So, Charlotte area peeps (I am in Cramerton, Gaston County), any recommendations for a good shop to do this work and install a BW turnover hitch? While I am handy on a lot of things, I am NOT tackling this particular project!
I have a draw-tite hide a ball hitch that I really like on my f350. My old f350 had a b&w hitch with the fold over ball. I have a spray in liner in the current truck and I had a plastic liner in the old truck that we just cut out for the hitch and the chain hooks.
Ive had quite a few towing vehicles and a few combos but I fully recommend a turnover or removable ball. I like my current draw tite but id rather have my old turn over ball but the truck came with it so beggars cant be choosers I guess lol.
Get a hookup in the bed but by the plate works as well if you dont have a tailgate. I dont like to have my plug over my tailgate but im kind of set in my ways.
We DIY-installed the Blue Ox turnover ball. I know everyone here adores their B&W’s, but I have not had any problems whatsoever with the Blue Ox… It was easy to install, no need for the lever in the wheel well, and it’s easy to flip the ball over when it’s not needed. And it was about $120 cheaper than the B&W, which was nice.
[QUOTE=Puddin Pie;7819616]
So, Charlotte area peeps (I am in Cramerton, Gaston County), any recommendations for a good shop to do this work and install a BW turnover hitch? While I am handy on a lot of things, I am NOT tackling this particular project![/QUOTE]
The hardest part of my DIY install of the B+W hitch is going to town with a 4 inch hole saw on a brand new truck bed. :eek: Measure twice, (or three times) cut once !
The instructions call for taking the spare tire out, then taking the heat shield over the exhaust system out, and cutting the heat shield where it needs to be cut. I skip taking the spare and heat shield out. I just cut it in place with a pair of offset snips.
We have and love our Blue Ox as well. I wish I still had all the homework we did on it. My husband and I made a whole check list of stuff comparing hitches and picked the Blue Ox.
No regrets!
[QUOTE=cnvh;7820252]
We DIY-installed the Blue Ox turnover ball. I know everyone here adores their B&W’s, but I have not had any problems whatsoever with the Blue Ox… It was easy to install, no need for the lever in the wheel well, and it’s easy to flip the ball over when it’s not needed. And it was about $120 cheaper than the B&W, which was nice.[/QUOTE]
I have the Drawtite Hideaball hitch. Mainly, because the trailer dealer I was buying the trailer from was a Drawtite dealer, so she offered a sweet deal on the Drawtite hitch versus going to somewhere else and spending $800 to 1K getting the B&W hitch installed.
I haven’t had any problems with the hitch at all. It works well, I had to only take the ball out of the bed 2 times and it worked great. I havent had any problems with the handle not staying in the open position either when I needed to pull the ball out. Although with all the dirt and grime in the wheelwell, I assume at some point it get all grimey and I have heard of people putting a piece of wood to hold the handle open so that they could take the ball out.
As for the truck bedrails being too tall for my gooseneck, I had only about 6 inches between the bedrails and the deck of the gooseneck. I ended up buying drop kit (less than $100) for the rear of my truck. Since the bed of the newer pickup trucks are higher than the front, I had the dealer install the drop kit on the rear axle and it dropped the bed by 2 inches. this gave me a reassuring 8 inches between bedrails and the trailer which was perfect. you can get a drop kit for 2, 3 and 6 inches. For most newer trucks, 2 inches is perfect and makes the truck (front and back) level. Most anybody can put the dropkit in and its not very expensive at all. It works with 4 wheel drive trucks too. Its also easier to hitch/unhitch too now since I dont have to crank up the trailer as high to get it off the ball.
