Questions about buying and towing a 5th wheel

bluedge8 · Feb 21, 2015

So, we are looking to buy a 5th wheel camper to set on a leased lake lot this summer and I have some questions.
How do you know if the trailer is tall enough for the truck. Mine is a 1996 F350 that will eventually have a 4" lift. (without finding out the hard way:toast

is there a max length that you would consider for being able to pull a second trailer (in MN, we can use a 5th wheel to pull a boat) Overall length for pulling two trailers in MN is 70' I believe and I do have a crew cab long box.

is there any advantage to converting to a gooseneck besides the fact I have a gooseneck in the truck already and I don't have a 5th wheel plate currently?

Thanks, looking forward to upgrading to a 5th wheel camper.

psduser1 · Feb 21, 2015

Most 5ver s have adjustable height hitches, stock height pickup you'll have no problems at all. Even with a 4" lift, you should be ok, not perfect maybe, but ok. Some guys have added a lift kit on their trailer, but usually not till you get around a 6" lift. That kinda depends on the truck.
As far as lenghth, I'd back the truck up to the pin, and measure, the advertised length of trailers can mean several different things, depending on brand. Thirty foot may mean from pin to back bumper, or nose to tail, or some other random measurement. That's why I suggest backing the truck up under the hitch, and getting an actual, factual measurement.

As far as towing, between a bumper pull or fifth wheel, no contest. Fifth wheel hands down.
If your only twice a year towing, 50 miles at a time, it's not a big deal. If your going to tow every weekend, I wouldn't even consider a bumper pull. Plus, the fifth wheel is more space economical inside, especially if you are looking at overall length. Good luck.

bluedge8 · Feb 21, 2015

thanks for the input

RedRice589 · Feb 22, 2015

What are your intentions? Family or just you and your significant other? Much over 35 ft will be more camper than you'll want for a srw cclb OBS. If it's a regualr pull then 5th wheel all day.

bluedge8 · Feb 22, 2015

Just me and the wife, we are looking at older models and seem to like the 29-33'. In all reality we don't plan to pull it much, depends on how long we want to hang on to the lake lot. I've always wanted a 5th wheel. I was thinking I would rather convert to a gooseneck so I don't have to mount rails in the bed but didn't know if there are any disadvantages. The units I'm looking at seem to be around 8-9k lbs, seems pretty do able for my stock truck, plus we don't have any hills around here so I'm not too worried about pulling up a grade.

dangerous1 · Feb 22, 2015

If the trailers axles are over the springs you can have them swapped to under, that would give the camper a few inches of lift. Just watch your over all hight.

psduser1 · Feb 22, 2015

There is a fifth wheel to gooseneck adaptor available, but I have zero experience with them:shrug:

bluedge8 · Feb 22, 2015

I did see them, I am interested if there was no down side.

PDT1081 · Feb 22, 2015

If you have a B&W turnover, there is an adapter that drops in to convert it to a fifth wheel.

Biggest advantage of a fifth wheel is it's easier to hook up. Back into the pin until it latches, lower jack.

Pstrke96 · Feb 22, 2015

I pull both of my trailers with both of my trucks and have no problems you want to keep the trailer fairly level front to rear so not too abuse rear axle and tires as far as the gooseneck adapter goes they are fine too I just happen too have both in my obs
Also on a side note Ive got a buddy who has an adaptor for sale that we took off his 40' 5er
It worked great he just wanted to be conventional if you want some pics you can text me
352-279-5372 probably weighs 40-50# to ship from FL it's an Anderson either 22 or 24 k
I think he was looking for about half of new cost

Dzchey21 · Feb 22, 2015

I have had both fifth wheel and gooseneck on my camper

Fifth wheel is easier to hook up... when its level. My hitch was a 2 way pivot so if you had a side to side angle you could hook or unhook... however some of the places i go is a little too extreme to get unhooked or hooked up.

Disadvantage to goosneck is the bed space it takes up, not so much for storage ect but the fact that they are generally pretty heavy and if you go every weekend like we do taking them in and out of the bed can be a pain and in fact ruined a weekend for me because its so heavy and i hurt my back.

Goosneck is harder to hook up, I put a camera in my tool box that aims at the hitch with the tailgate down. That has been the best thing ever, i can get hooked up on the first shot.

Goosneck disadvantage is that you have to generally have the hitch higher to clear the bed and tailgate where a goosneck can actually be a bit low and you can lift the trailer on the hitch when you back into it.

Gooseneck for my camper handles the big bumps better that unload the hitch. The gooseneck has several "slop" points. You have a gap between the fifth wheel plate and the king pin, then you have a little slop between the pins for the forward and back pivots, then there is a little slop in the side to side pin as well, so when you hit a bump the little slop in each pin adds up to a big bounce and usually carries out to 3 bounces or more which can be a handful.

Overall tho i am very happy with my gooseneck adapter, i have the ranch hitch adapter which has the highest rating for any adapter on the market at like 24k lbs. Clamps around the king pin and then bolts to the goosebox.

pullandpray · Feb 23, 2015

I can vouch that lil adapter can handle more than 24k lol do t ask me how I know tho.

bluedge8 · Mar 3, 2015

So just bringing this back up, I hope to have the camper purchased this week. Looks like unloaded pin weight is 1634# lbs and unloaded camper weight is 7400 lbs. so it's pretty light overall. I think I have the dealer talked into throwing a used 5th wheel hitch in on the deal, and it's a slider which I don't need but if it's free, I'll take it. If the free hitch doesn't work out I will be probably buying a goose adapter as I'm not looking forward to installing a 5th wheel hitch. Any thoughts would be nice, thanks.

PDT1081 · Mar 3, 2015

bluedge8 said:
So just bringing this back up, I hope to have the camper purchased this week. Looks like unloaded pin weight is 1634# lbs and unloaded camper weight is 7400 lbs. so it's pretty light overall. I think I have the dealer talked into throwing a used 5th wheel hitch in on the deal, and it's a slider which I don't need but if it's free, I'll take it. If the free hitch doesn't work out I will be probably buying a goose adapter as I'm not looking forward to installing a 5th wheel hitch. Any thoughts would be nice, thanks.

Sell the slider, buy the adapter.

psduser1 · Mar 3, 2015

PDT1081 said:
Sell the slider, buy the adapter.

New sliders are 500-1000$, Id take it in a heartbeat. Need one for a shortbed, lol.

bluedge8 · Mar 3, 2015

thats what I was thinking!

bluedge8 · Mar 3, 2015

So, does anyone know why the 5th wheel to goose adapter places more stress on the pin box, specifically if it's extended? I've seen it mentioned a few times but can't figure out why there is additional stress on the pin box??

Jomax · Mar 3, 2015

I guess because it's farther forward?

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PDT1081 · Mar 3, 2015

bluedge8 said:
So, does anyone know why the 5th wheel to goose adapter places more stress on the pin box, specifically if it's extended? I've seen it mentioned a few times but can't figure out why there is additional stress on the pin box??

Leverage.

bluedge8 · Mar 14, 2015

So I have a sliding 5th wheel hitch sitting in the garage, and I bought a 5th wheel adapter to gooseneck and used that to bring it home. Worked pretty good. I am planning on selling the 5th wheel hitch because we are planning on pulling it up to the the lake lot we leased and not pulling it much after that, so the adapter should be ok.