Ask anyone who tows a fifth wheel what they'd change about their setup, and a clear truck bed is near the top of the list. A fifth wheel hitch is a big piece of steel, and the traditional ones swallow most of the bed. Once it's in, you stop thinking of the bed as usable space. Clean Bed Technology, or CBT, exists to give that space back. It means you can pull the hitch out and have a clean, open bed any time you're not towing.
The problem CBT solves
A standard fifth wheel hitch mounts to Industry Standard Rails (ISR) bolted through the floor of the bed and into mounting brackets on the truck's frame. That setup is strong, and for a fixed install it does its job. The catch is the rails. They're bolted down to stay bolted down. Nobody is going to crawl under the truck and back out all that hardware every time they want the bed clear for hauling mulch, a dirt bike, or a load of lumber. So the bed stays half-occupied year round, even on the days you're not pulling the trailer.
CBT is our answer to that. The goal is simple: keep the strength of a proper hitch mount, but make the parts in the bed come out fast and go back in just as fast.
How CBT works
There's no single trick to it. CBT is a result we build into every product line, and we get there in a few different ways depending on how your truck is set up.
SuperRail and removable posts
This is where it started for us. We built SuperRail mounting systems with removable mounting posts and removable rails. The base of the system stays anchored to the truck. The parts that sit up in the bed lift out by hand. No tools crawling under the truck, no undoing the whole install. When the hitch and the removable rails come out, you've got an open bed.
Factory puck systems
Truck manufacturers heard the same complaint we did. People wanted a clean bed, so the makers started building trucks with underbed mounting systems, often called pucks. These are factory, original-equipment (OE) prep points machined into the bed floor. Our OE Puck Series hitches drop into those pucks and lock in. When you're done towing, the hitch comes out and you're left with a flat bed and a few small puck covers.
Factory gooseneck ball
Many trucks now also come with an underbed gooseneck system: a 2-5/16-inch gooseneck ball that stows below the bed floor. We make adapters that mount a fifth wheel hitch to that single point. The hitch lifts out when you're finished, and the ball flips down or stows, leaving the bed clear.
Which hitches offer Clean Bed Technology
We've made a point of building some form of CBT into every line we sell. Here's what's compatible:
- ISR Series Super 5th, SuperGlide, and Traditional Series hitches when ordered with SuperRail mounting systems
- Single Point hitches (the #2600 and #3900)
- OE Puck Series Super 5th and OE Puck Series SuperGlide hitches
- OE Series Rail Adapters and the OE Series Gooseneck Ball adapter
Why it matters
A truck earns its keep when it's not towing too. With CBT, the days between trips don't cost you a usable bed. Load it, haul it, then drop the hitch back in when the trailer's ready to roll. We've built fifth wheel hitches in America since 1974, and a big part of that work has been making the towing experience better before, during, and after the trip. CBT is the part that pays off on every day you leave the trailer parked.