Draw-tite hide-a-ball with B&W fifth?

[treaves]

I'm looking at getting my first trailer, a fifth wheeler. My wife's truck has a Draw-Tite Hide-a-Ball which has a fifth-wheel option, similar to B&W, for pulling her goose-neck horse trailer. I just got my truck, and like the idea of having the same hitch, so that either truck can pull either trailer (both trucks are 2012 Ram 2500 Cummins so from that perspective they are equivalent).

I've searched these forums, and I understand B&W is a more highly recommended brand. And I've looked at the web sites for the two products, and the goose-neck portions look nearly identical. But their fifth-wheel options do no. I also see that the Draw-Tite fifth wheel comes with an adapter to use with the B&W hide-a-ball, but I doubt that - from the factory - the B&W would come with the Draw-tite adapter.

So my questions are:

- is there any substantive difference between the two fifth-wheel options?

- can the B&W have the post replaced to work with the Draw-Tite (this may be the ideal situation)?

The under-truck portions are not going to be any difference, as their product photo's show (from a quality perspective). But the B&W fifth wheel option looks beefier to me. But I' still ignorant of much of this. So any input is appreciated.

Thanks.

[sdetweil]

You need this round to square adapter to use the Companion with the Drawtite GN hitch

Flipover adapter

[racerguy]

Well, I just noticed this is an old thread. Sorry!

[racerguy]

I think the B&W companion is the way to go. This outfit seems to have the best price.

http://www.gooseneckhitchshop.com/

[jerem0621]

I would just us the Andersen Ultimate Fifth Wheel hitch for goosenecks. That would work with both brands of gooseneck hitches.

Thanks

Jeremiah

[treaves]

That's good to know, thanks!

[BigToe]

I'm very interested in this topic.

I was confused at first, because DrawTite doesn't make a "Hide A Ball"
DrawTite has made a "Remov-A-Ball" hitch for decades, for which there is no 5th wheel adapter.

However, my confusion was cleared up when I remembered that Cequent makes 3 models of "Hide-A-Goose" hitches, sold under three brands (total of nine part numbers for 3 iterations of the same part).

And there IS a 5th wheel adapter for the Hide A Goose system, (#9480).

The 9480 uses the relatively new Reese Elite fith wheel plate and jaw system. So when comparing commentary on 5th wheel hitches between the B&W Companion versus the Reese/DrawTite/Bulldog (all Cequent brands) 9480 5th wheel hitch adapter, be sure to include Reese Signature and Reese Elite 5th wheel hitch systems, as there is a much larger user base of those systems from which to derive a consensus of opinion from.

treaves wrote:
I'm looking at getting my first trailer, a fifth wheeler. My wife's truck has a Draw-Tite Hide-a-Ball which has a fifth-wheel option, similar to B&W, for pulling her goose-neck horse trailer. I just got my truck, and like the idea of having the same hitch, so that either truck can pull either trailer (both trucks are 2012 Ram 2500 Cummins so from that perspective they are equivalent).

I've searched these forums, and I understand B&W is a more highly recommended brand. And I've looked at the web sites for the two products, and the goose-neck portions look nearly identical. But their fifth-wheel options do no. I also see that the Draw-Tite fifth wheel comes with an adapter to use with the B&W hide-a-ball, but I doubt that - from the factory - the B&W would come with the Draw-tite adapter.

So my questions are:

- is there any substantive difference between the two fifth-wheel options?

- can the B&W have the post replaced to work with the Draw-Tite (this may be the ideal situation)?

The under-truck portions are not going to be any difference, as their product photo's show (from a quality perspective). But the B&W fifth wheel option looks beefier to me. But I' still ignorant of much of this. So any input is appreciated.

Thanks.

[ronniedean1234]

B&W Companion, great hitch

[fly-boy]

My first goose was a Drawtite and I purchased a B&W Companion thinking it would work just fine. I could never get the Companion to sit flat in the bed with the Drawtite goose.

Maybe B&W has an optional post for their Companion that addresses this issue? If not I would get the same goose as your wife (Drawtite) and get one of their fifth wheel units so that you can use it in either truck.