PullRite suggests drilling 1/16" pilot holes to check for alignment with the brackets, but doesn't say how to check the alignment since you cannot see the pilot hole from under the truck when the brackets are in place.  What I ended up doing was to put masking tape over the top of the post attach hole, and mark the center or target.  With the bracket in position, I drilled the pilot holes, removed the brackets, and noted the offset needed to get the pilot hole on-target.  Then I re-drilled the pilot hole and rechecked.  A couple of tips here:  1st, the forward bracket does not provide much play in it's location, so you need to use the location of the front brackets to help with the rear ones.  2nd, the really important dimension is the distance from the front rail to the back rail, center-to-center, which is 24".  The rear bracket can be moved fore-aft and laterally about 1/4" each way, so you can work with the rear bracket location to get the 24" rail-to-rail spacing.  the distance between left and right holes isn't all that critical (as long as the hole is located over the bracket) because the width of the rails is fully adjustable.  PullRite provides drill dimensions down to 1/32" inch, but it seems that the tolerances that the truck bed is assembled to are more like +/- 3/8".  A note to this effect in the instructions would be helpful.

Once the mounting holes are drilled in the bed, it's time to mount the brackets.  The forward brackets are the most time consuming because the bolts are inserted from the inside of the frame outward through the brackets.  It's kind of like building a ship in a bottle.  PullRite did a very nice job of making this possible by welding two bolts to a flat piece of stock steel, and then welding a small eye loop on the thread end of the bolts.  You need to thread a piece of wire through both holes in the frame, and back about 3' to an exit hole in the bottom section of the frame.  Hook up the wire to the eye loops in the bolt and an extra wire to retrieve the bar if the other wires break.  Next, pull the bar with bolts on it up to the front bracket location and pull the threaded part of the bolts through the frame and bracket.  The reason for this strategy for the front brackets is to comply with the no-drill recommendations from Dodge.  Tip:  check to make sure the spacing of the bolts is correct to fit through the SuperBracket before sending the bracket up the frame.  It's pretty hard to adjust the spacing once it's inside the frame.

The rear brackets are much easier to install.  One bolt goes all the way through the frame (side to side) with a spacer to prevent crushing the frame.  I lowered the spare tire to provide access to for installation of this bolt.  The other rear bracket bolt goes through the frame vertically.  They do not use a spacer for this one as the frame is beefed up at this location anyway.  According to the instructions, nuts for these bolts are supposed to be welded to the brackets, but on my brackets, they were not there.  They also were not included in the parts kit.  So, off to Ace Hardware to get a couple of nuts (1/2" x 13 grade 5).  Getting the nuts threaded on the bolt ended up being pretty easy as they are pretty well exposed anyway.

Leave all mounting bolts loose at this time and install the SuperRails and hitch to help locate the brackets to their final position, then torque them.  The final steps are just to assemble the hitch plate adjust as required.  I will add some pictures of the final installation after I get the *&^% masking tape off the bed and get the truck cleaned up.

I have a few comments about the PullRite 15.5K Super5th.  The SuperRails are a great product and make a nice installation when done properly.  The hitch rails can be removed from the bed without tools to leave a clean bed, and everything fits well.  I have two observations about the hitch itself.  One is that the side-to-side pivot assembly rubs against the frame it is mounted in.  Although I don't think it will cause any problems beyond paint wear, a more elegant solution would have been nice.  Second, after you unhitch the trailer, the handle on the hitch stays in the extended position.  To get it to go back in, you need to trip a small lever in the mechanism with a stick of something (not your fingers), and then the handle snaps in with quite a bit of force.

After installing the hitch, I was anxious to hook-up and see how everything worked.  Of course by now, it's getting dark outside, but we went anyway.  I decided on a short drive to TTT Truck Stop (I-10 Exit 268 in Tucson AZ) to get a CAT scale weighing on the truck with the trailer attached (2004 Ram Towing).  Results with the camper dry, no tailgate on the truck, and me and the wife in the truck were 9520 lbs on the truck and total for truck and camper was 17,860 lbs.  That puts us about 400 lbs under the 9900 lb. GVWR for the 3500 SRW, and about 3000 lbs below the GCWR of 21,000.  After getting weighed, I decided to take a short trip to Benson AZ, about 35 miles one way with a few small hills on the way.  I have been anxious to see how the Cummins 600 with the 3.73 gears worked pulling the 5er.  My 2001 truck has 4.10 gears, so I was a bit concerned with the 3.73s.  All I can say is that somehow the Cummins seems to make power-on-demand based on the load because it towed great.  I was able to make the whole trip in 6th gear running anywhere from 62 (1800 RPM) – 73 (2100 RPM) MPH (Excel Gear Speed Calculator).  Pulling a small hill on the way back from Benson, I downshifted to 5th and was able to run about 60 MPH at 2400 RPM, which is a nice speed RPM for long grades. 

The hitch performed very well, with no noticeable movement or noise.  The PullRite Super 5th hitch and BrakeSmart brake controller are both very nice additions to my tow vehicle.  Setting the 5th wheel trailer height when hitching or unhitching must be done carefully to prevent "high hooking", which can occur when backing your hitch into a trailer that is set too high.  I managed to do this once and damaged the hitch release lever.  PullRite provided a replacement mechanism, shipped via 2nd day air, at their expense.  I paid for a 2nd kit to keep on-hand should this ever happen again.  The repair is fairly simple and can be accomplished with simple hand tools.

Final comments:  I love this truck.  It has a lot of power, good gearing compromise between highway running empty and towing.  I absolutely love the quiet and the Sirius radio.  Steering and handling are much improved over the 2nd gen.  Rough roads and speed bumps do not throw the truck all over the place like my ’01 did.  I also noticed that the truck settles quite a bit more with a load than my ’01 did.  The ’01 would settle about 1 ½” with the camper attached, and not even come close to the overload springs.  The ’04.5 3500 settled  3 ½” and was just sitting on the overloads.  I assume that the primary springs are softer on the 3rd gens, which makes the ride nicer.  Having the truck settle more really helps with 5th wheel clearance.  I have about 6” bed to camper clearance with the camper level.  All-in-all, I am very glad I made the move to the new truck.