I'm looking at toy haulers for my race car and most of them are 5th wheels. My F350 has a B&W gooseneck from the factory, and I use the bed quite often when I go diving, camping, etc.

Any thoughts on buying a 5th wheel to gooseneck adapter, so I can use the built in gooseneck hitch? or any thoughts on just installing a 5th wheel hitch instead?

 

Most 5th wheel manufactors will void the warranty doing this. The frames and pin boxes are not designed for the stress of a gooseneck.

A 5th wheel spreads the stress out over a wider area.

I would check with the mfgr.

 

That makes sense. Next question, is it difficult to remove the 5th wheel hitch? Will I need to remove the factory installed B&W gooseneck hitch to install the 5th?

 

B & W makes a companion to their gooseneck. That would be the route to go.

 

Did some Google-fu and found this: Companion 5th Fifth Wheel Hitch | B & W Trailer Hitches

Is that correct?

 

yup, that's it.

 

I got tired of taking my B&W companion in and out. It is heavy. Then I split my head open on the garage soffit... so I converter mine to gooseneck. 32' toy hauler maybe 13,000 lb loaded. I don't notice any difference other than NO HITCH .

Plus I went with 9" offset so I have a bit more clearance.

Everyone said not to do it......

As for warranty .... I have never let that hold me back.

RV2 9" Offset Adapter | Pop Up HitchPop Up Hitch

 

I did put chains on it BTW

 

Sounds like you're pretty happy with it? Anything you are unhappy with? I watched one of the e-trailer videos of the conversion, it looks straight forward. What they didn't cover, was what exactly you need to do in order to hitch up. Makes it seem like I have to pull out a wrench every time?

 

I am definitely happy with it.

To hitch up you just drop it on the ball, it lock itself.
To take it off you just pull that cable you can see in the pic and the lever comes up and jack it up.
No tools.

Really easy.

Install was easy. An hour maybe. For the one I have you need to drill 4 or 6 holes in the pin box. There are a bunch of different ones out there.

I am not saying that it is better or worse than a 5th wheel hitch. I have no idea. I used both with the same trailer and I notice no difference. For me this is much better because I haul a water tank so I have to put the hitch in every time I want to use the trailer. If I could just leave the 5th wheel in there I would have stuck with it but it got sick of taking it in and out.

 

Okay, so all the adjusting of the screws and bolts was just part of the installation. I don't have to do that each time I'd hitch up, just drop it on and it locks?

Do you need to pull the rear tailgate each time? Thanks for the info, really helpful!

 

Correct, for this particular one you just drop it on and it locks. When you do it you can see the lever at the hitch go up then back down (lock). No bolts no anything. You need chains tho, you have to hook up the chains.

Just open the tailgate like you would for a 5th wheel. My tailgate has never been off the truck.

 

I would just encourage you to have a conversation with the trailer manufacture to see if it will void the warranty.

Other than that a gooseneck is not difficult.

 

Surprised this hasn't come up...................If your truck has a hitch from the factory, it's not B&W, it's Reese. If it is infact B&W, it's not factory. Clarify which it is?

My personal opinion is to use the correct hitch for the application. I'm also in the market for a 5th wheel camper, even though I have all the gooseneck stuff, while I'm not terribly enthused about paying up for the 5th wheel, I feel its the best way to go.

 

There's both Horror stories and stories of Glory out there when it comes to this style of hitching a 5th wheels.

I would agree to check with either the trailer manufacture or the manufacture of the frame for their view prior to doing the conversion.

After that it's all your decision and as the saying goes from there "You gotta pay to Play" and deal with whatever comes along afterwards.

Kind of like the big controversy on putting LT tires on an RV rather than ST tires. Talk about another can of worms best left unopened.