No safety hooks for gooseneck

[HeavyHauler]

When I got my pickup a few months ago, I discovered that the bed had been drilled/cut for to accept a gooseneck ball but there was not a place for safety chains to hook to. I have hauled one trailer without the chains but wasn't very comfortable with it. Are the chains mandatory from a legal standpoint? If not, do I have anything to worry about if I don't have them? I don't haul a lot of gooseneck loads right now, but next summer I will be doing a lot of heavy hauling with goosenecks - hay, tobacco and large tractor.



What is the easiest install that I can do for the safety hooks and keeping my same hitch setup? I don't want to install a big plate or anything like that - don't want any major sections taken out of my bed. Just want to keep the hole that I can take the ball in and out of but still have some safety hooks, maybe some that will fold over because I keep a bed mat in.



Any suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

[ISBPilot]

Kind of a gray area..........

I am sure someone will chime in with more experience than I have, but generally speaking gooseneck chains are something of an accessory. Not to devalue them, but mostly they are gonna be used by hot shot drivers and commercial related vehicles. Most of your farmers and ranchers do not. This could be because most older trailers do not have chains on them and your newer ones do. Just what I have observed.



Todd

 

[csevers]

I don't know if it is a law or not but they are very important to have and all g neck hitches that I have seen have provisions for safety hooks even home mades one. If it is an underbed hitch it may be a B& W and the plate under the bed has the holes in it you would have to drill the holes in bed and get some 1/2" u bolts to put in there and they sit level with the highest rib in bed floor.



I hook up the safety chains even if I move the trailer to a different spot on the farm, it is a good habbit to get into.



Craig

 

[midwestdually]

i hope that you are not serious when you make it sound like the only thing holding the ball is the pickup bed??!! there isnt a plate of 3/8" or larger flat steel welded on top of the frame?

 

[RustyJC]

I don't know how heavy you're towing, but the sheet metal of your bed floor is not adequate support for a gooseneck ball. The first thing I would do is get a proper gooseneck hitch installed. When you do, it will come with the u-bolts or whatever for the safety chains to hook into. For reference, check out the B&W turnoverball gooseneck hitch.



And, by the way, safety chains are required for ball hitches (including goosenecks) - they're not required for 5th wheel hitches.



Rusty

 

[HeavyHauler]

Originally posted by midwestdually

i hope that you are not serious when you make it sound like the only thing holding the ball is the pickup bed??!! there isnt a plate of 3/8" or larger flat steel welded on top of the frame?

Settle down, buddy... I said that I wasn't sure what the shaft of the ball is run through, I'm sure it's just not the bed - that probably wouldn't be adequate. I just said that I hadn't looked at it closely.



The reason that I don't want to install a big plate setup (besides the cost), I'm going to be adding an air ride 5th wheel hitch before long too. I don't want the plate interfering with that installation. And please, no recommendations for a combo hitch.



Rusty JC answered my question though if it applies to all states - I needed to know if the hooks were required by law. Next question is - can I install some hooks that will lay over without butchering my bed too much?

 

[RustyJC]

Originally posted by HeavyHauler

My hitch setup is just your basic hole drilled through the bed, with the ball sliding down into the hole and then having a nut and lock washer tightened to it to secure the ball. No plate or anything like that - so it's probably not the most "heavy duty" setup that I could have because technically the frame is not supporting the hitch.

The way you described it, the bed floor IS the only thing holding the gooseneck ball.



Rusty

 

[HeavyHauler]

Originally posted by HeavyHauler

unless it's bolted to a crossmember or something - I'm not sure, haven't looked at it that closely) but I have seen most everyone around here running a setup like this - rarely see any plates. Probably too much trouble for the local farmers down here.

Well if you had finished my quote, you wouldn't be so confused.

 

[RustyJC]

Excuse us - have a nice day!

 

[midwestdually]

well to be honest with you... y would you not check to see what the ball is connected to? you say that you already pulled a trailer with it?? take the time and do it right or dont do it at all.



if there is a plate... . take the u-bolts that someone said earlier and make marks on the bed/plate and take a drill with cutting oil and go to town making sure the holes a bit bigger than the u-bolts. then add springs (so the bolts dont flop around when not in use and they will sit close to flush as possible)and the nuts you can adjust to make the tension on the springs.



safety should always be first and not LAST

 

[midwestdually]

not to be on your a$$ but you honestly think that the bed sheet metal that might be an 1/8" thick will support this ball when hooked to any amount of weight? just cuz everyone else jumped off a bridge would you?



if you boys arent runnin plates in TN then that is one state i will never venture into again.





please keep us updated and dont take this the wrong way. we are only inquiring minds wanting to know the setup and will try to advise on the proper setup.

 

[HeavyHauler]

Damn what is it with you girls? Your special week or something? Don't get your panties in a wad. I'm sorry I didn't crawl my fat a$$ under my truck and check to see what the ball went through. I trusted the guy under there screwing the nut on enough ok? It takes two, one (me) to hold the pipe wrench to keep the ball from spinning, and the little guy at the shop to tighten the nut. Good enough?



And please don't let this affect your visiting the great state of Tennessee again, I would hate to lose such wonderful people like yourself as tourists.



Oh yeah, and in regards to the safety chains as required by law thing, In TENNESSEE, you don't have to have safety chains on goosenecks or fifth wheels. The TCA (Tennessee Code Annotated) has a specific section for safety and a specific provision for goosenecks and fifth wheels:



55-7-114. Safety chains for trailers -- Penalty -- Exceptions





(a) In addition to any other attachment, any trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer operated on the highways of Tennessee shall be attached to the towing vehicle by a chain, securely attached to both vehicles, and reasonably capable of maintaining the attachment in the event of failure by any other attachment device.



(b) The responsibility for providing safety chains for trailers rented, leased, or loaned to farmers by persons customarily doing so for the haulage of farm supplies or crops shall be with the person so renting, leasing, or loaning the trailer.



(c) Failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall subject the offender to a fine of fifty dollars ($ 50. 00) on a first offense, which may be submitted by the offender to the clerk of the court which has jurisdiction of such offense in the county in which the offense charged was alleged to have been committed, in lieu of appearance in court by the offender. On second and subsequent offenses, the fine shall be not less than fifty dollars ($ 50. 00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($ 500).



(d) (1) The provisions of this section do not apply to farm implements used in tillage, harvesting, or seeding, if such implements were not equipped at the time of manufacture with safety chains, and if such implements are being towed on state or local roads at a speed of less than twenty-five (25) miles per hour, except this exemption shall not apply to farm trailers.



<b>(2) The provisions of this section also do not apply to any motor vehicle with an attached gooseneck type trailer or semitrailer with a fifth wheel. </b>



Does this satisfy everyone? I'll be sure to do my own research the next time.

 

[midwestdually]

your an a$$ ... sorry to say but you are. just trying to figure out why rednecks do what they do just to get by and possibly hurt another person besides themselves in the process. all we did was ask questions but i guess you are still unwilling to "crawl your fat a$$" under the truck cuz you had to hold the ball.



and as far as the safety chains go. i gues you are the type of guy that just tries to get by with the cheapest and crappiest just to save a buck or some time. not sure how you decided on your name but i pray to God that this is not what you do for a living. might as well drill a hole in a 1/2ton truck and put the ball thru the pickup bed and load up 30k on that gooseneck and see how many people you kill going down the road. my only hope is that you never even get to go down the road with that setup.



let me guess. no brake controller either? or maybe you have one but the trailer plugin is the wrong one and you are too lazy to either change it to what you need or get an adapter that you need.



like rustyjc said





GOOD DAY sir!!

 

[Jff24Gordn]

i will say this much about safety chains. hte law sasys you need them, but I have seen a truck where the ball came off. if you have enough slack for the chain not to bind, you have enough slack so the trailer snaps the chain and then goes through the cab. It broke good 3/4" chain and then the passnager seat. Nobody was riding shot gun. If you are gonna use the chain for something more than meatin the law, it needs to be at least 1" and have a shock absorber in it somethere.

 

[HeavyHauler]

No... all you didn't do was ask questions, the minute you saw that a person that might not be so knowledgable as you think you are posted something that was a little confusing to the reader, you decided to attack. You know, I'm never a smart ass on my posts, I try to respect everyone's opinions. I don't know where you got off being so "all-knowing" and defensive - because you were sure to that point before I was.



And just to put my mind to rest, after my last post I crawled my fat ass under my truck - and if you knew anything about these trucks at all, you would be aware that there is a solid steel beam running right across the middle of our beds, wheel to wheel. You knew damn well where my ball was drilled for but yet you still felt the need to make someone look stupid.



<b>I want to take this opportunity to apoligize to every member of the Turbo Diesel Register for the fact that I did not know every intregral part of the bed frame whenver I posted this thread. But if you have any further questions, ask midwestdually. </b>



Oh and as far for doing things the cheap way, I hardly think driving a $40,000 truck constitutes this behavior. And as far as the safety hooks, if you would put aside your attacks for a few minutes and read through the original posts, you would see that <b>all I was asking for was a simple way to attach hooks without installing a plate and butchering my bed, and also if they were absolutely mandatory. </b>



Now I answered my own question as far as the legalities go, but you felt the need to turn the fact of whether I had safety hooks or not into a ******* contest.



Midwestdually, I hope you have read this - if you have please reply, I really don't care what you say because once you do reply, this entire thread will be deleted. This is the most immature thing I've done since I was a kid. I hope you feel the same way.



GOOD DAY sir.



Oh yeah, and I have a break controller that works great - even has a plug in the bed for a GOOSENECK, wow.

 

[midwestdually]

i read it... please delete.

 

[klenger]

It's a full moon.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I took Heavy haulers advice and I do feel better with my panties straightened out.

Can't we all just get along? :{

 

[QRTRHRS]

Fold over "D" rings will work just fine for hooks or you can do like this one guy did that I sold a trailer to. He drilled two holes in his ball plate, tacked some nuts and washers to the underside and when he needs to haul, screws in two solid eye bolts. That way, his stock bed had nothing sticking up. (He had some kind of removable ball)

 

[HeavyHauler]

Thanks QRTRHRS, you're the first person in 18 replies to answer my question. Although, no more hauling than I will be doing with the gooseneck this summer, I will probably just keep the setup that I have. If the chains aren't required by law down here, that must mean that there is not much chance of the coupler slipping off the ball.



On a side note, I received my thank you card from your family. I wasn't expecting such a turn around, they shouldn't worry about sending out thank yous so quickly. We all know that everything is appreciated. You seem to have a great family - I continue to think about Justin daily. Hope he's making it through the days without much pain.