Homemade Gooseneck hitch

I need a gooseneck hitch ! Anyone make their own hitch ? I would like to make one for my e99, and i would prefer not to pull the bed, and just do it with the bed on but i'll listen to any of your ideas. Please tell and show me what you got.:rockon:

I no you said you wanted to build your own but if you buy one and it breaks you have someone to blame instead of yourself

You can get one off ebay for 200ish. I have a flip ball or some crap like that in my truck and it work awsome.

If you are deturmend to do it your self. you will need 1/2 plate, thisk chanel iron, and a sleve for the ball to slide in. cut you holes in plat and chanel, weld in sleve with ball in so it dosent warp. weld the plate to the chanel, then get your mesuerments and weld it in under your bed. drill whole in bed from bottom then cut our and were you drilled from the top. you should be good to go.

Or you could weld a ball to a plate and use were your beld bolt to the frame. but I recomend ebay hitch.


onedit sadle the chanel in to the frame.

If your pulling it on a farm I'de say build your own. If your going to be pulling on the highway I would have someone that specializes in hitches build you one or at least have a certified welder build one. But buy the time you would pay for the material and labor you could go with a bolt in one like B&W, Drawtite, hidden hitch, ect. install it yourself and have some beer money left over.

When i installed my b&w i didnt have to remove my bed. It installed with it in place. Personally i would buy one from a reputable dealer.

I can understand your desire to DIY but I honestly think this is one of those things that a person should just buy. Especially when comparing the cost vs risk.

B&W all the way...

Spatel23 said:

I can understand your desire to DIY but I honestly think this is one of those things that a person should just buy. Especially when comparing the cost vs risk.

Click to expand...

Yup. You never know.... I wouldn't want to face the butt end of somebodies injury or death if it went wrong

I don't care how good of a fabricator/welder you are I would not build my own. God forbid anything happens you are liable. By the time u get material plus your time its not worth saving a few bucks.

I have seen people make there own but I would recommend just buying one. Unless you are a good fabricator/welder, have all the material already, and have more time than money you will be better off buying one.

Garrett

Probably getting paid at work to post this from my D1

It really does not matter how good of a welder/fabricator you are.....The manufacturers have something that you probably don't.... teams of lawyers

My '03 had a home built one in it... I didn't build it, but the PO did. It was built like a Brick S*** house! It felt more substantial than my dads B&W flip over. Would I ever build my own, no way, but since it was already in there, and the welds looked good, I used it.

-French

I used to install b&w hitches all the time. They are built really well, easy to install and like others said have lawyers

B&W-had three myself, dad had one and my g'pa has had two or three - but if you are bound and determined to DIY heres some in my old Dodge for an idea.
The plate was 1/2" thick, went almost fender to fender and was ~2' front to back. It had a hole in each corner with a bolt that went down through the top of the frame and were welded onto the plate with nuts and washers on the underside. The ball went through the plate and bed, the nut and ball were welded on. I DID NOT DO THIS, THE PO DID AND I REFUSED TO USE IT DUE TO VISABLE BENDING!!!

We built one. My opinion was it wasn't built as heavy as I would have liked. My step dad a fabricator/ welder who has one very similar to mine swears it is extremely heavy and over built..... After a trip of over 1000mi pulling a 32ft stock trailer. Mostly empty only a run from san antonio to ft worth with it loaded with furniture and house hold stuff. I'd guess less that 15k trailer weight. It is bent. The hitch I saved some cash on is now bent and welded to my truck so... I now will be grinding the pos off. My initial thought of bracing would have aleviated the issue but hindsight is not valuable in this case since I could literally have injured others, my self, my wife, totaled a few vehicles etc. I personally will end up removing the hitch which will require at least unbolting and raising the bed one side at a time while a grind the welds off or full bed removal. That $399 b&w hitch that is a no drill full bolt on sounds dirt cheap now

One of the vendors here needs to start selling these.

Most of the vendors can get them, all you have to do is ask.

I need to look in my parts inventory.... I might have a used B&W that I could hook a local guy up with for a decent price.

Buy one.. It's not worth fabbing one up.. I have one I'm taking out of my dually because I'm trading the truck in next week but I think a friend of mine is going to take it.. If he doesn't want it and you still don't have one I'll PM you..

I can use a good hitch. Check the laws and regulations on the hitches before starting to fabricate they need to be certified if I'm not mistaken. They have a rating for a reason