Best hitch (non-slider)
I have been using the Superglide for about 10 yrs and have lost touch with the non-sliders. I am going to a long bed dually and would like to install the best hitch available. Any suggestions?
Forum Discussion
NJRVer, that is what I'm doing also... "swapping back and forth between 5th wheel and gooseneck and at the same time having a clear bed when needed."
You want it all, don't you? Clear bed. Disappearing gooseneck. Vanishing 5ver hitch. And a quick change between the three states of being.
A couple of things I learned about the B&W Companion: First, to do it right, it is not as quick as what one might easily assume. (requires loosening and retorqueing 4 Ubolt nuts and one top bolt each and every time). Second, some folks have noticed that the outrigger skids on the Companion have ended up denting their beds. It is hard to know whether or not that was the user's fault though, because many users do not do the First thing correctly.
The under bed puck system (original equipment on Fords if optioned), also known as the Reese Elite/Signature line, does not require a torque wrench to remove and replace the hitch. And, the puck system not only offers a higher capacity hitch (25K Lbs), it also offers many other brands of fiver hitches to choose from, including a B&W model that is rated at a higher capacity (20K lbs) than the Companion that drops into their gooseneck (only 18K lbs).
On the other hand, the Reese Elite underbed gooseneck ball introduced with the Ford OEM implementation, but also available in the aftermarket under Reese branding, is unproven. A lever on directly on top of the wear surface of the ball engages and releases two ball bearings in the ball stud that protrude into an annular groove in the ball socket. Those two little hemispheres peeking in and out of the Reese ball simply does not look as secure to me as the 5/8" rod passes all the way through the B&W ball shank, engaging on both sides of the socket.
To it's advantage, the Reese/Ford ball does eliminate the need to reach underneath a dirty muddy wheel well to engage a lever. And, the little lever on top of the Reese ball is indeed trapped by the trailer coupler from flipping upward. But, that trailer coupler had better be cleaned and greased inside, and there had better not be any 1/4" by dust gravel road pebbles caught up in that grease, as I can imagine the gooseneck trailer coupler grinding that partical into the mechanism of the flip up lever on top of the ball. It's never that clean at a ranch. There is always hay and rocks and debris in the back of the truck on a ranch. At least the ranch I spent 6 years working on.
On the other hand, the B&W ball is just a ball. A very beautiful ball at that. Simple. Removeable. Secure. It might rattle a bit though, as it isn't welded in place like the old hitches on the ranch where I worked. But unlike those hitches, when the ball wears on a B&W, it can easily be replaced for about half the cost of the Reese ball with the tricky mechanism inside. And with the square shanked B&W ball, all the rotation between trailer and ball happens on the sphere, not on a cylindrical shank, as can potentially happen with the Reese ball with the ball bearing retainer.
On the other hand, there is no "air ride" fifth wheel hitch that is available for the B&W interface. Only an 18K static hitch, and that is it.
Whereas with the Reese Elite puck system, one can get a TrailerSaver hitch, easy in easy out. One can get an EasyRider air hitch from Hitchcrafters. One can get a Mountain Masters air hitch. An Air Safe hitch. Doesn't matter, because even if the air ride hitch manufacturer's have not made their own OEM puck adapter plate, one can get a puck adapter from Reese as well as Curt that has industry standard rails 22" apart, rated to 22K lbs.
The puck to rail kits mean that essentially ANY hitch can easily be mounted and withdrawn from the underbed puck system without a torque wrench. Without any tools at all. A legaxy hitch. The hitch that daddy used. A hitch that breaks down and is easy for one person to haul into and out of the bed without hoist. Or a favorite hitch.
Even without a puck to rail adapter, one can get a Pullrite 25.5K hitch, that locks right into the pucks, even easier in, and easier out, because Pullrite cleverly designed their own one step T bolt engagement system.
I don't find this plethora of 5th wheel options with the B&W turnover ball system.
Yet, on the other hand (I'm losing count of how many hands I have here), the B&W turnover ball has more gooseneck options than any other gooseneck receiver on the market, including, but not limited to, a 3" ball (Reese offers this), an inverted fiver pin (for trailers that have the fifth wheel hitch inverted on the trailer, which is what the Holland Binkley head was originally designed for), a swivel eyelet, a four inch to the rear ball extenstion (Pop Up offers this), a lumber rack, an extended height 2 5/16" ball, a regular height 2" ball, some type of farming implement I'm not sure of, a partridge in a pear tree... the list goes on and on.
So essentially, the B&W system has become like a vertically oriented receiver hitch (though not quite the same dimension). There are companies, including Reese, that design products to be used in the B&W "receiver.". Reese in fact offers a fifth wheel hitch with outrigger skids that inserts into the B&W, but it is limited to 18K.
At the same time, the Reese Power Puck system has become like a 4 point vertically oriented receiver hitch. There are companies, including B&W, that design products to be used in the OEM/Puck "receivers.". B&W in fact offers their own Companion style 5th wheel hitch for the puck system in a higher capacity than their own single point system.
To have the most flexibility in my cab chassis, and because there really isn't a "kit" per se that is a direct bolt up to the cab chassis for the gooseneck part, I'm designing the bracketry to incorporate both the Reese Power Puck receivers AND the B&W gooseneck receiver.
The system will have 5 small holes in the bed, just like the OEM Ford or Elite system, only instead of the center hole receiving the Reese gooseneck ball, the center hole will receive the B&W ball, along with all the accessories and hitches that come with that system... while still having the puck system to be able to chose from all air ride hitches and other hitches that the rest of the world enjoys.
Call it indecisiveness.
You want it all, don't you? Clear bed. Disappearing gooseneck. Vanishing 5ver hitch. And a quick change between the three states of being.
A couple of things I learned about the B&W Companion: First, to do it right, it is not as quick as what one might easily assume. (requires loosening and retorqueing 4 Ubolt nuts and one top bolt each and every time). Second, some folks have noticed that the outrigger skids on the Companion have ended up denting their beds. It is hard to know whether or not that was the user's fault though, because many users do not do the First thing correctly.
The under bed puck system (original equipment on Fords if optioned), also known as the Reese Elite/Signature line, does not require a torque wrench to remove and replace the hitch. And, the puck system not only offers a higher capacity hitch (25K Lbs), it also offers many other brands of fiver hitches to choose from, including a B&W model that is rated at a higher capacity (20K lbs) than the Companion that drops into their gooseneck (only 18K lbs).
On the other hand, the Reese Elite underbed gooseneck ball introduced with the Ford OEM implementation, but also available in the aftermarket under Reese branding, is unproven. A lever on directly on top of the wear surface of the ball engages and releases two ball bearings in the ball stud that protrude into an annular groove in the ball socket. Those two little hemispheres peeking in and out of the Reese ball simply does not look as secure to me as the 5/8" rod passes all the way through the B&W ball shank, engaging on both sides of the socket.
To it's advantage, the Reese/Ford ball does eliminate the need to reach underneath a dirty muddy wheel well to engage a lever. And, the little lever on top of the Reese ball is indeed trapped by the trailer coupler from flipping upward. But, that trailer coupler had better be cleaned and greased inside, and there had better not be any 1/4" by dust gravel road pebbles caught up in that grease, as I can imagine the gooseneck trailer coupler grinding that partical into the mechanism of the flip up lever on top of the ball. It's never that clean at a ranch. There is always hay and rocks and debris in the back of the truck on a ranch. At least the ranch I spent 6 years working on.
On the other hand, the B&W ball is just a ball. A very beautiful ball at that. Simple. Removeable. Secure. It might rattle a bit though, as it isn't welded in place like the old hitches on the ranch where I worked. But unlike those hitches, when the ball wears on a B&W, it can easily be replaced for about half the cost of the Reese ball with the tricky mechanism inside. And with the square shanked B&W ball, all the rotation between trailer and ball happens on the sphere, not on a cylindrical shank, as can potentially happen with the Reese ball with the ball bearing retainer.
On the other hand, there is no "air ride" fifth wheel hitch that is available for the B&W interface. Only an 18K static hitch, and that is it.
Whereas with the Reese Elite puck system, one can get a TrailerSaver hitch, easy in easy out. One can get an EasyRider air hitch from Hitchcrafters. One can get a Mountain Masters air hitch. An Air Safe hitch. Doesn't matter, because even if the air ride hitch manufacturer's have not made their own OEM puck adapter plate, one can get a puck adapter from Reese as well as Curt that has industry standard rails 22" apart, rated to 22K lbs.
The puck to rail kits mean that essentially ANY hitch can easily be mounted and withdrawn from the underbed puck system without a torque wrench. Without any tools at all. A legaxy hitch. The hitch that daddy used. A hitch that breaks down and is easy for one person to haul into and out of the bed without hoist. Or a favorite hitch.
Even without a puck to rail adapter, one can get a Pullrite 25.5K hitch, that locks right into the pucks, even easier in, and easier out, because Pullrite cleverly designed their own one step T bolt engagement system.
I don't find this plethora of 5th wheel options with the B&W turnover ball system.
Yet, on the other hand (I'm losing count of how many hands I have here), the B&W turnover ball has more gooseneck options than any other gooseneck receiver on the market, including, but not limited to, a 3" ball (Reese offers this), an inverted fiver pin (for trailers that have the fifth wheel hitch inverted on the trailer, which is what the Holland Binkley head was originally designed for), a swivel eyelet, a four inch to the rear ball extenstion (Pop Up offers this), a lumber rack, an extended height 2 5/16" ball, a regular height 2" ball, some type of farming implement I'm not sure of, a partridge in a pear tree... the list goes on and on.
So essentially, the B&W system has become like a vertically oriented receiver hitch (though not quite the same dimension). There are companies, including Reese, that design products to be used in the B&W "receiver.". Reese in fact offers a fifth wheel hitch with outrigger skids that inserts into the B&W, but it is limited to 18K.
At the same time, the Reese Power Puck system has become like a 4 point vertically oriented receiver hitch. There are companies, including B&W, that design products to be used in the OEM/Puck "receivers.". B&W in fact offers their own Companion style 5th wheel hitch for the puck system in a higher capacity than their own single point system.
To have the most flexibility in my cab chassis, and because there really isn't a "kit" per se that is a direct bolt up to the cab chassis for the gooseneck part, I'm designing the bracketry to incorporate both the Reese Power Puck receivers AND the B&W gooseneck receiver.
The system will have 5 small holes in the bed, just like the OEM Ford or Elite system, only instead of the center hole receiving the Reese gooseneck ball, the center hole will receive the B&W ball, along with all the accessories and hitches that come with that system... while still having the puck system to be able to chose from all air ride hitches and other hitches that the rest of the world enjoys.
Call it indecisiveness.
