This was the day our two biggest purchases finally met: the Ford F-350 and the 15,000-pound Brinkley Model Z 3515 it was bought to pull. On paper, hitching a truck to a fifth wheel is a solved problem. In a dealer parking lot, with a brand-new hitch system and two people who had never done it, it's an adventure with an audience.
Watch the full video on YouTube to see the first hitch from start to finish.
First hitch with the Gen-Y
We went with a Gen-Y gooseneck hitch instead of a traditional fifth wheel hitch, which keeps our truck bed clear when we're not towing and adds some cushioning to the ride. The dealer walked us through the first connection: line up the truck, drop the coupler onto the gooseneck ball, pin it, hook the safety chains. Simple steps, high stakes, and a lot of nervous double-checking from us. When the truck took the weight for the first time and everything held, we celebrated like we'd invented towing.
Driving it, then attempting to park it
The first laps around the parking lot were a revelation. The F-350 pulls the Brinkley like it barely notices, and after a few turns Nathan started to relax. Then we tried to park it. Backing a 40-foot fifth wheel into a space involves steering backwards through a pivot point, and the video shows exactly how long it took our brains to accept that. There were pull-ups. There were more pull-ups. The parking attempt is honestly the best part of the episode, so we won't spoil how many tries it took.
A backup camera, because obviously
That parking experience made the next install feel urgent: a Furrion Vision S wireless backup camera on the rear of the rig. The Brinkley comes prewired for it, so the install was mostly mounting the camera and pairing the monitor. Having eyes on the back bumper transforms backing up from pure guesswork into something like a video game you can actually win.
Tires that talk to us
Next up was a tire pressure monitoring system, sensors on every trailer tire reporting pressure and temperature to a display in the truck. A fifth wheel tire failing at 65 mph is one of the scariest common RV disasters, and most of the time there's a slow leak giving warnings beforehand. Now we get those warnings. Of all the gear we added this day, this is the one we'd tell every new towable owner to buy first.
Starlink, so we can actually live out here
We both work full time from the road, so internet is not optional. We set up Starlink and pointed it at the sky, and watching a speed test outrun our old apartment's cable connection from a parking lot felt like the moment this lifestyle became plausible. Campground Wi-Fi is a rumor; Starlink is a plan.
The final exam
To end the day, we unhitched and re-hitched the whole rig by ourselves, no dealer coaching. It took longer than it will in six months, but every pin, chain, and breakaway cable ended up where it belonged. Driving away with our house behind us for the first time, we were somewhere between proud and terrified, which we've since learned is just what towing feels like.
Watch the first hitch, the parking saga, and all the installs on YouTube. We also send a short weekly newsletter about where we are and what broke this week. The signup form is on our newsletter page.