Truck and gooseneck questions

[Leather]

@Demerara_Stables

I have this ball and it is the absolute best thing ever. You can remove the ball and the safety chain hooks with one hand. They do leave small open holes but when I bought my truck with the holes already drilled for the gooseneck ball, they popped caps over them that you could replace if you wanted.

https://www.bwtrailerhitches.com/product/oem-gooseneck-ball-and-safety-chain-kit

I have this same kit as well and love it. As noted this will only work with trucks that have a factory installed gooseneck/5th wheel prep package - often called “pucks.” They work really slick so if possible look for a truck that has this factory package. (As far as I know the puck system can’t be done aftermarket.)

Our old truck was pre-factory package so we went with a B&W turnoverball hitch that mommy_peanut mentioned. You just need to make sure to use it once in a while so that it doesn’t get stuck.
Turnoverball Gooseneck Hitch

If the GN has any sort of V to the front to it you should be fine with a 6’ bed.

Our truck has a bed camera that makes hooking up the GN super easy. The poor man’s version that I used with our old truck was to prop my phone or iPad on the back seat aimed at the bed in video mode.

[jvanrens]

@Spudsmyguy

My friend has a shorter bed P/U and has broken the rear window of her truck 4 times. Her trailer has a square front so no surprise there. If you go with a shorter bed, get the gooseneck extender to avoid this scenario.

My dearly departed SO broke the rear window in my DD’s truck twice and he had decades of experience hauling, but always with a longer box. The square front on the trailer (4 Star) combined with the shorter box got him. She just got another truck and went with the long box since replacing the trailer is a nonstarter at this time. The shape of your trailer is something to take into consideration.

[CanteringCarrot]

I recently saw a nice 4 Star for sale at a reasonable price in a configuration that I like. I thought about it for a minute, but then I realized it was a square front. I don’t want to do the goodneck extender thing. My EquiSpirit is not a square front, and it gets along quite well with my short bed Ram, I’m just over fiberglass roofs, so casually have an eye out.

As a side note, I brought the EquiSpirit to a metal/trailer repair shop for some small metal repair work and the owner of the shop has worked in many horse trailers. He’s brought back some mangled and rotten stuff. He’s a firm believer that if you have an older trailer in great shape, keep it. He prefers them quality wise, to the newer ones. Which I found interesting. It wasn’t just because he can make money off of maintaining them.

No idea how far off he is with that, but it was an interesting comment.

[NaturallyHappy]

I’ve always had a shorter bed truck w 4 Stars…some with the square front. I’ve never broken my window, but I back very slowly as I’m terrible at it.

[jvanrens]

My SO was very good at backing his rig, just not with DD’s truck and his trailer for some reason. LOL It rather embarrassed him to be honest.

[gradytb]

Short bed F-150 here with the B&W turnover ball and the ball extender. The 4" extender makes a HUGE difference. I only have 1 vehicle and my truck does everything. It’s too hard to maneuver a long-bed truck in parking lots and spaces made for tiny cars for everyday vehicle use. This is my 2nd turnover hitch and I never turn it over, although I could easily. This trailer is an Exis gooseneck stock/combo. Smaller than the Feather light stock/cattle trailer I had before, thank goodness. I DID take out a rear window in my last F-150 with that one.

[McGurk]

I love that creator!

That’s a case of it’s funny because it is so accurate.

[SonnysMom]

My boss has a 2009 4H head to head gooseneck. When she got a 2023 Ford F350 she had to have lifts of some kind added to the trailer to raise it about 6 inches. One time last summer she had to drive through a field with a bit of a hill and bend the back corner of her truck bed. The trailer dealer really had not raised it enough for anything beyond road use. Of course, at some shows we need to park in fields

[jvanrens]

I just wish she’d sat in the driver’s seat when she recorded it. No idea why, but it annoyed me that she was obviously i the passenger seat.

[SonnysMom]

She probably was in the driver’s seat. However most cell phones flip the image when recording in selfie mode.
If anything she should have sat in the passenger seat to appear to be in the driver’s seat.

[jvanrens]

That’s a possibility. I’ve never done a selfie video so I’ll take your word for it. It just doesn’t seem like she’s driving. Hopefully she’s just sitting in her yard.

[Christa_P]

A relative of mine just posted a video of her driving (that I saw after reading this thread) on IG and it looks like she’s in the passenger seat.

[pony_grandma]

I just love women truckin’ threads! It shocks some guys that I know how to adjust the tension on the baler twine…