Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch?

   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #1  

jedens

Bronze Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2001
Messages
97
Location
La Veta, CO
Tractor
Kubota 4610
Can a gooseneck trailer be hooked to a fifthwheel hitch? I've got a fifthwheel hitch in my pickup for my RV and I'm looking for a trailer to pull my tractor and am considering a gooseneck. Can I get an adapter to hook the gooseneck to the fifthwheel hitch?
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #2  
You can go to a trailer manufacturing supplier and they will have a fifth wheel plate that can replace the gooseneck hitch. A little cutting and a little welding and you're home free.

A side benefit--problem with this is you won't be able to lend your trailer to your buds unless they have a fifth wheel hitch in their truck, darn. But by the same token if you want to haul the trailer you can't call a bud to use his vehicle if yours is down unless he has a fifth wheel hitch, darn.
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #3  
Reese makes one that can do both but as a general rule the others aren't interchangeable.
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #4  
Ok. What is the difference between the two types?
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #5  
In both cases, something gets installed in the bed of a pickup truck. A 5th wheel works just like the big rigs. The plate gets mounted in the bed of the truck, the pin is on the trailer. A gooseneck has a ball mounted in the bed of the pickup truck. Here's a <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.michaelrdowling.com/images/MVC-008F.JPG>picture</A> of our GN trailer connected to our pickup. The black pipe that extends down from the front of the trailer, where the overhanging part of the trailer is) slips over the ball. With some hitches, what gets mounted in the bed of the pickup is removable.
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #6  
My fifthwheel hitch is purchased in pieces. Mounting rails, fifthwheel hitch and/or gooseneck hitch. First the rails get mounted to the truck. Then the fifthwheel hitch gets pinned to the rails (four pins). If I need to pull a gooseneck trailer I can buy the gooseneck hitch and it will be pinned to the same mounting rails.

Love having options!

Ray
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #7  
Thanks Mike. Now which is better? 5th wheel I presume.
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #8  
Which is better? Hmm, I don't know. Might be 6 of one, half dozen of the other. When in use, the GN takes up less space in the bed of the pickup than the 5th wheel. This allows us to put some horse-type stuff in the bed of the pickup as long as it doesn't block the movement of the trailer. I would imagine the GN is cheaper since there's less of a mechanism.

I should have added that I tow a GN with an extended cab, shortbed (6.5') truck. So, when we bought our trailer, I had to spend more to get the tapered front instead of the square front. I lost some storage space, but I didn't have a choice. The GN hitch, and the 5th wheel for that matter, have to sit above the rear axle. With a standard extended cab, the extended cab consumes 1.5' of what would be the bed. If I got into a tight turn, e.g., backing up, sharp turn, there was a good chance of having the standard trailer hit the cab of my truck. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif The place we bought the trailer from had a trailer almost like we wanted. They tried hard to get us to buy it because they wanted to get it off their lot. "Don't worry you'll never hit the cab of the truck." they promised. I waited for them to build me what I wanted. Plus, it didn't have the door configuration I wanted. We wanted a single door in the back (less to go wrong) and a door on each side in the front of the trailer (2 ways out of the trailer for humans instead of one), saddle tank for water in the gooseneck part of the trailer, dividing door in the middle of the trailer so we can create a 'front stall' and a 'rear stall', lining on the inside of the trailer, etc.
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #9  
You are right about the GN taking up less room. When we have the horse trailer hitched up, we can still fit five or six bales of hay, two coolers, and quite a bit of firewood in the bed. It is pretty easy to plan the load so that it does not interfere with the hitch.

Driver
 
   / Gooseneck hitch to 5th wheel hitch? #10  
I think gooseneck is definitely better. Less parts, more room in the bed, easier to hook up (in my opinion) and I think they tow better as well.
 
 

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