GNeck adapter, OK or not??

[Turboman]

Are the Gneck adapters like the Cody coupler ok, or does it put undo stress on the pin box of the 5er? Anybody using them?, with problems?, or no problems. And what size 5er do you pull?

 

[merryman]

They DESTROY most fivers.

Two years ago, I decided that was the way to go; did some research and was told it could damage my fiver. I could not see how, (after all we had a high end fiver that was very well built, and we had towed it 15K miles without problem one ) so we bought and installed a Cody adapter from Quick hitch.

Shortly after installing it we left on a 2500 mile trip. About 2000 miles into the trip, looking in the rear view mirror, I could see movement between the pin box and the body of the fiver. On checking I found that the welds holding the pin box to the frame were over half way torn out; I was with in minutes of losing the fiver.

RV fivers don't seem to be braced to tolerate the stress of the adapters.



Good luck



Vaughn

 

[redramnc]

The adapter adds a torque arm to the fiver pin box. The length of the adapter (the longer, the worse) multiplies the force on the pin box due to the torque applied by the base of the adapter. All of the extra force pushes and pulls against the pin box and stresses it much more than the original fiver setup would normally see. This leads to stress failures.



I bet somewhere in the fiver's warranty there is a specific "thou shalt not" that covers non-standard hitch configurations. The manufacturer has to do that to keep his liability insurance intact. If you disregard the maufacturer's recommended hitch configuration then they are not liable for any resulting damage. In addition, the adapter probably has a "we are not responsible" clause if you use it and something breaks.



Gotta love lawyers, especially liability lawyers... .....

 

[Okie-Go]

fifth wheels need to be pulled with the hitch that is made for them. Same for the gooseneck trailers. I have seen them this way. IMO it is for the guy to lazy to switch hitches in his truck.

 

[klenger]

it is for the guy to lazy to switch hitches in his truck.

... but not too lazy to fix the camper after it's all screwed up.