Can someone explain

If you have ever seen a big horse or livestock trailer, it kind of looks like a 5th wheel with long hitch pointing straight down.

I just guessing here but I believe they allow more room in the bed, a bigger frontal area, less chance to hit bed, and allow for heavier loads to be towed.

I've never give it must thought, I just kind of took them for granted growing up and living in Midwest Ohio. We have a lot of this type of trailer here, and if you have horses or are moving livestock, you got a gooseneck. They have been around longer than pickup type fifth wheels. Probably due to the expense of the 5th wheel hitch over a gooseneck hitch.

one big advantage of a gooseneck is that when trailers not hooked up, bed has room for haybales etc. without having to remove the 5th wheel platform. Some goosenecks let you unscrew the ball and reverse it in the bed to give you a completely "stock" flat bed.

Both hitches place the pin weight over the truck rear axle and have similar towing characteristic. The 5th wheel is like a semi truck. It has a slotted disk that supports the weight and a latch that holds the trailer mounted pin in the slot. A goose neck has a ball mounted at floor level. The latch is on the bottom of a long arm (neck) that sticks out from the front of the trailer and then down into the bed. The ball supports the pin weight.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but is there an advantage to a gooseneck hitch over a fifth-wheel hitch, or vice-versa? Sounds like it would be advantageous to convert a fifth-wheel to a gooseneck set-up, so I wouldn't give up my bed when not pulling a fifth-wheel.

Joseph

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but is there an advantage to a gooseneck hitch over a fifth-wheel hitch, or vice-versa? Sounds like it would be advantageous to convert a fifth-wheel to a gooseneck set-up, so I wouldn't give up my bed when not pulling a fifth-wheel.

Joseph
yup a gooseneck does take up less bed space when not pulling. That's why lots of farmers/ranchers like them.

I wouldn't advise converting from 5er to gooseneck, I use an adapter that does just that on my camper a few times until I could get the fifth wheel plate. It changes the stresses on the king pin by dropping the pulling point about 18 inches and you could see it flexing in ways it wasn't engineered to do. I would expect damage in the long term.IMO

gooseneck has a higher weight rating than a 5er

Fifth wheels are easier to hook up.

Pickup 5th wheels only tilt front back not side to side (at least all of the ones I've seen). A camper would be more stable using a 5th wheel than a gooseneck. They are lighter and usually higher so wind wants to push them versus a gooseneck that normally carries a lot more weight.

Gooseneck you need safety chains(legally;) )...

5th wheel no chains as it has the kingpin lock...

I have ran both, the 5th wheel pulls so much better. There is not any comparison. As far as the weight capacities, your still limited by the truck not the actual hitch components. Besides if the gooseneck was really higher capacity don't you think you would see them on semi trucks? I think the highest capacity gooseneck I have ever seen is 30K on the other hand 5th wheels you can get up to around 80K. But like I said your limited by your truck. You also have to look at the stress factor of the trailer. That gooseneck has a long hitch from the top of the trailer to the ball. thats a lot of leverage to deal with. The 5th wheel has a much shorter distance from kingpin to top of trailer frame. Thus having less leverage and less stress on trailer.

Commercial Off-the-shelf equipment for gooseneck hitches (plate, ball, etc.) are only available for up to 26K lbs. As in all ball pull trailers, safety chains must be used and the chain plates must anchor to the frame of the truck (not the thin metal in the bed). This does not make the gooseneck setup simpler to install than the fiver, but does leave a relatively clean bed when not towing.

Specialty gooseneck/ball trailering equipment are available in "cold-rolled steel" 3" balls, with capacities up to 108K, for manufactured/mobile home toters, etc. but the mounting hardware for these would exceed any light truck's net carrying capacities, leaving no room to tow anything with them (or upgrade to 33K rear axle on 24.5" wheels).

Fifth wheel hitches from Holland range from 26K to 220K capacity on 2.5" to 5" kingpins. I use the FW6000 (26K) Holland on my MDT, which can handle trailers without Air Brakes, on a 1" gooseneck plate that is mounted to the frame rails. This gives me a capacity of 36K Gross Combined Weight for the truck/trailer(s) combination.

If you ever anticipate towing double trailers, the law does not allow double ball towing under any on highway conditions, it must be fifth wheel to ball.

RF

If you ever anticipate towing double trailers, the law does not allow double ball towing under any on highway conditions, it must be fifth wheel to ball.

RF

This statement may not be true. We tow doubles for a living. The bulk of what we pull is a gooseneck and a bumper, but we have done two bumper pulls before. They have their rules so screwed up its hard to say what is illegal. There are federal quidelines and each state has the final say. At least that is what we are told. We are DOT legal and stop at all scales.

anybody know what the max towing is w/ a 2500 dmax? owners manual says 12,500 off the hitch w/ load distribution, can't find a rating for gooseneck or 5th wheel. Am looking to buy heavy duty utility with dump bed or flat,but don't want more trailer than truck can handle. Thanks in advance.

22,000 lbs GCVWR.

So, if your truck weighs 8000 lbs, it would be:

22000 - 8000 = 14,000 lbs.

Hope that helps. There's a little more to it than that but I think you can figure out the the little extra's like pin weight, GVWR, tire limitations, etc.

You weight police guys stifle the response to jump in here and confuse the issue. This was only intended to be a simple math exercise, not a 15 minute disertation on the physics and construction of the GMC 2500/3500 framed truck.

Have a nice day. :rolleyes:

Thanks Dave,
Is that the factory limit or what? I have been driving class 8 trucks for 14 years so do understand GVW,GCWR,etc.. but did not find the rating you gave me anywhere(i neglected to look for it on the door jam sticker). I was wondering if this truck would tow a backhoe, weight about 16,000 plus trailer,might be too much for it even with banks,06 6-speed,and prodigy brake controller.

Well, in that case...

22,000 lbs was out of my manual and the brochure that I got before I got the truck.

As you already know, driving the Class 8's, that the 22k is the GM CYA number.

The real limitation on a stock truck is the tires at 3084 lbs each.

Here's a breakdown of each limiting component:

Tires: LT245/75R16 Load range E - 3084 lbs
Rims: 16x6.5 Alcoa's - 3200 lbs each
Front Axle: 4800 lbs
Rear Axle: 10,500 lbs
Frame : don't know, but probably somewhere around 15,000 lbs
GCVWR: advertised - 22,000 lbs, guys on here have pulled 30-40k on short distances (<50 miles)
Brakes: Hydroboosted disc's all the way around.

That's the best I know. I will tell you that with the Dmax and Allison in this fram of truck, the front axle is at 4400 curb weight. You don't have much to play with up there. GM uses monester Torsion bars and I don't know if anyone is making any stronger aftermarket units.

Hope that helps you.

Thanks again dave, only way a guy would know is to static scale when loaded,and see if load pushed you around on freeway,sounds like i'd be grossing around 24/25 k. Ball check,gentlemen.

You're welcome.

If you've had your CDL for 14yrs and driven anything of substance, 25k with these power plants won't be a problem for you.

The best truck in the world won't make up for a crappy driver.

Sorry, I'm on a roll tonight.

I did 33,000 gross with a 2500hd from Tracy, CA. to Kansas City, Mo. with no real problems. Would not do it again or even suggest it. Had no idea. It was 3 old tractors and for some reason they had filled the tires with water. Still no excuse and please NO FLAMES!!

Rick,if you went over the 70 corridor,my hat is off to you, I believe that would pucker anybody up real quick,Got Religion?

Dave, I agree 100%,driver judgement is 90% of it, but yes I've got well over a million miles,no accidents. Pulled 48 ft+ vans,mostly double and triple 28's all across the western 11 and been to most of the lower 48.Stay strictly in the sunshine nowadays.
I think the truck would do it,it would not be moving that kind of load very often. I guess i'll have to check w/ the Chippies to check requirements for breakaway system,etc. Don't want to play around with my license,they love to give you driving awards out here.

Please don't remove your hat for stupidity. I have since learned my lesson. It was 80 by the way.

ignorance and stupidity are two different things,the first can be rectified,the latter is permanent.

I just love that saying.

Rick,
I wish we could put insulation around some of these threads to keep the laymen and amateurs from trying to sound intelligent.

It's tough to have an intellectual discussion when the everybody from the weight police to MADD swings by to do some "Seagull Management".

Sorry, that's my one and only pet peeve here on the "place". 5 minutes of reading and they're an expert, 10 minutes of reading and they're a GD Design Engineer for GM.

OK, I done ranting for now. No not really, I'll just go back to simmering.