A guy I work for was showing me his set up and it makes a lot of sense. Centers the load over the axle and you don't lose all of the bed space. Any thoughts?

Its for a gooseneck trailer, its the best way to tow. We made our own similar setup in my last company truck when i was in Elko as i also towed a fifth wheel travel trailer and could switch to whatever i needed. Its actually better if you get the ball a couple inches forward of the axle.

Sloan....
someone here on PBB makes hideaway gooseneck hitches that have a fifth-wheel adapter. I cannot for the life of me find the link or remember who it was..
You might change your title to "... Gooseneck hitches?"

Looks like a flip over style. If it is it will loosen up quite a bit if you use it for lots of heavy loads. If not it will work good for occasional use. When you mount this set uo make sure to bolt it to the frame. If it is welded it will crack out.
According to manufactures the ball should be mounted 2 to 4 inches ahead of the axle. I have mine mounted at 6 inches do to the heavy loads that I used to haul. It gives more weight to the steering axle and better control. This is on a 89 Dodge 1\2 ton grossing out at 18,000 lbs. In five years only had to repace 1 bearing Just for thought.

Its not the flip over style, my neighbor has that hitch in his truck, you pull the lever, remove the ball, and turn it upside down for a flat surface. You can also get different hitches for it, so if one of your trailers uses the old eye hook with a pin thru it you can just change the stinger in your bed and not worry about having adapters for your trailer. It all mounts under the truck bed and you cut a 2x2 hole in the bed for the install.

I have the fold down hitch and like it better, but if you get a fold down, don't get the cheapo or it will get loose.

I don't know anything about the receiver type, but with the abuse a bumper style receiver takes and doesn't loosen up they must be pretty good. I'm still using the same plate I built 10 years ago, on the second ball though. It's been on three different pickups and still holding together.

www.turnoverball.com

There are several different style hitches like this, and each one has it's drawbacks except this one. Many of you may want to call bullshit, but, yes, I have played with the others. I have removed more of the other styles than I care to count because the customers were not happy with them.

The foldaway hitch. Lift up a cover and rotate the ball over, then drop the cover back down to lock it in place. With this hitch, you still have the huge cut out for the plate. They are big and ugly and still won't give you a "true" flat bed surface. All these really are is a gooseneck hitch that has a ball that folds over. The pin that the ball hinges on is prone to elongating the hole and becoming loose.

Pop-up gooseneck hitches. There are several manufactures of this one, but Reese is the most common. Simply reach into the wheelwell and pull the lever out to raise the ball. That's it. Push the handle back in and the ball drops back in. I've seen a few of the catch mechanisms become worn. I had a customer come in for some work, we went to hook the trailer back up for him to leave, the goose of the trailer bumped the ball and the ball fell down! Not something that would make me feel too well driving down the road. There isn't a cover plate or anything over the ball. If you get gravel or sand in the ball while it's down, it jams up and won't go anywhere!!! I've also seen them freeze up with water in the winter also. No amount of leverage is going to get that thing to move.

Most hitches will require you to drill holes in the frame, weld to the frame, or cut the hell outta the truck bed. With a B&W hitch you only need to drill 5 holes. All of them in the bed. One 4" hole for the ball, and 4- 1/2" holes for the spring loaded safety chain loops. To convert it takes a little more effort than the others, but you also don't get near the hassles. You pull the lever in the bed that is attached to the 5/8" locking pin out and lock it to the side. Then, get in the bed and manually flip the ball over. Swing the handle back over to the center and the locking pin slides back through the center of the ball mount. The only extra effort is from getting in and out of the bed.

The tolerances are closer so sand and gravel won't jam it up. If it does freeze in the receiver from water, you can get leverage on the ball to flip it over. It uses factory holes in the frame using 1/2" bolts for hardware (Dodge and Chevy) or a 1" bolt and a 1/2" bolt on Fords. We are all do-it-yourselfers on this board so I can tell you that you can easily put one of these in out in your driveway. The only trick tool that makes the job cleaner is a 4" holesaw. A diegrinder and something to mark the hole with works too, but it's just easier to use the holesaw.

If you have any questions, just PM me.

The Turnoverball does appear to be the best gooseneck that I've found in my research.


However...

Fifthwheel. Stronger, more articulation capable at the hitch point. easier to hook up. It all depends on what you plan on doing. I like the goosneck for easy of hiding/removal. However, the Fifth wheel is safer, flex's better, and is easier to hook up. If I were towing everyday, having to hook up often, that'd be the only answer. But since I don't, I think the "hide-ability" of the turnoverball is enough to out-weigh the hook up hassle.


Semi-truck/trackor trailers use a fifth wheel hitch for a reason.

More articulation? How do you get more articulation out of a fifthwheel? It's a ball and socket!

Easier to hook up? How long does it take you? I've hooked up by myself only about 30 times. Alone. I can nail it everytime now.

Safer? Where do you attach your safety chains on your 5th wheel? That B&W is rated for 25,000 to 30,000lbs. depending on the make of truck it's in. You will run out of truck before you run out of hitch.
:flipoff2: :D

If you still want 5th wheel, click the link and check out the 5th wheel adapter. Most people don't like the idea of using that big, bulky, expensive adapter, so they buy an adapter to go from a 5th wheel to a gooseneck. Costs $150 compared to the $500-600 they want for the adapter.


my educated $0.02

Chister...

I went to my old job yesterday and saw a trailer out back that got laid on it's side. 3 horse Sundowner gooseneck trialer hooked to a Ford PSD using this turnoverball hitch. They hit a fairly large rock in the middle of the road. The truck twisted up, took the trailer up on two wheels and laid the whole works over. The Sundowner was resting on the fender and the running board. The top never touched. The Ford had more problems as you can imagine. Basically shredded all the body work off of one side. The hitch was still straight. They had dropped the hitch out of the truck to have the new bed put on and measured it all out. The center section didn't even chip any paint from flex, the ball didn't mushroom at all, the factory holes in the frame that it bolts to didn't even stretch. Even the locking pin just had normal wear.

If that doesn't male you a little more confident, I don't know what does.



BTW, the horse was fine. They were only hauling the one in the center stall (slant load). When they got everyone out of the truck they opened up the trailer expecting to have him put down, but he was standing on the divider, munching on the hay that fell out of the feed bag! Fawking Arabians.

Originally posted by FYRMAN
www.turnoverball.com



The foldaway hitch. Lift up a cover and rotate the ball over, then drop the cover back down to lock it in place. With this hitch, you still have the huge cut out for the plate. They are big and ugly and still won't give you a "true" flat bed surface. All these really are is a gooseneck hitch that has a ball that folds over. The pin that the ball hinges on is prone to elongating the hole and becoming loose.

.

Hmm maybe i better check mine, if it is loose what do you do? can i weld some new stock in there for it to piviot on?

Originally posted by welndmn


Hmm maybe i better check mine, if it is loose what do you do? can i weld some new stock in there for it to piviot on?

To be honest, we never even bothered trying to tighten them back up. Too much of a liability for a small business to go tinkering with a hitch like that. Once someone alters a hitch, all liability goes to the person(s) that did the work. If anything happens that they could possibly trace back to us, it would have been our asses.


We would suggest that you go back to the place where you had the hitch installed first. If nothing could be done from there we would put you in contact with the manufacture. I don't know what happened with them from there. We liked to stay out of the middle of things a little bit while taking just a bit of the leg work out of it for the customer. Keeping them happy was our first goal (like anyplace). 9 times out of 10, we would eventually yard those hitches out and replace them with ours. Often times we would take a hit on the price. $150 for labor and $325 for the hitch, we would usually do it just for an even $400.

Normally if they come in to have hitch work done, they are gonna look around your lot and decide they need a new trailer. Why not take a small hit on the labor if they are going to make it up in a trailer sale!

That is just the way we did it. You will find every place will be different. Just don't let them pressure you into a new hitch. Do not be afraid to get in there and ask to see one that has been used and abused. The boss has one of these hitches in his truck and we are more than happy to show the customer what exactly is involved. My boss is on his third truck with the same hitch in three and a half years. Other than a little road grime, that hitch looks and performs exactly the same as a brand new hitch.

Ask about the track record, common problems, wear points. Cost of maintainence, how much of the maintainence the dealer will assume responsibility for, etc. It's just like buying car really. For something as important as a hitch connection when you are talking about thousands of pounds traveling 70 mph on the interstate, no one can ask too many questions or be too careful.




Sorry for going off like this. I sound like I'm talking to a potential customer!
Rule of thumb, more than an 1/8" of play in a gooseneck hitch is too much. They will move even brand new, so a little play isn't a problem. If you get nervous about it, have a professional check it out.

i have one in my f350 to tow my trailers with. i love it. the safety chain hookups telescope too, so when you turn the hitch over, your bed is flat again.

as far as where you put it in your bed, i keep reading where people are talking about over the axle, in front of, whatever... don't forget, it does matter what your wheel base is. i'm a standard cab long bed psd; my hitch is in a different place than my friends supercab s/b. whose is different still from the stupid people with the s/b standard cab :rolleyes: will be. you start pulling g/n or 5thwhl trailers with a short bed and you will want to pay attention to where your hitch is. wouldn't want to smash the back of that shiny cab....

oh, and the adjustment on the g/n trailer itself makes a difference to your twisting capabilities. where i go, i have to have a lot of clearance between my bed rails and my trailer. (hell, just to put it in the driveway at home!). as a result, the front of my trailer is always a little bit higher than the back. some people try to "level them out" for their horses. mine aren't standing on a significant incline, but it's enough of one that i can jack-knife my trailer on a side hill to park it without smashing my bed rails.

Originally posted by wheelin'bitch


as far as where you put it in your bed, i keep reading where people are talking about over the axle, in front of, whatever... don't forget, it does matter what your wheel base is. i'm a standard cab long bed psd; my hitch is in a different place than my friends supercab s/b. whose is different still from the stupid people with the s/b standard cab :rolleyes: will be. you start pulling g/n or 5thwhl trailers with a short bed and you will want to pay attention to where your hitch is. wouldn't want to smash the back of that shiny cab....

oh, and the adjustment on the g/n trailer itself makes a difference to your twisting capabilities. where i go, i have to have a lot of clearance between my bed rails and my trailer. (hell, just to put it in the driveway at home!). as a result, the front of my trailer is always a little bit higher than the back. some people try to "level them out" for their horses. mine aren't standing on a significant incline, but it's enough of one that i can jack-knife my trailer on a side hill to park it without smashing my bed rails.


This is dead on. With the B&W hitch, it uses factory holes so hitch placement is limited. Placing the hitch in the standard location, it sits about 5 1/2" forward of the axle center line. On the short bed Fords, you can move the hitch back 2" to give more turning clearance.


As for adjusting the gooseneck on the trailer, it goes both ways. If you are towing through the flatlands, leveling out the trailer isn't a problem. You don't neccessarily have to worry about the bedrails. You start getting into hill country and it is definitly something to look at. The good thing about gooseneck trailers, all you have to do to adjust them is back off the set screws, adjust the heighth with the jack, and then tighten the set screws back down. I've seen more than one trailer come in on a truck with messed up bed rails and fawked up sheetmetal on the nose of the trailer!

whew you scard me, my ball is still tight, where do i measure the play in it? between the ball and the cuplouer?
Mine sits nose up too, i have smashed my tail gate up to many times going over some "whoops" that some barns have

Originally posted by welndmn
whew you scard me, my ball is still tight,


TMI!! TMI!!


Pull the ball to one side, then rock it over to the other side. If it moves too far, it's worn. EDIT: top of the ball. Some people choose to go by the center of the ball. Two ways to look at it. Top of the ball is where the trailer sets, but the center of the ball is where the leverage of the forward/aft, side-to-side movement is.

And, I should clarify a little bit. It happens, but not to all of them, and not that often. I was just trying to say that it has been known to happen, I've seen it happen, and Reese hasn't been able to give me more of an answer than "they just wear like that". Just be aware of it.