Reese M5 Hitch Assembly and Installation - BUT - there's a PROBLEM!!!

We ordered a new Reese M5 20K 5th wheel hitch to replace an 11 year old Reese hitch that was also a FORD OEM Accessory. I got the old Reese hitch as part of a truck purchase in 2012 with the FORD under bed puck mount system. That hitch had lots of miles on it and was showing signs of age.

The old hitch usually required 2 people to "unhitch".
We ordered the Reese M5 from etrailer.com. I've used etrailer in the past with great results and great service. Our first 5th wheel hitch purchased in 2003 came from etrailer along with all the mounting rails and hardware.

Unfortunately, as you will see in the video, the first set of FORD legs that came with the new M5 hitch were defective. As best we can determine, the weld where the mounting plate attaches to the tubular legs was off by enough that the hitch would not fit into the FORD puck mount system. The FORD spec is 30" space between the legs, measured from one side of the hitch to the other side and measured from the center of the "T" fastener. When assembled and torqued to the Reese spec of 220 ft/lb, the space measured only 29 1/2".

Thanks to great service from etrailer's customer service department, they shipped me a 2nd set of legs and provided a return shipping label for the defective pair of legs.

The second set of FORD legs had the correct weld angles and the rest of the project of assembly and installation was a breeze.

We thought we'd be able to set the new hitch at the lowest available height setting, but the measurement between the side of the truck and the bottom of the RV was 5 3/4". We have a relatively steep drive and I was concerned about that angle as the drive levels out. We ultimately set the hitch height 2" higher (middle of the 3 possibilities with the Reese M5). The measurement on level ground was 7 1/2" between the truck bed and bottom of the RV and the distance when backing into the drive was under 2" when the trailer was level, but the truck was still on the incline.

We are very happy with the new Reese M5. Shout out to etrailer for their great customer service to quickly replace the FORD legs after we discovered the problem. Reese ships those components in sealed boxes, so I can't fault etrailer the defective set of legs.

Happy Camping!

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