5th wheel vs. gooseneck

[dune400ex]

I pull a 5th wheel, but I've always wondered why there are 5th wheels and goosenecks. It seems large horse trailers are goosenecks, some car haulers are goosenecks, all travel trailers are 5th wheels. I'm asking for an explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of each method to attach a trailer.

Thanks.

[Down South]

Well as far as towing ability they are about the same I think. You may be able to tow a little more weight with a gooseneck but I'm not sure. I guess a 5th wheel just looks better on a travel trailer altho I know a few folks who modified their travel trailers to gooseneck type hookups. The Gooseneck does have an advantage over a 5th wheel. The main one is your bed doesn't have to have the large 5th wheel hitch in it. Many of the newer gooseneck hitches have easily removable balls or hide away balls to give you your bed free for cargo. The 5th wheel hitch is a PITA to get in and out. I've also heard of stress cracks forming in some of the 5th wheel hitches. A gooseneck may be just a little harder to hook up to sometimes.

Hope this helps.

[Ag__Teacher]

Goosenecks are also superior on rough terrain because the hitch can move in all directions. While a rocking fifth wheel can have some side to side movement, it doesn't have as much movement and a gooseneck.

Goosenecks are also cheaper. You can get a 25000 gooseneck plate that mounts on top of your truck bed for around 90 bucks. You can't get any kind of fifth wheel for that price and you definatly can't get one capable of 25000 pounds for less than several hundred bucks.

If you want a hitch below the bed, that can be had for around $300. That means you can have the very best gooseneck hitch for the price of the very cheapest 5th wheel hitch.

[SmokeyWren]

[ QUOTE ]
I pull a 5th wheel, but I've always wondered why there are 5th wheels and goosenecks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Until a few years ago, there was a good reason. The gooseneck hitch could pivot any direction, while the 5er hitch could pivot only front to rear. So a gooseneck hitch was better if you needed to tow over rough ground. Such as on rutted dirt roads - or no roads at all - in a pasture or on a construction site.

The 5er hitch is better for smoothness when going down the road. Go to any truckstop and look at the hitches and you won't see many goosenecks.

And now you can buy 5er hitches that pivot side to side as well as front to rear. I disagree with Ag__Teacher. A modern 4-way-tilt 5er hitch (including my Reese 16k) is just as good as a gooseneck on a horse trailer, cow trailer, or utility construction trailer in the rough stuff. My cowboy kinfolks in northeast Oklahoma have converted most of their newer animal trailers to 5ers. And of course their medium-duty truck with the huge cow trailer used to haul cows across the country is a 5er.

[BASSAGE]

I have to agree with Smokey. I have a Toy Hauler that we use for motocross with a Reese 16K hitch. We get in to some very rough and uneven area's and don't have any problems with hitch travel. And it's a hole lot faster and easier to hook up. My budy has a goose neck and it's a major pain to hook the lock pin and the chains up. You have to hang over the side of the truck to reach in and take care of it all,not very much fun.

Have a good one

Dan

[BarrySmith]

The only reason I could think of to have a 5er would be to keep people from borrowing my trailer. Everyone around here has a GN ball in their truck not many 5ers. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I can't think of one reason I would rather have a 5er over a GN. My GN ball is rated at 30000lbs.

[scottbob99]

I tow a gooseneck horse trailer, I don't think it's hard to hook up, takes about 90 seconds. Plus, I prefer only to have a removeable ball in my truck bed not 100 pounds of 5er hitch, just my $.02.

[diesel dave 99]

I have both, so I converted the goseneck to a fifthwheel so I didnt have to switch hitches all the time. I like the fifth wheel better No chains to worry about and easyer to hook up Just back right in done. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Ag__Teacher]

I guess I am still too young or too tall. To me it's not that big of a deal to latch the hitch on the ball. I can stand on the tire and reach it. I can see where it might be hard on a race car style trailer where it is 8' wide over the ball. Most goosenecks are made that way however (stock trailers and flatbeds). My trailer's an older one prior to chains be mandatory so that saves about 3 seconds of hitch time. Most of the people I know that have chains on their trailer don't have hooks in their trucks so all the chains do is knock paint off of their trailers anyway.

[j_apetersen]

I hate to tell you chains are manditory On all ball hookups.Dont care when they were made. Goose hookups were very popular because you can haul 30000 rated. But know they make fifth wheel hookups rated the same, I guess you can call that progress. Fifthwheels are easyer to hook up than most goose. Just do us fellow drivers a favor dont get you a low rated fifthwheel and pull a trailer rated bigger than the fiftwheeel.

[BASSAGE]

I am not knocking goose neck's by any mean's, I have both in my truck and pull a goose neck and dozer many times a year. I even like the way it pull's. What I am saying is hooking up my budy's SD dually and his race car goose neck with living quarters. You can't hardly fit between the box and the bottom of the trailer. Yes at 45 I am old,but at 5'11" and 185 I am not short or fat, and for that mater my at rest heart beat is 48 beats per minute so my fitness is not an issue. My point was if it is raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock I would take the 5th wheel any day, back in, get out flip the safteylatch,plug in and raise the landing gear and your done.

Dan

[diesel dave 99]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess I am still too young or too tall. To me it's not that big of a deal to latch the hitch on the ball. I can stand on the tire and reach it. I can see where it might be hard on a race car style trailer where it is 8' wide over the ball. Most goosenecks are made that way however (stock trailers and flatbeds). My trailer's an older one prior to chains be mandatory so that saves about 3 seconds of hitch time. Most of the people I know that have chains on their trailer don't have hooks in their trucks so all the chains do is knock paint off of their trailers anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dont get stoped without the chains hooked up to the truck, That is all im going to say [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[mgraveman]

I bought my trailer this summer, and it was the first gooseneck that I have ever seen with chains. I have been towing lots, and around trailers my whole life. My truck didn't have a place for them.

[Ag__Teacher]

[ QUOTE ]
Dont get stoped without the chains hooked up to the truck, That is all im going to say [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

If I get stopped, that means I was already doing something wrong so I'm up the creek any way (speeding, running a red light, etc).

Where I live, no chains on a goose would be a minor infraction that wouldn't even get a verbal warning. Kind of like breakway systems. Does anyone with a trailer over two years old actually use these things. Heck, most farm trailers don't have brakes good enough to lock up even if the breakaway system did work.

Most of the cops around here are happy just to see a trailer with functioning brake lights and turn signals.

[Y2KF250PSD]

Ain't that the truth!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]