So the wife and I went to look at campers today and ended up buying a 2006 silverback. We just went to look!! Now I have never towed a fifth wheel and need some advice. The camper weighs in at 12184lbs dry and max is 15500. Now the questions.
1-It has a goose neck adp on it now. Keep it or go fifth wheel? adv. or disadv either way, a couple of bolts and its off.
2-If I stay goose neck does the ford setup come with a place to hook chains?
3- If I go fifth wheel do I just order the reese signature series hitch and every thing will hook right up.

I need to pick it up next saturday so if I go fifth wheel I will need to gat it ordered on monday and hopefully get it by friday. I'm not sure if this is possible and might have to bite the bullet and get the goose neck ball for my fifth wheel prep package. Any advice wil help. thanks,Jason

 

Wait for Epic to answer, i think B and W turnover ball and companion 5th wheel hitch is what you want. Then you can go with goose or 5th. Epic just posted an install video too. You need atleast 16000 lb 5th hitch for the trailer weight, bigger weight is better. I think the other option to review in these threads is do you have the 5 th wheel prep package or hitch, ford does a reese 16k or 25k but this doesnt leave floor as flat. The b and w has hold downs through box for safety chains. See Epics video. My opinion is dont use 5th conversion to goose on the trailer, better to use the 5th hitch.

 

Go with the 5th wheel hitch. If you have the 5th wheel prep comming then you should get the hitch your truck is set up for. I have a short box and wanted to keep my slider so I removed the 5th wheel prep. had my rails put in the new truck....

 

Forgot, if you have a short box you will have to be super careful when you turn. A short box should have a slider hitch or an extended pin box like the Reese Sidewinder. Broke 2 rear windows on my last truck..

 

I do have a long box with the 5th wheel prep package. I would like to do a 5th wheel that would use the factory mounting system and from reading on here I think I need either the reese elite series or the signature with the adapter. Can anybody tell me what to order? I read on here that a guy ordered from american rv company and ordered the cheaper signature series and recieved the elite series because the signature series is being discontinued. Any confirmation on this?

 

If you want to go to ford and pay a premium for the fifth wheel hitch this is the P/N BC3Z-19D520-A or you can search on google for Reese P/N 30142R. Or click here Reese Elite Custom-Signature Series Fifth Wheel and Gooseneck ball Hitches For Ford Trucks.
They have the 18K and the 25K. This hitch is designed to drop into the fifth wheel prep package that came from the factory built into your truck.

The goose kit is ford P/N BC3Z-19F503-A. i haven't been able to find these outside of Ford so i sprung for the $218.00 price tag from the dealer. It comes with the ball and the safety chain pucks in a nice heavy duty carrying case.

I have both Fifth wheel RV and goose neck race car trailer trailers and my advice to you is to remove the goose neck adapter form the the trailer that was designed to be a fifth wheel because your pin box will have a longer life. If you have already laid down your hard earned cash i hope you fully inspected that area for any stress damage and are fully aware of what could be hiding behind the fiberglass panels. Just my .02 not trying to scare or discourage!


Hope that helps.

 

I guess if i would have scrolled down on the link i provided I would have seen the goose neck kit is available from the same company listed as P/N 30137R

 

Sounds like the 5th wheel is the way to go for sure. I will tell them to take the goose neck of the trailer so that we can see what is there. Should there be a nylon pad on there for friction or is that only on certain trailers? I know I have seen it on some. What else should I look at? The trailer is three years old and didn't look like it was towed very much. The tires looked like new. I will be calling a few places on monday looking for a hitch. Will the reese 3014 work or do I need the 3014R? Is there a cheaper way to go? I don't mind spending the money,but if some body knows a good vender I would listen. So far I have found the reese hitch for $1229.00. Is that a good price? I know very little about 5th wheels. Thanks, Jason

 

I would have ordered the factory fifth wheel prep if it was available at the time. The Reese hitches are premium hitches and work great. Having said that, I am completely happy with the B&W solution I ended up with. Rickatic helped me settle on B&W and he referred me to many other very happy users. It's a great system rated at 18K. The big advantages of the B&W is the rail-free design of the Companion 5th wheel hitch. You get the goose neck option and the Companion hitch uses a post that inserts into the goose neck hitch. It is also very manageable from a weight perspective. Some of the sliders are very heavy and cannot be installed by one person.

I don't have any experience with the goose neck adapters that are found on some fifth wheels. Like hoefer mentioned, it is commonly stated that they can create unwanted stresses on the trailer but I personally have not been able to verify that. There are a lot of trailers out there setup like that.

The B&W hitch would give you the option of installing the under-bed goose-neck hitch first and then adding the companion receiver later. Not sure how the Reese works but I think it is the same.

If your experience is anywhere close to mine, you'll love that fifth wheel. Great towing setup. You're going to have to check all the variables like how far you can tun without impacting the trailer cap to the cab etc. There's a learning curve but it's now easy for me. There is something just so satisfying when you back into the king pin and watch it slider over the hitch and lock in place. Kind of a wanna-be semi driver experience.

And yes, if you end up with a fifth wheel hitch, don't forget the nylon ring. My buddy told me to get one and I shrugged it off. It was on my second pull when I discovered scratches through the nice B&W coating. I made my buddy buy me lunch for not convincing me forcefully enough!

Finally, take my advice with the proper perspective. I'm in my rookie season with the setup so I'm still figuring things out. There are many, many others here that have a lot more experience than I.

 

both are about the same as far as stress.. its all on the pin box on the trailer.
forward and back , side to side.

5th wheel is easy hitching with that big plate and notch for the trailer pin. ,
gooseneck is a small target. you have to manually chain the safety chains,
not on the 5th wheel.. done with the hitch head.

so, if you are gooseneck experienced, no sweat. I'd do as Epic suggests..
get the B&W, use the gooseneck to get it home, and try it out..
if its too much hassles connecting, then add the 5th wheel adapter (hitch head) to the B&W.. probably be less money overall than the Resse anyhow! $400 and some install and you're ready to go! $800 for the hitch head.. (both free shipping on ebay) (you'd have to change the trailer side too)

reese 18k head on ebay is almost $1100, rail kit extra http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Reese...item4aaa4079dc

Sam

 

Another happy B&W user here!

 

Coming from the horse world and construction business. All my trailers are Gooseneck and none are 5th wheel. I never have understood why most RVs are always 5th wheel and all Horse trailers are GN. It can't be weight as there are many horsetrailers that are far heavier than most RV trailers. And the same goes for Construction Equipment trailers. Almost all GN ***** are rated at 25,000lbs.

I've always kinda thought it had more to do with the horse and equipment trailers needing more articulation because they end up off road more often and the RV trailers needed more stability because of their higher wind resistence especially to cross winds.

If the trailer has the GN hitch on it, and your truck is coming with the Ford 5th wheel Prep. It will only cost you $200+ to buy the GN ball and drive it home to try it out. If you don't like the GN or somebody can explain why the 5ver is a better/safer option, you can always add the 5th wheel hitch to the Ford Prep, It's not a big deal. The Ford Factory Prep is ready for both. If your truck does not have the Ford Factory Prep. Then B&W all the way. They are proven product that works great.

From the stand point of using your truck for other everyday task. It's a WHOLE lot easier to throw the GN ball behind the seat or if you have the B&W, just turn it over in the bed than it is to find a place to store the 5th wheel hitch when you need the whole bed for something else.

 

Pained Horse I see your point, it's a grand cheeper to go the GN route. In MN it is illegal to have passengers in the camper if it is hooked up GN style and ok to do if hooked 5th wheel style. It's probably not safe either was though. Do you guys carry passengers in the camper as you travel? Oh, there has to be a line of communication between the cab and camper.

 

Normally No I don't carry passengers in the trailer. It's more comfortable in the truck than in the horse trailer. But I will admit that I've had a person or two climb in the trailer and go to sleep while I drove. With modern cell phone coverage, you can almost always call between cell phones. And I always have a set of walkie talkies in case we are in an area with out coverage.

A good friend has a really large GN LQ horse trailer. It has a 17' LQ with double slides. So getting inside of it while driving is difficult with the slides in. I'll bet his trailer is 22,000lbs with horses and all his gear. Triple axle "H" rated tires. My LQ was 16,000lbs loaded. So I know the GN will handle the weight.

Never had much trouble getting the Gooseneck hitch to hitch. It's not that hard of a target to back under.

Heres my buddy's rig, Sorry it's a GM truck pulling it. But it shows a large rig on a GN hitch which is standard in the Horse world

 

Do a little research on line and you can get some cheaper prices on the Reese Elite that matches up with the Ford hitch prep. My buddy just purchased his hitch online and I will check with him to see where he bought it but it was much cheaper than the Ford price. He got the 18K which for your Silverback like our Ceder Creek we have, it is more than enough. Our rigs only weigh in at 12,500# loaded. Also the teflon disk is there to act like a lubricate between the metal surfaces instead of adding grease. My buddy saw what must have been an old trucker, because he had coated the hitch head with grease like they do on the big rigs. You don't need to do this. Personally I like backing up to the fifth wheel hitch, you can see it in the mirror or looking over your shoulder to line it up. You will love the fiver it tows much better than a travel trailer, easier to hook up, and steady as she goes down the hiway. Enjoy, and happy RV'ing.