GN vice 5th wheel for "camping"

[GWBourne]

can i order a "5th wheel" from the factory with a goose hitch? i have seen the adaptors, and i know i can get the companion for my Turn over, but i love the articulation you get out of a goose. does anyone make one from the factory so as not to put an extra tortional load on the hitch?



thanks

Grant

 

[JRMora]

can i order a "5th wheel" from the factory with a goose hitch? i have seen the adaptors, and i know i can get the companion for my Turn over, but i love the articulation you get out of a goose. does anyone make one from the factory so as not to put an extra tortional load on the hitch?



thanks

Grant

Don't know. I have the companion for mine. I would be concerned about bottoming out the front of my trailer on my bed rails if I got too much articulation. Most of the GN trailers I've seen aren't so wide in the front whwere a lot of articulation would cause a problem. It couldn't take but 10-11° of articualtion to cause a problem with a 6" clearance from trailer to bed rail.



Just some rambling thoughts.



Juan

 

[MChildress]

My neighbor bought a Holiday Rambler Presential it grosses at around 16,400 ldbs. He has the B&W turn over ball and had the dealer swap out the 5th wheel hitch for the GN hitch on the trailer. He has been pulling this trailer for about two years and loves the GN hitch.

 

[CTDCAL]

I just bought the companion and towed with it for the first time. It was great and it has enough articulation that it did not stick the kingpin unhooking with the truck tilted about 3 inches to one side do to uneven ground. I was in the same boat you are and after doing alot of reading, I just did not feel comfortable with the adapter and then I started looking at structure on my 5er. The frame structure is nothing compared to a GN trailer, which I believe is why the RV manufactureres don't make them with a GN hitch. If you get the companion you will be happy. I felt that it actually pulled with a smoother less rigid feel then the GN does, of course the GN's weight distribution is somewhat different.

 

[RJOL]

can i order a "5th wheel" from the factory with a goose hitch? i have seen the adaptors, and i know i can get the companion for my Turn over, but i love the articulation you get out of a goose. does anyone make one from the factory so as not to put an extra tortional load on the hitch? thanks

Grant

Unless the manufacturer is building custom units, I doubt they will change their production line for a different hitch. The gooseneck is a lot different then the regular hitch and the supports are different... .

 

[GWBourne]

you all have valid points on my question. most of that i have already thought about and figures i would be SOL.



JRMora, i will be turning my short box into a flat bed dually in the future, so thats not an issue.



MChildress, would it be possible to snap some pictures of this? is it an addaptor or is it in fact a hitch swap out? if the dealer did it it doesnt mean i would be happy with it, but it might just mean the trailer is made for it... .



CTDCAL, im thinking more and more about buying it, but i would use it so much less im not sure if i want to or not... kind of an expensive paper weight with an occasional use... . i do like the product though



RJOL, you hit the nail on the head. they take a lot more beef due to the extra leverage. flat beds or cargo trailers are also loaded a lot different, and not too offten the same. a 5er is almost always close to the same. would be tough to get a company to build on "just for me" so to speak.



i just dont want to put that extra leverage onto a 5er hitch and rip it off. yes i know a ton of people are doing it with no problems. yes i tow slow, but i have a BAD habit of being overweight. im sure i could do it on a house on wheels just as easily... . the drawbacks of being a pack rat...

Grant

 

[SHobbs]

Why would you want to??? Fifth wheel hitches are more stable than GN. As stated earlier GN are narrow in the front as well as having a lower center of gravity. Gn rarely have alot of trailer above the bed even horse trailers with living quarters are very low up top. Fifth wheels are much wider in the front, taller and have a higher center of gravity. I would be a little skeered to pull a 5er as a GN. I'm thinking that cross winds would be a booger. I also read about the fifth wheel hitches that pivot side to side and from what I read some you can lock out the side to side motion after hitching and the reason being stability while towing. Has to be something to it, the manufacturers must know something or there would be alot of 5er's set up as GN's. Just my . 02

 

[CTDCAL]

GW, Here is the place that I ordered my companion from a couple months ago. The service was great and they honored the internet price they had at that time posted on their site which was $599 plus $30 shipping. Now I see they are listing for $670 plus $60 shipping. When I bought mine from them they were the cheapest I could find anywhere. If you call them they may give you better deal then they have listed. It is the easiest in and out with nothing left in the bed, so it would be a paperweight when not in use, but great when you need it. They also make a model for use on a flat bed or you could probably contact B&W when you change over and they can send you the needed parts.



http://www.hitchesetc.com/Hitches/GridPage.asp

 

[RJOL]

Don't forget eBay. Here is what is currently listed:



http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...os=ZIP/Postal&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=



Just make sure the seller has good feedback...

 

[GWBourne]

Why would you want to??? Fifth wheel hitches are more stable than GN. As stated earlier GN are narrow in the front as well as having a lower center of gravity. Gn rarely have alot of trailer above the bed even horse trailers with living quarters are very low up top. Fifth wheels are much wider in the front, taller and have a higher center of gravity. I would be a little skeered to pull a 5er as a GN. I'm thinking that cross winds would be a booger. I also read about the fifth wheel hitches that pivot side to side and from what I read some you can lock out the side to side motion after hitching and the reason being stability while towing. Has to be something to it, the manufacturers must know something or there would be alot of 5er's set up as GN's. Just my . 02

everything you say is correct. 5er has a higher COG... that is a main reason i dont want a 5er, but kjnow that some day i will have one. i guess what the best thing for me would be a pop up slide in on my GN now, but to do that i would have to get rid of my "Garage"... so maybe ill just make the garage a sleeping area as well once all the extra parts (not spares, they have to stay) are out of it. and i have a good lil mini fridge as well... some day... .

Grant

 

[GAmes]

Fifth wheel hitches are more stable than GN.

I pull both and see no difference. There is no logical reason why that would be true.

I also read about the fifth wheel hitches that pivot side to side and from what I read some you can lock out the side to side motion after hitching and the reason being stability while towing.

Again, no logic. I have never seen one of those hitches but have heard of them. Taking out the pivoting motion in any direction would put some serious stress on the hitch, the truck frame and the trailer frame. The only reason I could see to have a lock would be to keep the hitch from slopping around when UNHOOKED from the trailer.

 

[SHobbs]

GAmes'



What they were talking about was locking out the side to side pivot for travel. They said the side to side made it easier to hook up on unlevel ground. I believe I read about in the Highways publication. They talked about how having the side to side unlocked while towing crosswinds could rock the trailer a little more than if it was locked. My current hitch does not pivot side to side and I wish it did from time to time due to unlevel conditions. I have no problems at all towing with my current hitch, I am careful however when turning while going up a hill or incline.

 

[GAmes]

GAmes'

They talked about how having the side to side unlocked while towing crosswinds could rock the trailer a little more than if it was locked.

That may be, but my feeling is if the wind is blowing hard enough to concern you, you should be parked somewhere. I'd never tow with a hitch that doesn't pivot side to side. Besides the obvious difficulty of hooking and unhooking on unlevel ground, imagine the stresses on the kingpin while going down the road. By the way, I have spotted numerous errors in both Highways and Trailer Life articles.

 

[SHobbs]

GAmes,



Seen the same and I can see some logic with what they are saying to an extent. As I said I only have a 2 way pivot and hate it. All I need to do is swap out the saddle on my Reese to get a 4way. There have been times I thought I would never get the 5er hooked up again or unhooked.

 

[LesStallings]

From a stress and engineering standpoint, I would never consider a conversion or adapter type hitch.



The design of a 5th wheel trailer frame structure is different from a gooseneck trailer. The stress is significantly different, therefore the design is different.



Using some form of an adapter to connect one style to the other hitch is asking for cracking of the trailer frame and possibly failure. Check and see if your trailer manufacturer will recommend ANY conversion/adapter. I don't think so.

 

[GWBourne]

From a stress and engineering standpoint, I would never consider a conversion or adapter type hitch.



The design of a 5th wheel trailer frame structure is different from a gooseneck trailer. The stress is significantly different, therefore the design is different.



Using some form of an adapter to connect one style to the other hitch is asking for cracking of the trailer frame and possibly failure. Check and see if your trailer manufacturer will recommend ANY conversion/adapter. I don't think so.

i fully agree with you, and as i stated i would contact the manufacture prior to switching out the 5er pin with a goose coupler. what i am asking is any makers use a goose hitch from the factory vice a 5er... .

Grant