5th wheel/gooseneck towing prep group??
Finally got tired of my 03 F250 nickel and dimeing me to death. Actually 400 and 500 dollering me to death. I bit the bullet and bought a 2016 2500 Dodge Ram Tradesman 6.7 liter diesel. It included th...
Forum Discussion
northmeck0255 wrote:
Let's look at this from an engineering standpoint.
The "bed deflection" you speak of could only be transmitted via the frame of the hitch. The Andersen has a square base, which distributes any forces to 4 sides.
A "traditional" hitch has 2 rails. Simple logic would say that each of those two rails would be under more stress in a normal fiver hitch than any of the 4 sides on the base of an Andersen.
3000 lbs pin weight equals 1500 lbs per rail on a traditional.
3000 lbs pin weight equals 750 lbs per rail on an Andersen. Please explain how half of the force exerted would result in more damage......
If you have empirical evidence to the contrary (not opinion), then I'm all ears.
Rails mount to brackets under the bed that are bolted directly to the frame, so the bed itself doesn't take on any of the load. With the Andersen gooseneck version the gooseneck ball carries the bulk of the static load, but when you start moving the rails exert pressure on the bed. Some have reported bed deflection issues with the Andersen (and B&W Companion), but I've not heard of any issues where it was a particularly big deal.
The Andersen is a great hitch and I really think my rail mount version is as good as any hitch on the market. And they're a good value. If I had factory pucks I'd give some strong consideration to getting a rail mount adapter to drop in the factory pucks and then installing the rail mount Andersen on the adapter. It would provide a solid mount to the frame and you'd get the ease of use and inherent smooth towing experience that goes along with a gooseneck setup.
