5th wheel towing

[NTOLERANCE]

Considering getting a 5th wheel camper. Never had a 5th before but like the layout of the 5th wheel campers.

I'm abit confused on what 5th hitch I need, guess it depends on what the camper has.

I tried googling, but there are a few different options and I am not sure what the pros and cons are.

What do you use and why?

Pics would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[argve]

A std 5th wheel hitch will work fine as long as it's rated for the camper weight. One that tips side to side and front to rear is really all you need because it's not often that you are square to the camper when hitching and unhitching and if it tips side to side it helps with unlatching. They have ones that slide forward and rearward but those are for short bed trucks where they have to worry about hitting the back of the cab when turning tight. Then they have ones that have air bags and shocks to limit the bounce that the truck feels when towing which in my opinion isn't really worth it but I haven't towed with one of those styles.

Now you can go with a gooseneck ball and skip the rails that will be left in the bed. But when hooking up to a gooseneck ball it's tougher because you have to be right on when hitching. Now with a conventional 5th wheel plate style you can be off a bit and get hitched very easy because you can see it by just turning around and looking in the bed from the drivers seat and most of the time you can see it in the mirror.

 

[Hoss6.9]

You can get alot of different types depending on what you want to spend. If you get a B&W Hitch for under your bed. You can have either the gooseneck ball or the companion fifth wheel setup that I have and have no rails in your bed that stay all the time. The B&W hitch is easy to install and costs about $400. The companion hitch can be rather expensive new. I bought a used one from an estate for alot less than half of new. And it had only been used a few times too.
www.turnoverball.com - I think is the site. I have 3 B&W Hitches in my trucks. My '96, '97 and '00.... And love them all. You can find used B&W's on CL too.... Thats where all of mine came from. Good Luck!

I can't seem to load any pics. on OB anymore.....

 

[ocnorb]

I use the Husky 15K. Mainly because it was what came with our trailer.

Trailer weight plays a role in your decision; there are some much heavier hitches. I've used this hitch in 3 different trucks now. Installed new rails each time. If you are buying used always ask if the hitch is included. You may just need to install the rails. The last set I bought was about $125.

Some of the fancier hitches have air bags that help the ride and give you less "kick". Too rich $$$$$ for mt blood, plus I have never had any complaints about the plain janes.

 

[RLDSL]

If you dont want the dang 5th wheel taking up your bed, you can have a gooseneck ball, AND the convenience of being able to back into the coupler just like a 5th wheel, but in a gooseneck coupler. Atwood makes a REAL nice gooseneck coupler that has a ramp load front openg about the same size as the opening of a 5th wheel plate, so you have about the same width of area to aim for. Yo just get the ball in the general area, attack the electric pigtail, hold the trailer brakes down and back under it and it pops onto the ball and latches. no more 20 attempts to find the ball like a bumper pull ( for folks with a single cab its no big deal finding the ball on a gooseneck, but with a crew cab, and a 150 gal bed tank and a headache rack back there, it scompletely blind in the bed so I have to just back in by lining up on the sides of the trailer. )
A good trailer shop can make a hitch adapter with one of those couplers .
With a gooseneck, if you get in a bad spot, you never put anything in a pinch, you have much more articulation at the hitching point, this is why all horse trailers have them, as they are built to be used offroad

 

[NTOLERANCE]

OK, thanks for the info, so whats this type of hitch used for:

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Compared to this one:

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And finally, this one ( I am familiar with this one)

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[purg113]

in my opinion a 5th wheel 16k hitch is a lot better than a gooseneck cause they dont rock as much and a slider like mine works great in a 8' bed cause I can slide it back for backing in to tight spots so the truck can manover around better.

 

[8seconds]

NTOLERANCE'

The first photo is of the orginal Hid-A-Way setup, which was a goose neck hitch with the 2 5/16 ball. It uses the trap door effect, raise the ball with the hide away door and locks the ball in place, once the door is closed back down.

The second photo is the B&W flip over ball setup, still a goose neck, with the 2 5/16 ball. All of the hitch is mounted under the truck. A pull handle is located in the wheel well, to release the ball, that you can pickup and flip over making the bed obstacle free. Also NOTICE*** that the trailer in this photo has a conversion from fifth wheel to goose neck also.

The third is a fifth wheel hitch, that tilts front to back and side to side.

 

[JohnBoyToo]

b careful with gooseneck adapters on CERTAIN 5th wheels - reports of frame cracks from the extra twisting and moment arm due to the gooseneck extenders increased leverage on the 5er... remember the 5th wheel mfg's are building the frame to JUST carry their 5er - nothing more

We have the superglide 18k slider - it's overkill for our 5er but we got a good deal on it so I future proofed it a bit
a lot of the new 5ers have 'rounded' caps that won't hit the truck even in a short bed... so if you have a long bed - no need for a slider at all...

post your trucks specs on rv.net or irv2.com and be ready to be inundated with responses !!!

 

[RLDSL]

b careful with gooseneck adapters on CERTAIN 5th wheels - reports of frame cracks from the extra twisting and moment arm due to the gooseneck extenders increased leverage on the 5er... remember the 5th wheel mfg's are building the frame to JUST carry their 5er - nothing more

We have the superglide 18k slider - it's overkill for our 5er but we got a good deal on it so I future proofed it a bit
a lot of the new 5ers have 'rounded' caps that won't hit the truck even in a short bed... so if you have a long bed - no need for a slider at all...

post your trucks specs on rv.net or irv2.com and be ready to be inundated with responses !!!

Ive been hearing those rumors for years, but I have yet to actually hear from someone who has ACTUALLY owned one who has had a problem. Ive run them for years problem free. As a standard precaution Cody and possibly a few others puts out a warning, mostly because a lot of farmers and cowboys use gooseneck stock trailers and are used to dragging them through teh woods full tilt, and that's just not a bright idea for campers I dont care how you have them hooked up because camper frames are nowhere near as strong as cattle and horse trailer or equipment trailer frames ( travel trailers are usually made from 1/8" mostly with ocasionally some 1/4" where heavy trailers will have lots of nice 3/8" in the hitch area by spec with some 1/4" and occasionally some 1/2", the original welds on my 5er frame looked like they were done with a 110v buzz box and it was a top end trailer when it was built so naturally you are going to treat it more carefully), but some folks need to be slapped upside the head just for common sense things

When I built my last coupler / extender, I went back and reinforced a few things for giggles, but I had been dragging the trailer on an adapter for a number of years without issue, i just never liked the factory pin box, it always looked like an afterthought, now it's tied into the outer rails with 3/8" x 8" strips, but my 5er is also 28 years old, a little updating never hurt