Hey guys,

I've recently purchased a 2011 F-150 and am in the process of outfitting it to haul my gooseneck trailer.

I use fifth wheel rails and a gooseneck adapter plate because it gives me the ability to throw in a fifth wheel hitch when I need it.

I have a universal rail & hardware set, but the insallation is not as clear cut as it has been in the past due to this boxed frame.

Has anybody installed rails in the bed of their truck that can give me some insight? I don't see any simple way to bolt to the frame and I really hate to weld the brackets to it.

Thanks!

 

I used Curt installation kit. Piece of cake, I didn't even have to drill the frame. I just had to drill eight holes in the bed. Go to Curt, download the instructions and see how easy it is.

 

Thanks for the link. I have seen kits like that but I also have airbags on the truck which would get in the way.

I may have no choice but to use that kit and modify them to work together.

 

I have seen a thread (maybe on this forum) of that being done. I believe the poster admitted he had to trim more meat off the brackets than he wanted to but it was working okay at that point. You might want to call Curt tech services and see if they have any advice.

Do you have a pic of the airbags installed?

 

I have bags and a gooseneck. The brackets look like the ones posted above. Put the bags on first and get some cardboard to make a template. Cut around the bag brackets. There will only be a thin part left on the top part. I got some metal cut to the exact shape to go around the areas I trimmed to double the thickness there. No problems yet pulled almost 11k and no problems.

One thing to add. I helped put a 5th wheel hitch in a truck that the guy cheaped out and bought universal mounts where you had to drill holes into the frame instead of using the factory holes. He saved like $50 but it is a major pita to drill into the frame. Save yourself three hours and body aches and get the correct brackets. It might also save some headaches when combining the hitch and bag brackets.

 

Hey Master, one more thing. If you decide to go with the brackets I suggested, shop around for price. The one I linked to is the exact one I bought from the exact seller, but the price six months ago was $70 something. Maybe Amazon's price is wrong or maybe it was crazy when I bought. I don't know.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I jumped on Amazon last night to order those brackets, thought I would double check the part # on Curts website first, and I see they state for 6.5' & 8' boxes only. Of course mine is the 5.5'...

I still need to call Curt and verify if/why they won't work. I'm not against some modification to get them to work, so that might still be the way to go.

 

Oops. I never thought about the 5.5 ft box. Can't help you with that at all. I will say the folks at Curt sound knowledgeable. The guy I talked to said he just finished installing some kind of fifth wheel in an F150. So at least he's a wrench. We discussed modifying the install a bit and he had the facts in his head.

One more thing, the installation instructions are two years old. Maybe since '09 they changed something to make it work on the 5.5?

 

Did you have to drill into the frame to make those work? For me that was the worst part about installing a universal kit.


To the op platinumsean (check spelling) has a 5th wheel 5.5 box with a slider. Check him out and see his intall. He has supersprings on his where you wouldnt have to modify any.

 

No, didn't have to drill the frame with the 16441 kit. It uses two existing holes in the frame (on each side). They give you a magic wire snake to pull the bolts up through the frame rails backwards and install the nuts on the outside. It takes about five seconds to install each bolt. I couldn't believe how easy it was. I bought a step drill set at HF and it went through the bed like butter. Do I sound like a commercial?

One thing that surprised me, it uses all grade 5 bolts. I would have preferred grade 8, especially the two on the frame. I would replace them now but I threw the snake away. The bolts are 1/2-in. so I guess they have enough shear strength.