Gooseneck/5th wheel adapters

[Jexa]

Does anyone regularly haul both a 5th wheel and a gooseneck trailer? Any hitch advice?

I currently have neither one set up in my pickup but will soon need both - the gooseneck to haul my new horse trailer (upgrading from my wrecked BP) and a 5th wheel hitch because I will be temporarily living in an RV for work. I’ve seen both gooseneck to 5th wheel and 5th wheel to gooseneck adapters but I’m a little lost on what to do since I have neither one at the moment. I want something that will be easy to install/bolt on for the fifth wheel over the gooseneck ball since I am planning on pretty much parking the RV, but need the ability to move it if I have to.

I’ll need the gooseneck hitch pretty soon, but not the 5th wheel until September. Would it be a bad idea to just install the gooseneck ball now and wait and watch for a good price on a gooseneck-to-5th wheel adapter?

[moving_to_dc]

Get a B&W Turnover Ball and their Companion 5th wheel hitch.

Both use the same hole in the bed. The Companion breaks down into 2 pieces that can be easily removed from the truck, other 5th wheel hitches DO NOT com apart and weigh a ton - impossible to move alone without injuring your back!

We have been using a B&W ball since '99 and got a Companion in 2007. Have had zero issues with either one.

The Companion is not a slider, but most newer fivers have cut back noses, so there is less chance of hitting the cab of the truck. We haul with a 6’3" bed on our Dodge MegaCab and have not had any issues with clearance/hitting the cab.

We have also used a Ranch Hitch fifth wheel to gooseneck adaptor on our 1st toyhauler - a Forest River Work 'n Play. It worked great, installed it on the dealer’s lot and drove off. But… when we sold that toyhauler and bought a bunkhouse fiver, the adaptor was not compatible with the pin box… You hear a lot of “opinions” of the Ranch Hitch, but I haven’t met an unhappy user yet. The storage lot we used in Alaska had ~500 fivers on it, and we counted one day in 2007 that 76% of them had Ranch Hitches on them. They are a good product if they fit.

We also tried to drop the gooseneck hitch on our current Sundowner and replace it with a 5th wheel neck, but doing so raised the front of the trailer way too high, so we had to scrap that idea. We cut the 5th wheel adaptor down, but it still made the trailer sit nose-high.

[Jexa]

When you say they use the same hole, do you mean you have to take the gooseneck ball out in order to install the 5th wheel? It’s unclear from the photos, and that’s something I want to avoid. I do like that it installs in pieces, a few 50# parts are waaay easier to mess with than one 150# behemoth.

[moving_to_dc]

Yes, you take the B&W ball out and drop the Companion hitch in, and tighten a bolt on the hitch. Easy peesy. Just have some gloves or a paper towel to grab the ball so you don’t get grease on your hands.

You could look into a Ranch Hitch adaptor: http://www.andersenhitches.com/Catalog/ranch-hitch-adapter.aspx that will work with the gooseneck ball, but it isn’t compatible with many of the current pin boxes on fivers. It needs a fairly “upright” box vs. the current sloped boxes in order to get in the box to tighten the 8 bolts on the black base.

[DiamondJubilee]

My in laws have the B & W hitch as well and can go from towing their camper trailer to towing a gooseneck horse trailer.

We had to use it last year when our truck pulling the horse trailer broke down 10 mins away from the show grounds (after a 12hr drive of course). My in laws dropped their camper trailer off at the grounds and came back and hooked up to our horse trailer to bring the horses to the grounds. It was a quick, fast change from the 5th wheel attachement to the ball for our trailer. Great investment for sure!

[cutter99]

We had a camper that we put a gooseneck hitch on so we would not have to swap out the gooseneck ball and fifth wheel hitch.

[SuckerForHorses]

[QUOTE=cutter99;8616346]
We had a camper that we put a gooseneck hitch on so we would not have to swap out the gooseneck ball and fifth wheel hitch.[/QUOTE]

My parents just bought a camper and did the same thing. It was cheaper than buying a 2nd hitch type for the rails in my dad’s truck. Now the camper hitch is a gooseneck type and hooks right onto his existing hitch in the bed of the truck just like his gooseneck trailer does.

[Doctracy]

I prefer a 5th wheel hitch because it’s much easier to hook up by myself and also rides smoother,both in the trailer and truck. Plus,it’s supposedly safer and I’ve seen my share of gooseneck hitches failing in Colorado when I was younger.
I had a welder remove the gooseneck sleeve of my trailer and put a 5th wheel pin on it. I could use this same sleeve on a new trailer and switch out to return it to gooseneck if I ever want.
I love it and have hauled with this setup for about 20 years now. I can hitch up by myself in about a minute from backing up to plugging in and I’m horrible backing up so that’s really saying something.
When I need the full bed of my truck it’s not hard to remove the fifth wheel since it’s attached with pins and leaves only the rails. It is a two person job as far as lifting but takes just a few minutes.
My horse trailer sits perfectly level on my 4 wheel drive dually. I think it may be because the sleeve was customized to fit properly?
I have also been told that the fifth wheel is a more secure connection,which makes sense,since it’s basically what a semi uses.