single wing on the nut that holds holds the quick mount to the truck frame. This alone allows you to tighten the bolts without have to hold a wrench on the nut on the other side of the frame. This made this one man job much, much easier. The only reason I still give it 4 stars is the instructions still lack for the first time installer of this product. I give 5 stars to etrailer for putting out fantastic how to videos that explain the install much better. I watched it just to brush up. Excellent job !! I'm an etrailer customer for life due to great products and support.
It was the easiest set of rails I have ever installed. I mounted the brackets to the frame and drilled a pilot hole up to the top of the bed. I could have had the job completed in less than 20 minutes if it weren’t for having to climb in and out of the bed. All of my trucks from now on will have the same product.
Installation went a lot smoother than anticipated. It is a quality product that I would recommend to anyone, especially over the universal fit units.
I've been towing a 43ft, 20,000 lb, toyhauler for about a year now. This hitch has been great, easy to use and hasn't caused me any issues. I live in the PNW and it just lives in the back of my truck in the weather and zero issues. The price was amazing and it works great.
This 5th wheel mounting assembly was a perfect fit for my 2016 F-250 . The directions were easy to follow and installation took me about 4 hours. The one suggestion I would make is ensure you have access to a torque wrench. I did, but the direction do not specify it in the tools required section. Over all E-Trailer had awesome service, quick delivery, great pricing and the assembly arrived in two days. You can't ask for much more then that.
Relatively easy to install, clear instructions, and works great.
I very much enjoy my REESE slider hitch purchased from etrailer. It works exactly as advertised and is holding up well. Its quiet on the road and makes hooking up a breeze.
Product was as described and easy to install. If I change trucks again I would purchase from etrailer again.
Shipped and received as promised. The Reese 5th wheel Hitch and hardware were in perfect condition with no issues. I'm in the process of installing it on my 2013 Ford. I expect no problems. Great price, with no shipping costs or tax paid.
Got here fast and in great shape. Installation was very easy. High quality and the fit was perfect
Installed on a 2016 f250 with no complications, very exact fit in all all aspects. Took about 4.5 hours using floor jacks in a tight space. It could be done very efficiently with a second hand and a lift.
Quick delivery, arrived in perfect condition. Would buy again and definitely recommend to anyone looking for a hitch.
Product came in as described. Installation was very easy and the instructions were easy to follow. Everything lined up perfectly.
Fairly easy install. Had to drill the holes a little larger than 9/16 because of the location of the bed sills but other than that no problems.
Pleased with the brackets and rails for fifth wheel.
Shipped on schedule. Hitch was exactly as advertised and the same price as other stores. My nephew recently purchased same hitch from another store and the packaging was damaged resulting in missing washers.
Worth buying the custom frame brackets. Made installation go easy.
Super fast shipping, low price and easy to follow directions. Loved the fact that I did NOT have to drill any holes in the frame of my truck. Everything was super easy and fast to install.
Very easy to install. If you are going to use air bags install them first.
Very nice kit, came quickly, fit well. Watched installation video it’s a big help.
Do you have a question about this Fifth Wheel Installation Kit?
Info for this part was:
At etrailer.com we provide the best information available about the products we sell. We take the quality of our information seriously so that you can get the right part the first time. Let us know if anything is missing or if you have any questions.
Thank you! Your comment has been submitted successfully. You should be able to view your question/comment here within a few days.
Error submitting comment. Please try again momentarily.