I bought a 2 week old 21,000lb fifth wheel hitch,I plan to mount it in my 92 CTD club cab,do I centre it over the rear axle or do I install it ahead of the axle to distribute the weight?wich location provides a better ride?thanx

 

both my 5th and gooseneck are over the axle

 

Most hitch manufacturers recommend that the pin centerline be 2-4 inches ahead of the axle centerline. Casey

 

2" in front of the axle has always worked for me.

 

2" to 4" in front of axle is preferred by most hitch manufacturers and installers, as others have said.

Rusty

 

What you need to do is either contact the manufacturer or read the book (if you got it). When I installed mine (RBW Lil'Rocker) it said that for the Dodge trucks you center the hitch above the rear axle. For other makes it said to move the hitch ahead of the axle. The reason for centering the hitch was the brackets needed to miss the factory brackets under the bed. The Mfgr should be able to give you the propper dimentions for a correct installation.
Tom

 

my old trk was 6in front and that was a goose neck. on my new trk it called for top center. and if you have a 03 and up you have to use a differant bracket on the front so they will miss the overload mounts. but have pulled the same weight with both and they where great no differance I could tell! oh I allso had a extended kingpin put on mt 5th wheel so there's no worrys about hitting the back of the cab looks werid but pulls good

 

Definitely contact the hitch manufacturer and get the instructions, on mine it puts it 2 1/2 inches in front of the axle. As stated above this clears the overload mounts but it actually puts them inside the overload mounts on mine. I even had to cut a bit off the new hitch brackets to make them fit. The problem then becomes you can't drill the frame with the proper hole locations on the front bracket.