fifth wheel and gooseneck hitch questions

[RedNeckRacin]

I've had the rail system and used it to pull a GN horse/stock trailer. I thought it worked well. The only 'issues' I had were as follows. Nothing major, but if I were to get another GN hitch, I'd probably opt for the underbed type.

1. I had a plastic bedliner that was cut out around the rails. The bedliner was about the same height as the rails, so I could slide things in the bed easily. However, the holes the GN hitch fit into filled with debris that held water, had to be cleaned out to both use the hitch and prevent rust.

2. The GN hitch used four pins to attach to the rails. The pins also had 'clips' that I had to put in holes in the clips. Not fun when the rails were packed with debris or frozen.

I didn't mean to say it wouldn't pull a trailer or anything like that. I just felt like it pulled differently than even my truck which had the ball mounted under the bed. When he changed out the beds and mounted it under the body, I bet it dropped the ball height almost 8". Sure doesn't sound like much, but it took a lot of the front end bounce out of the truck.

If a 5'er is the goal, I'd cruise over to the rv forum and see what those guys recommend. I imagine its B&W though.

 

[zoedog2012]

Have only used Unagoose hitch #1 in my estimation.

 

[RobertN]

I like the concept of the B&W system. But I already have Reese rails and 5th wheel. Saving money for gooseneck flatbed takes priority over a new hitch system.

 

[Xfaxman]

I just added another truck to serve mainly as the camper hauler (31' travel trailer). New truck is a 4wd, 2006 F350 Lariat crew cab long bed dually with 6.0 diesel (has 83k miles). My questions are there was a hole cut in the bed for a ball mount but the mount is gone. What is a good option for a hidden style hitch there? I don't own a gooseneck trailer currently but have use of 4 different trailers of various lengths.

2nd question is the truck has rails mounted for a fifth wheel hitch but no hitch came with the truck. The rails look like all my friends that have fifth wheels so are these universal? I have no plans to have a fifth wheel camper anytime soon but would like to know I can help my friends if ever needed as we go camping together often.

Yes, Your friends 5th wheel hitch should fit the rails, unless the rails are not the Industry standard.

You should inspect the mounting hardware, the under bed hardware and frame mounting brackets.

Thanks guys, I didn't know they make a gooseneck adapter for the rails. That would be perfect. Now I will just have to find a nice way to patch the hole in the bed.

The ball on a gooseneck adapter for the rails will likely be higher than the 4 different trailers are adjusted for, that you have the use of. This would only be a concern if the trailer has Torflex axles, as it needs to be level when hitched on and loaded.

I have used the B&W turnover ball hitch on several trucks over the last 25 years, with no problems.

Since I pull heavy trailers, with grease on the ball, I store the ball in a plastic container under the back seat when not towing.

 

[Soundguy]

Everyone is voting turnover style. And my vote would be the same if there wasnt the need for the 5'er, and already having the rails.

The biggest benefit of the underbody/turnover is not having rails in the bed. With wanting the 5'er, and already having the rails, you arent gaining the big benefit.

Agreed.

And really, oulling with an above bed gn is no problem if you adjust the drop on the trailer neck

 

[Soundguy]

I didn't mean to say it wouldn't pull a trailer or anything like that. I just felt like it pulled differently than even my truck which had the ball mounted under the bed. When he changed out the beds and mounted it under the body, I bet it dropped the ball height almost 8". Sure doesn't sound like much, but it took a lot of the front end bounce out of the truck.

If a 5'er is the goal, I'd cruise over to the rv forum and see what those guys recommend. I imagine its B&W though.

Did you adjust the drop on the trailer neck? My 350 has a pop up ball, and the 450 has the gn adapter. Properly adjusted, I notice no difference till nearing max load, and that's because the 450 has air bag suspension, so it actually felt better even though on a gn adapter

 

[MikePA]

I didn't mean to say it wouldn't pull a trailer or anything like that. I just felt like it pulled differently than even my truck which had the ball mounted under the bed. When he changed out the beds and mounted it under the body, I bet it dropped the ball height almost 8". Sure doesn't sound like much, but it took a lot of the front end bounce out of the truck. If a 5'er is the goal, I'd cruise over to the rv forum and see what those guys recommend. I imagine its B&W though.

Agreed. My GN rail system did the same thing, i.e., it raised the ball height which caused the trailer to tilt to the rear, which I knew put more weight on the rear axle of the trailer, even though the goose neck was adjusted to its shortest position.

 

[Soundguy]

Ahh, insufficient adjustment available on the trailer.

 

[Xfaxman]

I didn't mean to say it wouldn't pull a trailer or anything like that. I just felt like it pulled differently than even my truck which had the ball mounted under the bed. When he changed out the beds and mounted it under the body, I bet it dropped the ball height almost 8". Sure doesn't sound like much, but it took a lot of the front end bounce out of the truck.
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I'm thinking it moved the ball farther ahead of the rear axle also.

4 to 6 inches ahead of the axle is recommended. When I hook up the horse trailer's over 3600 pound weight on the ball, I can see the front of the truck go down.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Actually it helped the trailer ride more level. The neck on the trailer was already at its shortest position when he had the in bed hitch and it always tilted back a bit. The flatbed rode alot more level and the truck handled the load better with the lower ball position. The position of the ball over the axle did not change appreciably. Both were in the slightly forward of the axle position though I never measured it just eyeballed. He had both a 4 horse steel trailer with living quarters and a Flatbed goose neck that we mostly hauled hay with. I never did get a chance to pull the 4 horse again afterwards, but 200 square bales was enough of a load that I really noticed the difference in how the truck handled the weight (we could only load the 20' flat portion of the 20+4 trailer. I never really thought about taking measurements before hand to compare the difference and I still can't quite put my finger on exactly how it felt different, but the only thing that change was the ball height. Maybe I'm nuts?!

With my old cummins, I used to make the trailer ride a little nose high so that when I got the trailer loaded, the heavy pin weight would level everything out. The new international doesn't have that problem since the bed height never changes!