I cut a 3/8 piece of plate steel from an old deer stand that we were taking off the ranch and its about 14 inches by 36 inches, to me it sounds like i got the makings of a gooseneck hitch.At the most the truck its going in will just be pulling my Big Tex 12,000 trailer(and im going to keep the toung weigh at about 1,500 pound).So with a trailer that light will i still have to reinforce it.Also how should I attach it (weld it or bolt it).

Thanks for the input

 

i dont know about yours. but i can tell u my truck has a drop down gooseneck ball in the bed and it has an inch thick piece of metal between the bed and frame and its welded too the frame! hope that helps!

 

Your plate will work just fine. All you need to do is put spacers (something like 1" pipe or square tubing) between the bed and the frame where the bolts pass through. Cut them to fit snug between the bed and the frame. Be sure and use grade 8 bolts and nuts, with lock washers on each.

On edit - All that's assuming you plan on mounting the plate on top of the bed, rather than underneath it. I don't have any experience with mounting it under the bed, I'd guess welding might work better there. I had an '89 F250 with a piece of channel iron welded across the frame under the bed that the ball mounted to - that worked well, but it was done when I bought it, so I can't tell you much else about installing it.