5th wheel hitch

[Vicki A.]

I have been looking at several different 5th wheel hitches, as I get ready for the new baby!

I have looked at most of them, but today I found the Anderson hitch. It is very interesting in that there is no plate, just an "A" frame with a ball on top, which in turn connects to your typical rails on the truck bed. The rig connection has to be modified slightly, but it doesn't seem to bed at difficult? Best part...the "A" frames is only 43 lbs.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this or knows anything about them. Would it even work on an Escape?
Vicki

[Donna D.]

Link? I also need to make a decision.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Vicki A.

I have been looking at several different 5th wheel hitches, as I get ready for the new baby!

I have looked at most of them, but today I found the Anderson hitch. It is very interesting in that there is no plate, just an "A" frame with a ball on top, which in turn connects to your typical rails on the truck bed. The rig connection has to be modified slightly, but it doesn't seem to bed at difficult? Best part...the "A" frames is only 43 lbs.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this or knows anything about them. Would it even work on an Escape?
Vicki

Hi: Vicki A... That hitch is for a goose neck trailer like a Scamp 19. You need a 2" King Pin Hitch with rails like a Reece, or Husky true 5th wheel hitch. Here's a pic of our EZRoller Husky Husky Towing Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[padlin]

I had looked at it too, the weight was appealing, till I noticed the goose neck part of it...

I went with the B&W Patriot. RV 5th Fifth Wheel Hitch | B & W Trailer Hitches

Well thought of over on the big RV forums 5th wheel section.

My research did not find any BAD 5th wheel hitches, they all do the job.

I believe ETI uses the Reese Pro Series 15k for their installs.

[Brian B-P]

An unfortunate consequence of the Escape 5.0 being much lighter than almost every other fifth-wheel trailer is that all of the available hitches are heavier than necessary. The silver lining in that cloud is that you can pick randomly and they will all be strong and durable enough! I think the choice is all about convenience of use, and maybe the latch design.

The Anderson Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection can certainly be used; you need the whole system, including the coupler plate which attaches to the pinbox and couples to that ball on top of the pyramidal frame. In using this system, you would be converting the trailer from a fifth-wheel to a ball-and-socket coupling, as used on conventional trailers and common on goosenecks.

Because it is a ball hitch and not a kingpin-and-plate, safety chains would be required in many (perhaps most) jurisdictions. That is my biggest problem with this approach, since the chains would be annoying.

With this system, it would hitch like a Scamp, but you can't literally use the Anderson hardware with a Scamp 19' (or the Anderson coupler with a hitch sold for the Scamp), because the ball size would not match. Anderson uses the 2-5/16" ball size which is common for Class 3 and higher conventional hitches, while Scamp uses the same 2" as conventional Escapes.

[Brian B-P]

I note that both Anderson and B&W offer hitch systems which mount to bed rails as are commonly used with basic 5th wheel hitches, and other systems which sit on the bed floor and anchor to a ball mount in the middle of the bed. B&W also offers the new "puck" mounting system as offered by Ford as optional original equipment in the F-350, and supported by other manufacturers such as Reese.

[Vicki A.]

Sorry Donna - don't know how to do links....but it is on the Andersen Hitch site.

Alf, you are right, kind of.....it looks like they are turning a 5th wheel into a goose neck style.

I do have 2 concerns with this type of hitch;
1. Would it void any warranties because of the necessary modifications.
2. Is that "A" frame really strong enough?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Vicki A.

Sorry Donna - don't know how to do links....but it is on the Andersen Hitch site.

... and I linked to it in my earlier post - assuming that this the product you were talking about, Vicki:

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

The Anderson Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection ...

Originally Posted by Vicki A.

Alf, you are right, kind of.....it looks like they are turning a 5th wheel into a goose neck style.

They are turning it into a ball-and-socket coupling, which - yes - is what most people mean when they say "goose neck hitch".

Originally Posted by Vicki A.

I do have 2 concerns with this type of hitch;
1. Would it void any warranties because of the necessary modifications.
2. Is that "A" frame really strong enough?

The modification to the Escape makes no difference structurally; I would check with Reace, but I don't see a reason for concern. There are many conversion systems which extend the coupler much lower, to match the more typical location of a ball intended for a gooseneck - they can be a structural concern for the trailer frame, but this one shouldn't be.

The pyramidal (three-dimensional "A"?) frame looks more than strong enough to me. It is rated at 20,000 lbs GTWR and 4,500 lbs tongue/pin weight, so I'm sure it is more than strong enough for a two-ton pound Escape.

[FMLNM]

Originally Posted by padlin

I had looked at it too, the weight was appealing, till I noticed the goose neck part of it...

I went with the B&W Patriot. RV 5th Fifth Wheel Hitch | B & W Trailer Hitches

Well thought of over on the big RV forums 5th wheel section.

My research did not find any BAD 5th wheel hitches, they all do the job.

I believe ETI uses the Reese Pro Series 15k for their installs.

That is the same hitch we are using with our 2008 escape 5.0 and it works great. The beauty of it is that you can make adjustments to the position of the hitch head...moving it 2" forward or backward...without moving the hitch itself so you can eke out a little more distance between the hitch head and the cab. On our shortbed (5') Frontier it gives us enough room to make a 90 degree turn without hitting the truck cab. In our Frontier crew cab short bed it is mounted a bit behind the axle of course due to the bed size.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by padlin

I went with the B&W Patriot. RV 5th Fifth Wheel Hitch | B & W Trailer Hitches

Originally Posted by FMLNM

That is the same hitch we are using with our 2008 escape 5.0 and it works great.

Just to be clear, I believe that Fran and Dave are referring to the B&W Patriot as "the same hitch", not the Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection that Vicki was originally posting about.

[FMLNM]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Just to be clear, I believe that Fran and Dave are referring to the B&W Patriot as "the same hitch", not the Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection that Vicki was originally posting about.

That is correct...we are using the B&W Patriot hitch. Thanks for clarifying.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by FMLNM

That is the same hitch we are using with our 2008 escape 5.0 and it works great. The beauty of it is that you can make adjustments to the position of the hitch head...moving it 2" forward or backward...without moving the hitch itself so you can eke out a little more distance between the hitch head and the cab. On our shortbed (5') Frontier it gives us enough room to make a 90 degree turn without hitting the truck cab. In our Frontier crew cab short bed it is mounted a bit behind the axle of course due to the bed size.

Good to know it works as advertised. Now all I have to do is figure out how to install it.

[FMLNM]

Originally Posted by padlin

Good to know it works as advertised. Now all I have to do is figure out how to install it.

We took it to a good horse trailer maintenance shop with welding services and they took care of it for us! It was a bit of a challenge securing it in a short bed Frontier but they came up with a solution that did not involve drilling into the frame..which would have voided the warranty of the truck and made it eligible for resale only as salvage. No problem with a standard pickup bed.