5th wheel and gooseneck

[Cobra]

I have a Coachman slidein which I want to keep because I trailer a mc when I go alone.



My wife wants a 5th wheel for family vacations and I have been thinking of accomodating her wants. I was told on this forum that it is no problem to pull the 5th wheel hitch out of the bed to use the slidein, so I know that I can do that. But today some guys at the local coffee shop told me about a ball for a gooseneck that will mount on the frame of the truck and goes up into the bed through a 4 inch square hole. Then it will disappear completely from the bed when not being used.



My question is, can a 5th wheel trailer be pulled with the same type hitch and ball as a gooseneck?

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

I've never used it but here it is... .



http://www.turnoverball.com/



They sell a companion 5th whl that attaches to the gooseneck... i think

 

[CRamsey]

5th wheel hitch

Cobra,



Check with the manufacture of the 5th wheel before making a desision... Some say yes and some say no to the comversion... I personally have not had a problem with mine... I'm towing a 29 footer... I use a "Pop up Ball" setup in the truck. Do a web search for 5th wheel hitches, there are a lot of differant ones out there now... .



Good luck



Chuck

 

[RustyJC]

Re: 5th wheel hitch

Originally posted by CRamsey

Cobra,



Check with the manufacture of the 5th wheel before making a desision... Some say yes and some say no to the comversion

Cobra,



The B&W hidden gooseneck with companion 5th wheel RV hitch does not require any modifications whatsoever to the 5ver. The companion 5th wheel hitch is a thoroughly conventional 18,000 lb rated double pivot 5th wheel hitch - it is unique only in how the 5th wheel hitch mounts to the gooseneck receiver. As far as the 5ver knows, it's hitched to a conventional Reese or DrawTite 5th wheel hitch.



I would not use any hitch arrangement that mounts an adapter on the 5th wheel pin box to couple to a conventional gooseneck ball. These adapters add significant torque loadings to the 5th wheel pin box area of the frame that a 5th wheel trailer was never designed to absorb. The result can be that the pin box of the 5th wheel is ripped away from the trailer's frame. This is not speculation - there are multiple cases where it has happened. Caveat emptor!



Rusty

 

[merryman]

Some people seem to get away with using a goose neck adapter to tow a fiver (and some set ups like Rusty's seem sufficiently different from the adapters to avoid problems), but many fivers do not do well with an adapter.

When I got interested in the idea about three years ago, some warned me of the possible damage to my fiver. I tried it anyway and about 2500 miles into my first tow with the adapter ("Cody" adapter by "Quick hitch"- see, www.quickhitch.com , I hit a particulaly bouncy section of highway in eastern Calif. and looking in the center mirror, I could see movement between the fiver body and the pin box. On checking I found the welds holding the pin box to the fiver frame were over half torn out!! I limped into Susanville Ca. and had a bunch of welding done, then limped home and had to rebuild the pin box to frame connection.

That was exactly what I had been warned to expect.



Vaughn

 

[dalton4]

Cobra, the fifth wheel hitch bed rails will be up about 3/4 - 1 inch from bed floor. This will require the use of some 2x4s or plywood to provide a level platform for the truck camper to rest on.



My vote is for a double rocker fifth wheel hitch. I'm very satisfied with the one I have.



Jerry