Attwood also makes a nice gooseneck hitch with retractable ball that's
rated for 20k lbs.
Having used and installed both good and bad, it's worth putting a little
extra cash into a good hitch over a cheap item. The quality of the steel,
machine work, engineering, etc is drastically different.
As a matter of safety and strength all gooseneck and fifth wheel hitches
should be mounted to the frame rails, NOT the bed (which is only held onto
the frame by 4-6 grade 5 bolts and plenty of help from gravity). This is
legally required in California, and probably most other states. Most fancy
gooseneck hitches are only about 1 foot square and are available in one
flavor. The installers then find a way to mount the hitch to the frame,
often with a large 1/4-3/8" plate bolted to the frame and set either on top
of or under the bed. A hole must be cut in the bed large enough for the
hitch mechanism to recess into, which is usually about 6-8" square.
Reese and Attwood both make some adapter setups to bolt a gooseneck hitch
to the frame with minimal to no drilling. Any good RV store should be able
to give you all of the information you could need in a few minutes. AVOID
U-Haul at all costs!!! If you can't find the bolt-in setup, any good RV or
trailer supply house should be able to install a gooseneck or 5th wheel
hitch with custom materials for roughly the same price as the kits (less
material cost, more labor).
My old "Beast" came with a high-tech gooseneck "Farmer's Hitch" when I got
it, which was simply a section of 10"x1/2" steel channel welded between the
frame rails with a large nut welded to the channel and a hole in the
bed. The hitch ball just threaded into the hole in the bed when needed and
got taken out when not needed.
On Licenses - In California it is legal to tow a gooseneck or fifth wheel
trailer up to 15k lbs with a regular class C driver's license. Weights
over this limit, or trailers with more than two axles, or over 35' require
a class A or non-commercial version. As I understand, this is fairly
standard, but I'm not an interstate driver so this may not apply
everywhere. Most of the RV'ers you see out there just have the same basic
driver's license they got to drive their 1st car, with a little more behind
the wheel experience since then.
On Brakes - brakes are required in California on all trailers that exceed
2000 lbs., and on any trailer that exceeds a certain percentage of the tow
vehicle's gross weight. Plain and simple, they're just a good idea for any
substantial weight. A good, modern, electric brake controller makes life
very simple, and your towing very safe for only a little $$$. A good
Tekonsha or similar controller costs under $75 for a two axle controller
and can be installed in less than an hour.
Kevin
Kevin Sellstrom, W6KTB E-Mail:ksellstr@softcom.net
***Wilton, California***
'99 Dodge Dakota CC, 4x4, 5.2,
'69 Dodge D200, 4x2, 318,
Also: '83 Volvo 244Ti, '85 Volvo 244, '68 Volvo 122S, '98 Specialized
Rockhopper A1FS
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