Community Forums

M zoll · 08-10-2011, 08:39 PM

I have a 5th hitch and thinking about going to a Gooseneck hitch?
can anyone gave me the pro,s and con,s of both? Thanks

W4RLR · 08-10-2011, 10:48 PM

Many pin boxes and fifth-wheel frames are not strong enough for the additional stresses imposed by adapting a fifth-wheel pin box to a gooseneck. In fact, if your rig is new, you can void your warranty by using a gooseneck adapter.

RVhauler · 08-10-2011, 11:01 PM

Pretty well says it all in a nutshell

dunrovin1955 · 08-11-2011, 03:15 AM

Yes I will have to agree with the Ray man. Too much stress on the pin box. I was thinking of doing the same thing you are and backed out for that reason.

M zoll · 08-11-2011, 04:44 AM

Thanks everyone I will stay with the 5th wheel.
I should have look in other discussion and I would have seen that Thanks again.
Malcolm

glennwest · 08-11-2011, 09:41 AM

think some lighter ones get away with it. Still a gamble.

dayle1 · 08-11-2011, 01:16 PM

Since you already have the 5th wheel hitch, why spend money for something else? The frame stress issue is the risky part of using a GN adaptor and reason enough to avoid it.

But there are other aspects as well. There are times I need to haul something and the 5th wheel hitch takes up a lot of space. I have two choices, remove the hitch or hook up my 4x8 utility trailer. I have done both on many occasions and the effort is minimal.

There are a few times I need to move one of our triple axle gooseneck tool trailers. Solution, remove the 5th wheel hitch and attach a ball mount adaptor to the bed rails. Having done that a few times convinces me I wouldn't want to use a gooseneck setup all the time. You cannot see the ball from the driver's seat yet alignment needs to be within 1/2 inch side-to-side and for-aft. On many setups, you have to crawl into the bed to insert the safety pin. Finally, the setup requires safety chains. There is no way a gooseneck hookup will ever be as ez and fast as a 5th wheel hookup, at least for me.

If the primary towing duty was pulling horse, ranch or farm equipment and once or twice a year I needed the truck to pull a 5th wheel, the answer might be different. But even in that case, with what I know, I'd get the B&W gooseneck setup with the Companion 5th wheel hitch just to avoid the frame stress issue.

M zoll · 08-12-2011, 09:57 AM

Thank again.

M zoll · 08-12-2011, 10:00 AM

Thank,s again for the in put.

SmokeyWren · 08-14-2011, 08:24 AM

Good answers, but if you really need to install a gooseneck adapter to a 5er, the problems of the weak frame and pinbox can be fixed by a good welder/fabricator. Beef up the frame of the trailer under the overhang, and beef up the pinbox, by adding steel reinforcing metal (angle iron?) as needed to handle the extra leverage of the gooseneck adapter.

If the metal frame under the overhang of the 5er is covered with a fancy skin, remove that skin to get to the metal frame.

I wouldn't want to do this to a new 5er under warranty, but my local farmer's welding/fabrication shop can do the deed.

RustyJC · 08-14-2011, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokeyWren

Good answers, but if you really need to install a gooseneck adapter to a 5er, the problems of the weak frame and pinbox can be fixed by a good welder/fabricator. Beef up the frame of the trailer under the overhang, and beef up the pinbox, by adding steel reinforcing metal (angle iron?) as needed to handle the extra leverage of the gooseneck adapter.

If the metal frame under the overhang of the 5er is covered with a fancy skin, remove that skin to get to the metal frame.

I wouldn't want to do this to a new 5er under warranty, but my local farmer's welding/fabrication shop can do the deed.

If you need both types of hitch, I believe it would be far simpler to use the B&W gooseneck and Companion 5th Wheel hitch arrangement than to cobble up a make-believe gooseneck trailer out of a 5th wheel.

JM2CW....

Rusty

WYnWest · 08-18-2011, 09:55 PM

Doesn't a fifth wheel have way more articulation ability than a gooseneck as well?

SmokeyWren · 08-19-2011, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WYnWest

Doesn't a fifth wheel have way more articulation ability than a gooseneck as well?

No. The other way around. A gooseneck hitch can have the truck leaning one way and the trailer the other, for a lot of degrees of difference. The cheaper fifth-wheel hitches will tilt only forward and backward (for going over bumps), but not sideways. The better fifth wheel hitches have 4-way tilt, but the sideways tilt is limited to only a few degrees. The gooseneck hitch is almost unlimited in the amount of sideways tilt the trailer can have. So if you need to go over the really rough stuff, you would prefer the gooseneck. Thus horse trailers and construction trailers that have to go over rough terrain are usually gooseneck.

BCooke · 08-19-2011, 06:17 AM

The 5th wheel hitch is a stronger overall hitch, and also is considered part of the vehicle. Anything connected via ball is connected and requires safety chains. As mentioned above the reason for gooseneck is for range of travel on the trailer.