Went with the Andersen/B&W turnover setup after much research and very happy I did after being a bit nervous about it. Previously had a Valley standard slider hitch. Such a simple setup, no moving parts, cheap, gets me cab clearance I need, MUCH less weight in bed, and easy to install. Now the details ...
B&W turnover is VERY nice. Never had or knew anything about gooseneck balls so this was foreign to me. I was shocked to find my Dodge is already setup to install this essentially and nobody seems to advertise this and no I don't have the factory hitch prep option. It is literally six bolts into holes that are already there and done! Ok, you do have to drill the one large hole through bed but it even included a metal centering bracket/template to center the bit on your 3.5in hole saw bit. You heard me right ... no measuring for anything or drilling through frame. There is a video on YouTube also that gave me all the details. The turnover feature is nice to have a completely clean bed. For those doing aftermarket shocks with reservoirs also very nice as compact and no brackets near shocks that can hit the reservoir (yes, I had a bad previous experience with this. Tip: to hold the mounting plate up use ladder across bed rails and secure a ratcheting tie down through the bed/plate hole to suspend it.
I ended up adding the safety chain connections that came with the B&W, but generally not required. This does require drilling a couple holes through the frame but it is easy as long as you have the big drill bit for this. I just thought it was the right thing to do plus I am always in need of a couple more places for tie downs when carrying stuff in bed so the loops work well for this too. They are nice in that are spring loaded so wont stick up in bed much, but with my plastic liner I need them to stick up otherwise hard to grab them out from in between the ribs. I just wedged a small rubber bushing in there that I had lying around.
I went with the steel Andersen just because the aluminum was still a bit new and I have had a few aluminum parts not hold up (just my bad luck) so I wanted something that was the most tried and true. I also wont be taking it out of the bed except on rare occasion so don't mind the little extra weight. I do kind of wish I would have gone aluminum so don't have to worry about the finish getting all beat up over time loading stuff in bed but that's a minor factor. If you do plan to take it out of truck regularly I would certainly go aluminum as even though both a fairly lite it is a big piece so a bit more awkward to carry around than I was thinking it would be and less weight would really help.
The installation of the Andersen to the ball could not be easier. My new truck came with a plastic bed liner and was thinking needed to cut it or spend the extra to get a spray in liner but no need per Andersen so gave it a shot. It will put some weight on the liner but this is less than you realize per square inch as it has such a big footprint. Did push mine down enough between ribs so that the plastic inserts to keep junk out of the square tubing do pop out as they catch on a plastic liner rib but I am fairly sure can remedy this with some epoxy to hold them in better. It does distort the plastic liner a bit when towing but its minor. Really like the aluminum ball it uses as no chrome to flake off. I think people (including myself initially) only focus on what the legs/base frame look like and think it does not look bulky enough to possibly work and overlook that it is connected to the goose ball through the center section and this is really beefy.
It does have a bigger footprint than my Valley slider hitch had (mostly width) but can put small stuff in between the Andersen frame/legs much better than I could when not using my previous hitch so no real downside for me here either.
Attaching the kingpin adapter was very easy also. it is an aluminum piece but very bulky. Just make sure to have a breaker bar handy as the nuts they use seem to be some type that are locking so they are really tough to get on without extremely good leverage. The most time consuming part for me was finding where to install the latch release cable on the trailer. I found a good spot on metal frame rail on front that found by looking up in king pin hole in fiberglass. Very happy with how this latch mechanism works as you simply pull handle out and rotate it to move the pin on adapter to lock in the ball ... could not be simpler and it does seem to be sensitive at all to angles the trailer might be at, etc. In other words, no more have to back up a little or pull forward a little to get the tension off it to unhitch like I had to on my Valley hitch.
Hitching up is easy. I find it almost easier as the smaller king pin adapter gives a good visual to line up to. If you are off a little it will slide on. The biggest downside for me to this setup is the kingpin does have to be up higher and the Weekend Warriors (others?) are notorious for having week electric jacks for. I use the electric jack to get it up as high as I can but get a real good workout then manually turning the jacks. I have some ideas to attach something electric to the manual shaft but might just need to replace the electric jack motors with something better. Just something to consider in your decision especially with a lifted truck as cant just drive under it to compress the suspension on truck at all. Since the adapter box is aluminum you need to make sure it us up high enough otherwise it does easily indent the edges of the adapter if you bump up against it.
The main attraction to me was the potential to not have to get out and use a slider as the claim is the hitch designs puts the trailer back 5in and the hitch adapter plate in standard position pushes it back another 4in for a total of 9in. The weight is still where it needs to be based on the ball location and the Andersen frame also puts the weight essentially in same position as my previous Valley slider mount points did so I don't really have any concerns. It does not seem to put anymore leverage on the back like might be imagined. Its not even close to my cab at extreme angle and I don't have the corner notches that many newer 5th wheels have for clearance either!
I have had a chance to pull it a few times now and also on a long stretch of highway that is very bumpy and a lot of g-outs that really test the hitch and general ride quality. It is much quitter with no moving parts and much smoother in general. It seems the way it is able to rotate on the ball really helps without forcing this movement onto the truck.
I did bring the ball height up one more notch on the Andersen compared to the pics above. This pic is also after all the towing so can see it doesn't do anything to the plastic bed liner really.
I need to figure out the proper chain length also as the above is certainly not right just have not had time to play with it more.
Also need to do some further clearance testing for when I am turning and transitioning over an angle as my kingpin does get close to the side rails. Here are some pics if curious but these are not at the proper ball height which might help a bit too.
B&W turnover is VERY nice. Never had or knew anything about gooseneck balls so this was foreign to me. I was shocked to find my Dodge is already setup to install this essentially and nobody seems to advertise this and no I don't have the factory hitch prep option. It is literally six bolts into holes that are already there and done! Ok, you do have to drill the one large hole through bed but it even included a metal centering bracket/template to center the bit on your 3.5in hole saw bit. You heard me right ... no measuring for anything or drilling through frame. There is a video on YouTube also that gave me all the details. The turnover feature is nice to have a completely clean bed. For those doing aftermarket shocks with reservoirs also very nice as compact and no brackets near shocks that can hit the reservoir (yes, I had a bad previous experience with this. Tip: to hold the mounting plate up use ladder across bed rails and secure a ratcheting tie down through the bed/plate hole to suspend it.
I ended up adding the safety chain connections that came with the B&W, but generally not required. This does require drilling a couple holes through the frame but it is easy as long as you have the big drill bit for this. I just thought it was the right thing to do plus I am always in need of a couple more places for tie downs when carrying stuff in bed so the loops work well for this too. They are nice in that are spring loaded so wont stick up in bed much, but with my plastic liner I need them to stick up otherwise hard to grab them out from in between the ribs. I just wedged a small rubber bushing in there that I had lying around.
I went with the steel Andersen just because the aluminum was still a bit new and I have had a few aluminum parts not hold up (just my bad luck) so I wanted something that was the most tried and true. I also wont be taking it out of the bed except on rare occasion so don't mind the little extra weight. I do kind of wish I would have gone aluminum so don't have to worry about the finish getting all beat up over time loading stuff in bed but that's a minor factor. If you do plan to take it out of truck regularly I would certainly go aluminum as even though both a fairly lite it is a big piece so a bit more awkward to carry around than I was thinking it would be and less weight would really help.
The installation of the Andersen to the ball could not be easier. My new truck came with a plastic bed liner and was thinking needed to cut it or spend the extra to get a spray in liner but no need per Andersen so gave it a shot. It will put some weight on the liner but this is less than you realize per square inch as it has such a big footprint. Did push mine down enough between ribs so that the plastic inserts to keep junk out of the square tubing do pop out as they catch on a plastic liner rib but I am fairly sure can remedy this with some epoxy to hold them in better. It does distort the plastic liner a bit when towing but its minor. Really like the aluminum ball it uses as no chrome to flake off. I think people (including myself initially) only focus on what the legs/base frame look like and think it does not look bulky enough to possibly work and overlook that it is connected to the goose ball through the center section and this is really beefy.
It does have a bigger footprint than my Valley slider hitch had (mostly width) but can put small stuff in between the Andersen frame/legs much better than I could when not using my previous hitch so no real downside for me here either.
Attaching the kingpin adapter was very easy also. it is an aluminum piece but very bulky. Just make sure to have a breaker bar handy as the nuts they use seem to be some type that are locking so they are really tough to get on without extremely good leverage. The most time consuming part for me was finding where to install the latch release cable on the trailer. I found a good spot on metal frame rail on front that found by looking up in king pin hole in fiberglass. Very happy with how this latch mechanism works as you simply pull handle out and rotate it to move the pin on adapter to lock in the ball ... could not be simpler and it does seem to be sensitive at all to angles the trailer might be at, etc. In other words, no more have to back up a little or pull forward a little to get the tension off it to unhitch like I had to on my Valley hitch.
Hitching up is easy. I find it almost easier as the smaller king pin adapter gives a good visual to line up to. If you are off a little it will slide on. The biggest downside for me to this setup is the kingpin does have to be up higher and the Weekend Warriors (others?) are notorious for having week electric jacks for. I use the electric jack to get it up as high as I can but get a real good workout then manually turning the jacks. I have some ideas to attach something electric to the manual shaft but might just need to replace the electric jack motors with something better. Just something to consider in your decision especially with a lifted truck as cant just drive under it to compress the suspension on truck at all. Since the adapter box is aluminum you need to make sure it us up high enough otherwise it does easily indent the edges of the adapter if you bump up against it.
The main attraction to me was the potential to not have to get out and use a slider as the claim is the hitch designs puts the trailer back 5in and the hitch adapter plate in standard position pushes it back another 4in for a total of 9in. The weight is still where it needs to be based on the ball location and the Andersen frame also puts the weight essentially in same position as my previous Valley slider mount points did so I don't really have any concerns. It does not seem to put anymore leverage on the back like might be imagined. Its not even close to my cab at extreme angle and I don't have the corner notches that many newer 5th wheels have for clearance either!
I have had a chance to pull it a few times now and also on a long stretch of highway that is very bumpy and a lot of g-outs that really test the hitch and general ride quality. It is much quitter with no moving parts and much smoother in general. It seems the way it is able to rotate on the ball really helps without forcing this movement onto the truck.
I did bring the ball height up one more notch on the Andersen compared to the pics above. This pic is also after all the towing so can see it doesn't do anything to the plastic bed liner really.
I need to figure out the proper chain length also as the above is certainly not right just have not had time to play with it more.
Also need to do some further clearance testing for when I am turning and transitioning over an angle as my kingpin does get close to the side rails. Here are some pics if curious but these are not at the proper ball height which might help a bit too.
twvette wrote:
Also need to do some further clearance testing for when I am turning and transitioning over an angle as my kingpin does get close to the side rails. Here are some pics if curious but these are not at the proper ball height which might help a bit too.
I had a similar issue with my bed rails. I actually ended up hitting the rail for my tonneau cover when making a really tight backing turn. (Much cheaper to replace that then the actual bed)
The solution for me was to flip the coupler so that the kingpin sits in front of the ball. With this the back of the pinbox doesn't hit the bed rails of my truck anymore, however I did lose out on a few inches of cab clearance.
I tested my setup and I can still do 90 degree turns, it just gets really close to the cab so I go slow at it.
Might end up notching the back of the pinbox so I can return the coupler to being in front of the kingpin. But we'll see.
