gooseneck hitch Q

[Doakster]

I second the B&W I just installed one on my truck, the only drilling you will have to do is the 4 inch hole in your bed and the hole for the safety chance brackets, everything else is bolted to your framed underneath your bed. When the ball is not in use it is stored nicely making for a flat bed, check out there site before you buy.

[lords88]

+1 on the B&W!

[tubular031]

Originally Posted by dhanna6powerstroke

Checkout B&W before you install rails. The rails get in your way sometimes and it gets old working around them.

I have rails in mine and so far they have been useful for anchor points to tie things down

Someday ill have a 5th wheel to pull...

[TurboSevenThree]

Originally Posted by nic0084

Get rails and a plate... because then you can use the rails for a 5th wheel as well.

I got em and I love it.

I think that's what I got

[alabamafrog]

I got the 5th wheel rails and the regular under bed gooseneck mount. I made a plate that pins to my rails and bolts to the GN plate with a GN ball welded on the back of it. I had to do this to get my trailers off my cab so I can make turns. The ball and plate and rails do get in the way from time to time but if I need to haul something I use a trailer.

Dad has a V-10 F-350 with the turnover ball, I defiantly like it, his bed is totally clear. Only problem is when you get out int the field and go to hook up the GN trailer you gotta reach under the fender and pull the ball lock level. More times than not I wind up grabbing a big handful of mushy green smelly stuff.

Here is what the back of mine looks like

[RedMule]

the rails have a versatility advantage in that you can do either a 5th wheel or gooseneck hitch. The turnover ball is a cleaner looking install. We had problems with the turnover ball in my brother-in-laws Mega-cab in that the bed is a little shorter than a standard sb truck. The turnover ball couldn't be installed right over the pumpkin and had to be moved forward enough so that the ball would clear the pumpkin. Clearance issues might be something for you to look at also if you have a short bed. Alabamafrog has a good idea with his hitch. I like that for a shortbed.

[hondo997.3]

thanks i have a long bed so no issues but do you know of a place to get the rail system and the ball mounts at a good price ive seen 100 for the rails and 180 for the ball mount

[lords88]

The only problem I have seen with the rails is if you really tow some weight they will eventually warp your bed. The B&W hitch is bolted directly to the frame and we all know that is solid. If you are looking for towing a fifth wheel with the truck also you can always buy an adapter that is wleded on to the old hitch on the trailer to make it into an ball hitch. Thats what we have done with our fifth wheels and it is just a stable, allows for more room in the bed, and is way easier to hook up.

[Doakster]

If you're looking at price (100 for the rails and 180 ball mount) they why not pay just 34 more dollars and get a B&W shipped to your door for $314 from this site

TandRTrailer.com :: Product Details

This is by far the cheapest price you will find for not only the B&W but any "hideaway" type GN hitch, Curt, and Reese also make a similar set ups, but requires you to cut a big square hole in the bed, and they're more expensive.
I ordered mine from TandR, they are great to deal with, got my hitch within 3 days, and of course this is the complete kit, comes with everything you need to mount it. I installed mine in about 3-4 hours, I took my time.

Also check out the B&W site, here is a link for the Turnover ball GN hitch.

B&W Custom Truck Beds, Inc.

On the left hand side of this page click on "Convert from a Hitch to a Level Bed in Seconds", this will give you a number of photos of the B&W installed(they are not direct links so I couldn't post them, sorry)

Also if you plan on running a fifth wheel in the future you can add on B&Ws companion hitch shown here.

B&W Custom Truck Beds, Inc.

Again on the left you will find links that give you photos of how easy the companion is to install on to the B&W GN hitch, it just simply mounts into you existing hitch, you can removed it and have a flat bed as well, I don't believe anyone else has a set up that allows for both and GN, and Fifth wheel and a flush bed but B&W does it all. By far B&W is a great product, you can't go wrong, I love mine and a lot of other people do too. Hope this helps.

[Doakster]

Originally Posted by RedMule

the rails have a versatility advantage in that you can do either a 5th wheel or gooseneck hitch. The turnover ball is a cleaner looking install. We had problems with the turnover ball in my brother-in-laws Mega-cab in that the bed is a little shorter than a standard sb truck. The turnover ball couldn't be installed right over the pumpkin and had to be moved forward enough so that the ball would clear the pumpkin. Clearance issues might be something for you to look at also if you have a short bed. Alabamafrog has a good idea with his hitch. I like that for a shortbed.

Mounting the hitch ball over the center of the pumpkin/rear axle is "ok", of course you don't want it behind the axle, but it is actually better to have the hitch mounted foward of the rear axle. The more forward the hitch the more it will help to eliminate trailer "sway" and also puts more weight on the front axle, i.e the load will be more stable and you truck can handle it better. B&W at one time recommended up to 6 or 7 inches forward of the rear axle I believe, now they have brought it down to 4inchs for there superduty turnover ball. Makes sense right?