Detroit80
Full Access Member
I have a fixed, recessed gooseneck ball in the flatbed of my truck under a flap cover. Not a turnover style, just plain fixed in place, sitting a couple inches under the bed surface. I've been considering picking up a toyhauler type trailer, but it seems VERY rare to find these with gooseneck form on the used market. I don't have anywhere even remotely close to the budget to be able to afford to buy one new.
I don't want to have a permanently installed 5th wheel hitch on the flatbed, nor do I really even want to deal with rails being in the way of using the bed for other things (large part of the reason I went gooseneck).
I know the hitch adapter type things are generally frowned upon as 5th wheel pin boxes generally aren't built to handle the leverage that a gooseneck type attachment puts on them. I've seen hitches like the B&W Companion that apparently use the gooseneck hitch to attach them to the truck, but those also are intended to work with their turnover balls, which I don't have.
I get the basic concept that the hitch will connect to the gooseneck as the "attachment" to the truck, but I'm guessing there's more to it than just dropping over the ball and locking the coupler..such as what keeps the 5th wheel hitch from spinning on the bed under the weight of the trailer? Is it just friction against the bed from the trailer's pin weight? Do they stil need some kind of bolt on or rail attachment?
Is there anything like these that would work with a recessed ball under the bed floor, or would I be forced into switching to something like the turnover setup, regardless of who made the conversion hitch?
I don't want to have a permanently installed 5th wheel hitch on the flatbed, nor do I really even want to deal with rails being in the way of using the bed for other things (large part of the reason I went gooseneck).
I know the hitch adapter type things are generally frowned upon as 5th wheel pin boxes generally aren't built to handle the leverage that a gooseneck type attachment puts on them. I've seen hitches like the B&W Companion that apparently use the gooseneck hitch to attach them to the truck, but those also are intended to work with their turnover balls, which I don't have.
I get the basic concept that the hitch will connect to the gooseneck as the "attachment" to the truck, but I'm guessing there's more to it than just dropping over the ball and locking the coupler..such as what keeps the 5th wheel hitch from spinning on the bed under the weight of the trailer? Is it just friction against the bed from the trailer's pin weight? Do they stil need some kind of bolt on or rail attachment?
Is there anything like these that would work with a recessed ball under the bed floor, or would I be forced into switching to something like the turnover setup, regardless of who made the conversion hitch?