coco1xx
Indian Springs, Alabama
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Has anyone had experience with using the gooseneck conversion hitches for fifth wheels? If so, please explain the pros and cons.
Thanks,
Coco
Nancy and Mark
2005 Sunnybrook Solanta 2726
F250 Super Duty Powerstroke Diesel
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donn0128
Pronounced Ore-gun
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Please do a search on the subject. There has been several threads recently about this. generally speaking it is NOT recommended as it does place a lot more stress on the frame and if problems were to develop the fix would be on your dime.
Donn
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samsphones
north carolina
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I wish someone would explain the extra stress on the frame. Everyone keeps saying that but when I called Keystone and asked one of the service managers 2 years ago he just laughed and said dont believe everything you read..Keystone has no problem with the gooseneck adapter on my Copper Canyon. I love the gooseneck for ease of hook up, of course I have been towing other things for about 10 yrs with goosenecks.
2006 Chevy 3500 4x4 Duramax/Allison transmission
2006 Copper Canyon 302FWRLS
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F-TROUP
VISALIA, CALIF
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My son-inlaw got tired of climbing in and out of the pickup bed to hook and unhook the safety chains.
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campercajun
Central Texas Hill Country
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My nephew uses his pickup to haul gooseneck trailers and haul items in the bed, and he didn't like the rails left by a fifth-wheel hitch, nor did he like getting the fifth-wheel hitch in and out of his pickup bed. So he converted his Keystone Cougar to a gooseneck connection, and has had a "disappearing" ball mounted in his pickup bed that allows the bed floor to be totally clear of any type of ball or mounting rails when he needs to haul things in there. The conversion to a gooseneck hitch had the unexpected benefit of ending the irritating "chucking" of his fifth wheel/pickup combination, the constant forward-and-backwards pulling and pushing movement some truck/fifth wheel combinations experience, which gave his wife motion sickness.
2003 GMC Sierra Crew HD; 6.0L; Prodigy
2006 Thor Tundra 30RL-DSL; Reese Strait-Line & Dual-cam HP
2001 Honda Elite Scooter
Jim & Gayle Bryant
Murphy's Law: "Anything that CAN happen, WILL."
Bryant's Law: "31 years of RVing? Probably already HAS."
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outdoorsman2007
In the Woods - Somewhere!
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Joined: 04/12/2007
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Check with the trailer manufacturer to see what they say about using a gooseneck adapter with their frame.
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mowermech
Billings, MT
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To give a quick and easy tutorial on the leverage and added stress imposed by the gooseneck adapter, do this:
Get a 1 inch dowel, about three feet long, and a 2 pound hammer head (or any 2 pound weight) that the dowel will slip through. Get a good grip on one end of the dowel, and put the weight next to your hand. Hold the dowel parallel to the ground. How long can you hold it? That simulates your normal fifth wheel hitch. Now, put the weight on the dowel 2 feet from your hand, again holding the dowel parallel to the ground. How long can you hold it? THAT simulates the added stress and leverage imposed on your trailer frame by a gooseneck adapter.
Or, think of it this way. You have a rusty bolt that you just can't get loose with your 18 inch breaker bar. But, if you put a three foot cheater pipe on the handle of the breaker bar, you can break it loose no problem. The cheater pipe is equivalent to the gooseneck adapter.
Will your trailer frame stand up to the added stress and leverage?
I wouldn't deal with any service manager who doesn't understand the basic principles of a simple machine like the lever.
But then, if the trailer is out of warranty, it doesn't really matter, does it? Surely, you will notice something wrong before the hitch box completely separates from the trailer, won't you?
CM1, USN (RET)
'94 Dodge 3500 4X2 CTD, Std. cab, LB, 5 speed, 4.10 LS diff., Jacobs Rambrake, 273,000 Miles
'99 Monaco McKenzie 32' triple slide
'95 Tioga 29H Ford-based Class C
Daily driver: '06 Jeep Liberty CRD
Towed: '06 Jeep Rubicon Unlimited
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Gunpilot77
Killeen, Tx
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mowermech wrote: Surely, you will notice something wrong before the hitch box completely separates from the trailer, won't you?
In my case I looked in the rearview mirror and the front of the 5er looked like it had gotten closer to the cab. I pulled into a parking lot, and sure enough, the what should have been a vertical tube was at a 30 to 35 degree angle forward. The metal plate that the hitch attaches to was torn like paper.
I put up with a 5er hitch in the bed with no complaints.
Fifth wheel pulled with a pick-up
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fpresto
Maryland
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I have seen a 5th and a goose neck trailer sitting side by side with the front caps off. There was no comparision. The goose neck trailer had more and thicker braces and was obviously designed for greater stresses. Very few if any 5th wheel manufacturers have ever been accused of over engineering their product.
USN Retired
2007 Cedar Creek 30 RLSTS
2008 F350, DRW, V-10, B&W hitch,
Pressure Pro, JT Strongarms
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samsphones
north carolina
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So by your reasoning mowermech I would guess that the added heigth of the fifth wheel hitch puts on added pressure on it.
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