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Old 08-09-2018, 09:05 PM   #1
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Gooseneck hitch with a 5.0

Terry and I were walking around town tonight and a farmer went by with his cattle trailer that used a gooseneck hitch. Has anyone ever used one with a 5.0 ?

I imagine this will be a quickly answered thread.

Thanks,

Perry
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:17 PM   #2
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I do. That is what my Anderson Ultimate connects to.
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:21 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Perryb67 View Post
Terry and I were walking around town tonight and a farmer went by with his cattle trailer that used a gooseneck hitch. Has anyone ever used one with a 5.0 ?

I imagine this will be a quickly answered thread.

Thanks,

Perry
You could I suppose, but I can't imagine why you'd want to modify.

Having said that, the Andersen Ultimate Hitch is something like a gooseneck because the trailer is fitted with a coupler and the hitch is fitted with a ball. Lots of forum members use that hitch.
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:27 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Bennett View Post
I do. That is what my Anderson Ultimate connects to.
On a gooseneck hitch a pipe comes down and attaches to the ball that your Andersen hitch attaches. This would result in much more useable space in the bed. I know we could have put a gooseneck hitch on our Eagle 5th wheel fifteen years ago.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:43 PM   #5
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On a gooseneck hitch a pipe comes down and attaches to the ball that your Andersen hitch attaches. This would result in much more useable space in the bed. I know we could have put a gooseneck hitch on our Eagle 5th wheel fifteen years ago.
I can't see how that would result in more cargo space using an Andersen Hitch. The hitch base takes up the same amount of room regardless of the coupler that attaches to it. A true gooseneck would have the connection point at or near the floor of the truck bed, but the Andersen is basically an alternative method of attachment without drastically changing the connection height. This is partly why I said it's kind of like a gooseneck.
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:45 PM   #6
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On a gooseneck hitch a pipe comes down and attaches to the ball that your Andersen hitch attaches. This would result in much more useable space in the bed. I know we could have put a gooseneck hitch on our Eagle 5th wheel fifteen years ago.
This style of hitching gear extends the structure of the trailer, causing stresses beyond those which result from using a hitch which pivots at the normal location (whether a fifth-wheel like stock, or a ball-and-socket such as the Andersen Ultimate). As I recall, Escape Trailer Industries endorses the use the Andersen, but not use of extended devices like this.
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:48 PM   #7
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I can't see how that would result in more cargo space using an Andersen Hitch. The hitch base takes up the same amount of room regardless of the coupler that attaches to it. A true gooseneck would have the connection point at or near the floor of the truck bed...
The extended tube to a coupler which was shown does couple directly to the ball at the bed, and so it would eliminate the base frame of the Andersen Ultimate, or of a conventional fifth-wheel.
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:51 PM   #8
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The extended tube to a coupler which was shown does couple directly to the ball at the bed, and so it would eliminate the base frame of the Andersen Ultimate, or of a conventional fifth-wheel.
Well yes. I was speaking directly to the idea that it would increase useable cargo space with an Andersen Hitch including the frame.

EDIT: Having said that, I wouldn't trust a standard gooseneck with the pipe as much as a 5th wheel hitch and kingpin, partly for the reason you mentioned.
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:58 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Perryb67 View Post


On a gooseneck hitch a pipe comes down and attaches to the ball that your Andersen hitch attaches. This would result in much more useable space in the bed. I know we could have put a gooseneck hitch on our Eagle 5th wheel fifteen years ago.

Enjoy,

Perry
I personally would never use one of those. The stresses created by the leverage put on that tall skinny column are cause for concern, and have been known to fail. Granted, our trailers are a lot lighter than most other fifth wheels, but still.....

There are goose box adapters, that replace the pin box, and extend down to the gooseneck ball that are way more solid, but are also quite pricey.

Reese - Goose Box
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Old 08-09-2018, 10:08 PM   #10
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Well yes. I was speaking directly to the idea that it would increase useable cargo space with an Andersen Hitch including the frame.
Okay, but that wasn't the proposed idea. Were you thinking that someone wanted to replace the fifth-wheel pin box with tube, having a coupler at the same height as the pin, used with an Andersen Ultimate frame and ball? I agree, that would be pointless.

Maybe the confusion was here:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perryb67 View Post
On a gooseneck hitch a pipe comes down and attaches to the ball that your Andersen hitch attaches.
Perry is referring to the ball in the truck bed which a "gooseneck mount" Andersen Ultimate uses as an anchor, not the Andersen's own ball.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rbryan4 View Post
EDIT: Having said that, I wouldn't trust a standard gooseneck with the pipe as much as a 5th wheel hitch and kingpin, partly for the reason you mentioned.
My only safety or security concern would be with the trailer structure. These common ball hitch systems are routinely rated for 20,000 pound trailers (usually in agricultural and construction applications). Nothing sophisticated, but they're strong.
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Old 08-09-2018, 10:18 PM   #11
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I personally would never use one of those. The stresses created by the leverage put on that tall skinny column are cause for concern, and have been known to fail. Granted, our trailers are a lot lighter than most other fifth wheels, but still.....

There are goose box adapters, that replace the pin box, and extend down to the gooseneck ball that are way more solid, but are also quite pricey.

Reese - Goose Box
The torsional stress on the trailer frame is a function of the distance from frame to pivot point (ball), and the the magnitude of the force. It doesn't matter whether you replace the pin with a longer Goose Box, or extend the stock pin box with something like the Ranch Hitch Adapter, or build something new from scratch - the effect on the trailer frame is the same.

Seef replaced the pin box with and extended box to a bed-level ball hitch, and had flex problems with his trailer frame which required structural modification. That was a 5.0, not a 5.0TA (which has a stronger frame, but more mass), but the nature of the problem is the same. Reace is aware of Seef's situation and I assume that this informed his position; someone might want to check with Reace on his current thinking.
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Old 08-09-2018, 10:37 PM   #12
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The gooseneck receiver in the picture I attached is rated for 20,000#'s. There are others rated for more than that. They are not exactly weak or else they wouldn't be used so often, especially hauling heavy construction equipment and cattle trailers hauling 20+ live moving cows.

Every once in a while we see a 5th wheel with a gooseneck hitch in our campground. I had not given it a thought that someone with a 5.0 had chosen a gooseneck until tonight. So far no one has responded here that they use one. I'll call Escape tomorrow to see if it's possible. My guess is they've never installed one and won't on ours.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 08-10-2018, 07:58 AM   #13
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I've seen several gooseneck-type hitches on large campers, but the tow vehicle was commonly a work truck, and the owner had modified the camper to be towed that way so that they didn't have to have a separate tow vehicle just for their camper. And not just for weekend getaways. I saw one such rig at Gulf State Park, Alabama, a few years back, an F-450 with a portable welder's rig mounted on the flatbed and Colorado license plates. Stopped and visited for awhile. He said he gets funny looks from some folks, but his welder truck (self-employed) was a great tow vehicle for their 5th-wheel style camper and a roomy, comfortable ride for his family. Who are we to judge?
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Old 08-10-2018, 07:58 AM   #14
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[QUOTE=Brian B-P;258266]The torsional stress on the trailer frame is a function of the distance from frame to pivot point (ball), and the the magnitude of the force. It doesn't matter whether you replace the pin with a longer Goose Box, or extend the stock pin box with something like the Ranch Hitch Adapter, or build something new from scratch - the effect on the trailer frame is the same.

🤔 This has me a bit confused. Wouldn’t the extra length of the adapter act as a lever and change the way force is applied to kingpin?
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Old 08-10-2018, 08:00 AM   #15
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Don’t know what gives with the sketch, it comes out upside down even after I inverted it
Guess I’m really confused today
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Old 08-10-2018, 09:09 AM   #16
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Don’t know what gives with the sketch, it comes out upside down even after I inverted it
Guess I’m really confused today
Easy peasy Cliff, I just read it while doing my yoga.

But yes, the forces you refer to are my cause for concern too, and we are not the only ones. As well, I wonder what kind of movement you will get as compared to using a regular fifth wheel hitch, and I really like mine for undulating ground which I find myself on regularly.
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Old 08-10-2018, 11:41 AM   #17
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There is a modification of the gooseneck hitch that allows the hitch ball to retract beneath the truck bed when not in use. A cousin of mine, a retired ag teacher, has one. He pulls horse and cattle trailers with his pickup, and when he is not using the hitch the ball is retracted so he has the full use of his pickup truck bed. I have not looked the mechanism over closely so I'm not sure how it works.
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Old 08-10-2018, 12:09 PM   #18
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i do not think escape will modify the trailer for a goose neck adapter i think this has come up before. I'm confused by why you would want to do this unless you have another goose neck trailer you need to haul? But if you want to have your truck set up to pull a goose neck trailer when not hauling your escape that is easily done with an Anderson hitch. Escape will add the attachment to the 5.0 in order to use the Anderson hitch. The Anderson hitch attaches to a ball in the bed just like a goose neck and is light easily to remove so you can hitch your goose neck trailer up to the ball on the same truck. I use a turn over ball so when you are not hauling anything you turn it over and have a flat bed.
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Old 08-10-2018, 02:11 PM   #19
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Just talked to Escape and they do not install a pure gooseneck hitch. If you don't ask the question you will never hear the word, "Yes!"

Why do I want this? Because of much more space in the pickup bed and the simplicity of the system.

I knew about the Andersen hitch, but a gooseneck would be even simpler. We will now be purchasing the Andersen hitch for our 5.0

It's been an interesting exercise though.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 08-10-2018, 03:10 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
The torsional stress on the trailer frame is a function of the distance from frame to pivot point (ball), and the the magnitude of the force. It doesn't matter whether you replace the pin with a longer Goose Box, or extend the stock pin box with something like the Ranch Hitch Adapter, or build something new from scratch - the effect on the trailer frame is the same.
�� This has me a bit confused. Wouldn’t the extra length of the adapter act as a lever and change the way force is applied to kingpin?
Yes, if you extend the pin box with something clamped to the king pin (such as a Ranch Hitch Adapter), the king pin stresses are changed, too. Since the pin box is rated for at least 15,000 pounds of trailer, that abuse is probably not a problem; the most likely concern is with the trailer frame, which doesn't know or care how the bit between the frame and ball (pin box + extension, Goose Box, custom) is constructed.

Chotch, in your drawing the lever arm that matters to the frame goes all the way to the trailer frame, not just to the king pin.
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