5th Wheel to Gooseneck Adapters

RustyJC wrote:
5th wheel trailers are not structurally designed to be gooseneck trailers. They don't have the heavy steel and gusseting around the crown that a gooseneck trailer has, and the higher loading imposed by a gooseneck adapter can lead to structural failure in the pinbox and surrounding frame area. 5th wheel trailers are designed to be pulled with 5th wheel hitches.

This guy knows what he's talking about. I know on new units, Forest River will void the warranty if you make the switch to gooseneck.

Sport45 wrote:

rskeans wrote:
The Andersen setup is not a Gooseneck. The ball coupler is at the same level as the King Pin. There is no 'lever arm' that is associated with a Gooseneck.

I know. But many lump the Andersen in with them.

"Many" are woefully mistaken.

rskeans wrote:
The Andersen setup is not a Gooseneck. The ball coupler is at the same level as the King Pin. There is no 'lever arm' that is associated with a Gooseneck.

I know. But many lump the Andersen in with them.

I have no dog in this hunt, but my local rv guy (recently retired former Carriage dealer) told me not to use a gooseneck adapter if it was a trailer I wanted to keep for a while.
I had a gooseneck ball in my pickup at the time, and unfortunately it wasn't B&W compatible.

I now have a B&W setup, and it was well worth the money.

The Andersen setup is not a Gooseneck. The ball coupler is at the same level as the King Pin. There is no 'lever arm' that is associated with a Gooseneck.

TXiceman wrote:
AS for evidence, I have seen several larger 5ers that used a GN adapter and had damage to the frame in the pin box area. Structural members were over stressed and metal fatigued due to over stressing.

The trailers had the chin area pulled a part getting beams replaced and additional bracing installed.

I have seen very few smaller 5er with the problem, but the larger ones do have a problem.

If you want to use a goose neck set up in lieu of a 5er, just buy a trailer designed for that use.

Ken

This is good to know. Have you ever seen one with damage after using the Andersen setup?

AS for evidence, I have seen several larger 5ers that used a GN adapter and had damage to the frame in the pin box area. Structural members were over stressed and metal fatigued due to over stressing.

The trailers had the chin area pulled a part getting beams replaced and additional bracing installed.

I have seen very few smaller 5er with the problem, but the larger ones do have a problem.

If you want to use a goose neck set up in lieu of a 5er, just buy a trailer designed for that use.

Ken

WTP-GC wrote:

TXiceman wrote:
Fellow here in the park has a Carriage Cameo that is cracked at the bedroom slide and all of the front trim is pulling the screws. Guess what, he is using a GN adapter. I did not say anything to him....just bit my tongue and told him to have a nice evening.

Ken

You can find a thousand similar scenarios on the Internet with people that aren't using a GN adapter. Structural problems are nothing new on these poorly constructed RV's. I have no experience with them, but there's a literal zillion people that are using them now without issue. As I said before, physics without confirming application is useless.

Oh yes, let's just say it's a wonderful idea to further overstress an already known problem, which is underbuilt RV trailer frames that can barely hold themselves together when used as designed, with a big 'ol lever that will accelerate it's breaking point... :r

TXiceman wrote:

RustyJC wrote:

Moon8211 wrote:
OKay so we are looking at an Open Range Light and it actually comes with a King Combo Pin Box and it says it allows for the use of a Gooseneck Adapter without voiding warranty. Thoughts on that??

If the frame is designed for the gooseneck hitch as I understand some of the Open Road models are, that's fine. Most 5th wheel frames aren't, though. The laws of physics are basically immutable - ignore them at your own peril.

Rusty

I am with Rusty. Basic physics and engineering principles cannot be ignored and are seldom wrong. It is your trailer and your money. If you are comfortable with your decision, do what ever makes you happy. But don't come trying back about the poorly built trailer.

Ken

One of the first steps in discussing the applicability of physics and engineering is to dismiss data thats irrelevant to the focal point of the exercise. In this case, one cannot compare a livestock trailer to a RV. Both are designed totally different and for totally different purposes. The load characteristics of a livestock trailer, along with weight distribution are nothing at all like a RV. Also, when discussing physics, it's important to go through the steps. After stating a hypothesis (ie Gooseneck adapter is bad), the next step is to prove or disprove through a combination of research, calculations, evidence, etc. Simply stating a hypothesis has nothing to do with physics, but rather is nothing more than conjecture if you don't follow through with the rest.

I remember that many people on here used to scream loudly about transmission temps, specifically that temps need to run above a certain level in order to burn off moisture. Otherwise you would be destroying your transmission. Then a transmission engineer came on here and told all those people how wrong they are. He included case studies, first hand examples, and general engineering data. I've not seen anyone on here say anything else about it since that time.

I don't know that GN adapters are good or bad, but quite frankly there's not ever been one iota of actual evidence provided on this forum (that I've seen) to confirm either position.

Moon8211 wrote:
OKay so we are looking at an Open Range Light and it actually comes with a King Combo Pin Box and it says it allows for the use of a Gooseneck Adapter without voiding warranty. Thoughts on that??

The Open Range as some others are designed for using a GN adapter so your good to go.
If your trailer mfg doesn't recommend their use then I wouldn't unless the pin box mount/frame area has been beefed by the owner/professional trailer repair fab shop to do so.