Straight from B&W

laknox wrote:

bfast54 wrote:
Technically---- The gooseneck ball is not involved at all----:) it's not even used when you put in the companion:W

The ball is not used, but the base that holds the ball, and the Companion, =is= used, and is the major support for the entire hitch system.

Lyle

laknox wrote:

bfast54 wrote:
Ok---a little bit puzzled here ???how did this topic appear out of the blue????:h

Anyways the drawdown bolt with 40 PSI on it-(LBS torque) the main purpose of it is to stabilize and because you're pulling up on that pin that holds the bar in--- OK and then you put 60 or 80 LBS TORQUE on the U-Bolts.(dont remember which)

The bar is transferring the load or torsion down to your frame Mount --and like he said the plates part is just kind of stabilized and everything.

If you look at it 40 pounds of torque is not very much at all.

40 LBS TORQUE PRESSURE, Spread out over thr LENGTH& WIDTH of the Companion"Base"..... Really is negligible-- hardly any pressure at all when you spread it out over that square footage.

The TUBE is transfering the Weight,Tension,etc---- to the Turnover mount,which transfers it to THE FAME.:W

This was an outshoot of the thread about the damaged Andersen Ultimate hitch.

You have the basics on how the load is transferred to the truck frame and how it was explained to me by B&W.

Lyle

Me Again wrote:

CumminsDriver wrote:
The Valley parts of the bed are also resting against the frame of the Companion Turnover Ball Hitch under the bed. The plastic strips transfer the load of the Companion 5th Wheel Hitch to the Turnover Ball Frame below, so there is more than just the top hats transferring load to the frame. I have no problems with mine, and love that I've got a clean bed when not using the 5th Wheel hitch. Yes if I were to get a new truck I'd get one with the factory pucks, but they've only been available for a few years now so those of us that didn't have that option use what works the best for us.

Rich

Where the bed normally gets deformed is at the front and back of the side pieces. If you mount a video camera in the bed and watch the hitch while traveling you will see it rock back and forth a bit front to back. The plastic bed strips helped a bit but it still rocks. Chris

Me Again wrote:
To top that off Russ, if the TO hitch was holding up weight, then the hitch would tend to want to turn around on the bed floor. Ask Cummins12V98 why B&W came out with the adjustable spacers to go in the bed valleys under their hitch base? Hint the base was crushing the raised ribs in his bed.

This might help some.

http://www.spaenaur.com/pdf/sectionD/D48.pdf

So many people have a hard time understand this pulling down verses holding up!

Look at the Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection manual here, were pin #6 and tube #11 go over the ball with the pin under the head of the ball so the hitch can be torqued down to the bed floor. The pin below the head can not hold up anything. The B&W uses the same principal.

https://www.andersenhitches.com/Catalog/installation-manuals.aspx

If you look at this B&W installation manual you will see that the socket post has an elongate hold in it where it is pinned in to the B&W TO ball socket. So when it is torque down the TO ball latch pin is in the bottom of the elongated slot, and can not hold up anything! The OP did not talk to a mechanical or structural engineer.

http://www.turnoverball.com/uploads/EcommerceProductDocumentModel/43/document/rvk3500-08-24-2015.pdf

Chris

rhagfo wrote:

Me Again wrote:
Some engineer has trick mirrors.



The weight of the fifth wheel is place on the hitch which is transferred to the bed floor which has top hats that sit on the trucks frame. The gooseneck ball does not hold up anything!!! Period!

Beds have been deformed and will continue to be deformed from hitches that mount like this.

A basic high school physics class could figure this out.


Chris

:S :h :S

Is this all that hard for you "The ball adapter carries the weight" to figure out!!

40# of torque applied to the Draw Down Bolt, does two things.

1. It presses the the hitch base snug to the bed floor.

2. It applies the same 40 ft. lb. of LIFTING force to the TO ball adapter.

Now before the ball adapter can support any thing it needs to go back down the same distance that it was raised up when torquing the draw down bolt. Say it is 1/8" maybe 1/16" now the force on the bed is the 40 ft. lb. of torque on the bolt, and the weight of TO adapter until it bottoms out.

Keep in mind 40# of torque applies, far more force than setting 40# of stuff on the hitch!

I will Respectfully disagree with the "Engineer" you spoke with at B&W, and agree 100 percent with Chris!

bfast54 wrote:
Technically---- The gooseneck ball is not involved at all----:) it's not even used when you put in the companion:W

Me Again wrote:
Some engineer has trick mirrors.



The weight of the fifth wheel is place on the hitch which is transferred to the bed floor which has top hats that sit on the trucks frame. The gooseneck ball does not hold up anything!!! Period!

Beds have been deformed and will continue to be deformed from hitches that mount like this.

A basic high school physics class could figure this out.

Chris

bfast54 wrote:
Ok---a little bit puzzled here ???how did this topic appear out of the blue????:h

Anyways the drawdown bolt with 40 PSI on it-(LBS torque) the main purpose of it is to stabilize and because you're pulling up on that pin that holds the bar in--- OK and then you put 60 or 80 LBS TORQUE on the U-Bolts.(dont remember which)

The bar is transferring the load or torsion down to your frame Mount --and like he said the plates part is just kind of stabilized and everything.

If you look at it 40 pounds of torque is not very much at all.

40 LBS TORQUE PRESSURE, Spread out over thr LENGTH& WIDTH of the Companion"Base"..... Really is negligible-- hardly any pressure at all when you spread it out over that square footage.

The TUBE is transfering the Weight,Tension,etc---- to the Turnover mount,which transfers it to THE FAME.:W

MFL wrote:
My neighbor across the street just put a turnover ball and Companion in his 12 GM. I don't know why, he has no use for a ball! He came over and asked me , and I said in his case, he'd be better off with rails and Patriot, but he spent twice as much and went with the ball. That set up has sold well over the years, for people that needed a ball, and FW hitch. I am thinking that the U-bolts are gone from the newer Companion?

The later model truck beds are getting thinner, making this less than ideal IMO. The plastic bed inserts will help, but they installed them wrong on my neighbors truck. The puck system will be the future, even GM finally got on board. It sure took them a while.

Jerry