Tailgate Solutions for Fifth Wheels
The short answer: You don't need to remove your tailgate to tow a fifth wheel — just lower it at the right moments. Here's the routine.
In This Guide
Do I Have to Remove My Tailgate to Tow a Fifth Wheel?
No. The front of the trailer hangs over your bed, but it rides above the bed rails — so the tailgate goes down to hitch and unhitch, and back up for the drive. That's the routine hitch makers like CURT spell out in their own hookup instructions.
When Does the Tailgate Need to Be Down?
Only while the pin box is passing over it
Hitching Up
- 1. Lower the tailgate
- 2. Back under the trailer and couple up
- 3. Confirm the jaws are locked and do a tug test
- 4. Close the tailgate, then raise the landing gear
Unhitching
- 1. Lower the landing gear until the trailer's weight is off the hitch
- 2. Lower the tailgate
- 3. Release the jaws and pull forward slowly
- 4. Close the tailgate
Don't close it too early
Only put the tailgate up once you're sure the jaws are locked around the kingpin. Pulling out from under a trailer that isn't latched can drop the pin box onto your bed rails and tailgate. Follow your hitch's manual for the exact steps.
What Are My Options for the Tailgate When Towing a Fifth Wheel?
1. Keep Your Stock Tailgate
FreeWhat most owners do. Lower it to hitch and unhitch, and tow with it closed.
Pros
- • Free
- • Keeps your tailgate camera
- • Bed stays closed on the road
Cons
- • You have to remember to lower it
- • Forget once and the pin box dents it
2. Fifth Wheel Tailgate (V-Notch or Louvered)
Paid swapA replacement tailgate with a V-shaped notch or louvered center that gives the pin box room to pass, so you can hitch and unhitch without lowering it. It also adds a little room under the overhang.
Pros
- • Nothing to remember when hitching
- • Extra clearance at the tailgate
- • Purpose-built for fifth wheels
Cons
- • Costs money for a convenience
- • May not keep your tailgate camera
- • Not made for every newer truck
- • Store the original somewhere
3. Towing With It Down or Off
Not recommendedSome people do it, but a lowered tailgate sits right where the trailer's front cap can hit it in turns, dips and uneven ground. Taking it off saves you the lowering step, but costs you your camera and a closed bed.
How Much Clearance Do You Need Over the Tailgate?
Measure before your first trip
The usual guideline is at least 6 inches between the top of your bed rails and the underside of the trailer's front overhang. Plenty of experienced towers aim for 7 to allow for dips, speed bumps and grade changes.
Worth checking:
- • Tow as level as you can — a trailer that isn't level changes the gap over the tailgate
- • Check both sides — a trailer that leans can have a foot of room on one side and almost none on the other
- • Make sure you can still open the tailgate while hitched — if the overhang is too low for it to drop, that's when a fifth wheel tailgate earns its keep
- • Short bed with a slider? In the rear position the pin box sits closer to the tailgate, so take slopes and dips slowly
Clearance at the tailgate is a different problem from cab clearance in tight turns — for that one, see short bed towing and measuring hitch height.
What About the Backup Camera?
Only an issue if you swap the tailgate
Many newer trucks have the backup camera built into the tailgate handle. Keep your stock tailgate and nothing changes. Swap to a fifth wheel tailgate and you may lose it.
Solutions:
- • Check whether the replacement tailgate has a camera provision before you buy
- • Mount a separate wireless backup camera
- • Trailer-mounted cameras are common for RVs
Related Guides
GM's Gooseneck/5th Wheel Prep Package (RPO Z6A) gives you the pucks, the under-bed platform and an in-bed 7-way — but not the ball or the chain loops.
Read guide →The 2-minute way to tell if your Ford, Ram, or GM has the factory fifth wheel/gooseneck puck system.
Read guide →Ram 2500 and 3500 puck systems — how to spot the factory prep (sales code AHU) and which hitches fit.
Read guide →