Tell me more about your hitch

[KKELLER14K]

A hitch WAR is not what I'm looking for. I get it. I would prefer that if anyone has one of these hitches tell me what you like and dislike about it. I really don't care what you paid for it or where it comes from... I'm ok with A side by side comparison if you have had more than one...who has this option to decide?...You tell us If You have had any of them to compare.... I want the real world to tell me what you think. SO throw me a bone and tell me why yours works for you. I am back to the question of.." Why wouldn't you buy the biggest rated hitch you could get?" Regardless...

[Cummins12V98]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

e-light wrote:
Went to Andersen Ultimate and I'll never go back...I store it in my 5er basement, takes me just a few minutes to hookup...by myself. I can see the ball over my shoulder, I know when it's on, I lock it (set it and forget it 🙂 and I'm off. Weighs 32 lbs...smooth as butter going down the road. It's a great piece of kit. I'm installed a B&W turnover ball on Monday. Easy to free up my bed, without a lift or any help.

If I were going to go with a traditional 5er hitch it would be the B&W companion. It is a nice quality item. I like the way it installs into the turnover ball and the locking mechanism seems ultra reliable. My neighbor that dropped his on his bed has a reese. He owns a trucking company too...so he was really embarrassed. He swears he did a pull test...must have did it wrong is all I can think.

You said "lock" the Andersen, there is no way to do so. Latch is more the case.

There is something about this style of hitch, I have seen MANY damaged beds with this hitch in it.

[IdaD]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

e-light wrote:
Went to Andersen Ultimate and I'll never go back...I store it in my 5er basement, takes me just a few minutes to hookup...by myself. I can see the ball over my shoulder, I know when it's on, I lock it (set it and forget it 🙂 and I'm off. Weighs 32 lbs...smooth as butter going down the road. It's a great piece of kit. I'm installed a B&W turnover ball on Monday. Easy to free up my bed, without a lift or any help.

If I were going to go with a traditional 5er hitch it would be the B&W companion. It is a nice quality item. I like the way it installs into the turnover ball and the locking mechanism seems ultra reliable. My neighbor that dropped his on his bed has a reese. He owns a trucking company too...so he was really embarrassed. He swears he did a pull test...must have did it wrong is all I can think.

You said "lock" the Andersen, there is no way to do so. Latch is more the case.

There is something about this style of hitch, I have seen MANY damaged beds with this hitch in it.

You can't lock it with a padlock but I can easily tighten the handle mounted on my trailer to the point my wife couldn't loosen it without a wrench. I don't see how that's insufficient in any fashion. Certainly never any need for a pull test with the Andersen - drop the trailer, crack the handle and go.

[Cummins12V98]

e-light wrote:
Went to Andersen Ultimate and I'll never go back...I store it in my 5er basement, takes me just a few minutes to hookup...by myself. I can see the ball over my shoulder, I know when it's on, I lock it (set it and forget it 🙂 and I'm off. Weighs 32 lbs...smooth as butter going down the road. It's a great piece of kit. I'm installed a B&W turnover ball on Monday. Easy to free up my bed, without a lift or any help.

If I were going to go with a traditional 5er hitch it would be the B&W companion. It is a nice quality item. I like the way it installs into the turnover ball and the locking mechanism seems ultra reliable. My neighbor that dropped his on his bed has a reese. He owns a trucking company too...so he was really embarrassed. He swears he did a pull test...must have did it wrong is all I can think.

You said "lock" the Andersen, there is no way to do so. Latch is more the case.

There is something about this style of hitch, I have seen MANY damaged beds with this hitch in it.

[Cummins12V98]

KKELLER14K wrote:
Buy the way....I have a 02 Dodge Dually that requires the bed rails. Now this is in itself is another challenge and learning curve as many of you have newer systems...heck I didn't even know what a "puck" was or a "turnover ball" until last week.. so again the education is so very important. I'm a slide in camper guy who is going bigger....I know this forum is the best place with the best people in the world to learn from ...so again thank you all!

OK!!! Now we know what you have and can recommend a good setup for it.

B&W makes the TurnoverBall gooseneck hitch that fits under the bed so you have a clean bed when hitch is removed. I have installed two on second gen Dodges and they are not hard for a shade tree mechanic.

Now you have the option of the Andersen Ultimate and the B&W Companion. Personally I like the Companion but the Andersen would work well also with a 5er up to the 12-14K range. The Companion is a MUCH stronger setup IMHO.

Rails in a bed SUCK!

[e-light]

Went to Andersen Ultimate and I'll never go back...I store it in my 5er basement, takes me just a few minutes to hookup...by myself. I can see the ball over my shoulder, I know when it's on, I lock it (set it and forget it 🙂 and I'm off. Weighs 32 lbs...smooth as butter going down the road. It's a great piece of kit. I'm installed a B&W turnover ball on Monday. Easy to free up my bed, without a lift or any help.

If I were going to go with a traditional 5er hitch it would be the B&W companion. It is a nice quality item. I like the way it installs into the turnover ball and the locking mechanism seems ultra reliable. My neighbor that dropped his on his bed has a reese. He owns a trucking company too...so he was really embarrassed. He swears he did a pull test...must have did it wrong is all I can think.

[laknox]

Halmfamily wrote:

KKELLER14K wrote:
Buy the way....I have a 02 Dodge Dually that requires the bed rails. Now this is in itself is another challenge and learning curve as many of you have newer systems...heck I didn't even know what a "puck" was or a "turnover ball" until last week.. so again the education is so very important. I'm a slide in camper guy who is going bigger....I know this forum is the best place with the best people in the world to learn from ...so again thank you all!

You can have a B&W Turnover installed in your truck and not use rails, then you can use a B&W or an Anderson, I beleive. Most of this is also about your budget. A complete B&W will run North of $1500 installed but worth every penny in my opinion.

Good luck and welcome to the world of fifth wheels.

Or you can save a bunch and install it yourself, if you're handy. I did my TO Ball by myself in about 5 hours. Hardest part was getting up the nerve to drill that 4" hole in the middle of my bed! 🙂 Helped my brother put a TO Ball in his F350, too, but made him drill his own hole!

Lyle

[laknox]

KKELLER14K wrote:
Buy the way....I have a 02 Dodge Dually that requires the bed rails. Now this is in itself is another challenge and learning curve as many of you have newer systems...heck I didn't even know what a "puck" was or a "turnover ball" until last week.. so again the education is so very important. I'm a slide in camper guy who is going bigger....I know this forum is the best place with the best people in the world to learn from ...so again thank you all!

Personally, I use my truck as a truck a =whole= lot more than I tow my FW or GN, so having a clean bed was almost as required as having the Turnover Ball base was to tow our GN trailer. I had one of those folding GN balls and it was a nightmare, especially if you got =any= dirt in the bed, which is sorta hard to do on a farm. Would wedge that ball to the point where you had to crawl underneath with a 3 lb shop hammer and drift punch to get the thing unstuck. Not saying that this can't happen with the TO ball, and it has, and it's my =only= complaint about it.

Lyle

[laknox]

Toolguy5 wrote:
My original hitch was a 18K Pullrite Superglide. This was a great hitch. I loved it. It automatically slide when turning.
2 things that I really did not care for but not enough to change my mind on opinion of it.

1. Need to be almost perfectly straight to hook and unhook.
2. Difficult to tow someone else's fifth wheel to help. Need caption plate.


I now have a 18K B&W companion slider. I love this hitch just as much.
I do have 1 issue with this one as well. I have a short bed truck the height of hitch vs bed rails when hitch is slid back I hit tailgate when turning. Now I can take care of this by raising nose of fifth wheel but I will not sit level. Another option is to make a little extension to open tailgate part way when I have it slid back.
I can turn 90 degrees with out hitting cab in forward position. But need to be careful.

In my opinion these are both GREAT hitches.

You can also nick off the back corners of the pinbox so they won't hit the bed. Many, many people have done this with no issues. One time, permanent, no-forgetting solution.

Lyle

[laknox]

KKELLER14K wrote:
A hitch WAR is not what I'm looking for. I get it. I would prefer that if anyone has one of these hitches tell me what you like and dislike about it. I really don't care what you paid for it or where it comes from... I'm ok with A side by side comparison if you have had more than one...who has this option to decide?...You tell us If You have had any of them to compare.... I want the real world to tell me what you think. SO throw me a bone and tell me why yours works for you. I am back to the question of.." Why wouldn't you buy the biggest rated hitch you could get?" Regardless...

I have the B&W Turnover Ball and FW Companion. I use both. Love the Companion and don't ever see needing any other hitch unless I went bat-sh** crazy and bought something I'd truly need a Class 8 to pull. At this stage, I'm actually looking =lighter= than my current 11.3k GVW FW, so my trusty old Companion will do me just fine for a long time to come. B&W is an awesome company to deal with, too, on the rare times you might need to do so.

Lyle

[fishkiller]

As another slide camper guy moving up sooner rather than later, and by the way a keller?? non I know of in Oregon. I also have been following this discussion, Still don't know what a puck or rails are but!! With my 2008 dodge DRW while i lurk and read I will soon enough...

[Halmfamily]

KKELLER14K wrote:
Buy the way....I have a 02 Dodge Dually that requires the bed rails. Now this is in itself is another challenge and learning curve as many of you have newer systems...heck I didn't even know what a "puck" was or a "turnover ball" until last week.. so again the education is so very important. I'm a slide in camper guy who is going bigger....I know this forum is the best place with the best people in the world to learn from ...so again thank you all!

You can have a B&W Turnover installed in your truck and not use rails, then you can use a B&W or an Anderson, I beleive. Most of this is also about your budget. A complete B&W will run North of $1500 installed but worth every penny in my opinion.

Good luck and welcome to the world of fifth wheels.

[Me_Again]

I got a Hijacker Ultra 16K sliding bar hitch in 1997 and used it in two trucks with two different trailers. It was a great hitch and there was never a question on it being latched.

This fall we got a new SB RAM and I looked at many manual sliders. Our son warehouses Curt hitches and I could have gotten a good deal on one. I looked at Demco/Hijacker and several others.

In the end I got a Demco 6099 picture frame and a B&W RVK3270 manual slider. I like the way the jaws work on it, in the fact that if the handle cycles closed, it is hitch correctly.

I would have converted the Hijacker head to their slider base, however mine was a earlier model that was not compatible to do that.

Hijacker and B&W may be the last two North American hitches. In talking to Curt they told me that the receiver hitches are still made state side, and the 5th wheel hitches are now off shored. Chris

[IdaD]

KKELLER14K wrote:
Now this is what I was looking for...a well maintained discussion about your experiences with these hitches. I'm not trolling here, I just want to have the information as to what is good or bad about the real world of towing. I can't thank you all enough. I'm actually shocked at the quick response....and others like me who are just getting started can make better decisions because you all have worked out the bugs...thanks again I truly appreciate it!

It helps when people are able to talk about the merits of what they use without putting down what others use, which is really the way it should be. Some struggle with that concept, but everybody has done a good job in this thread so far.

[KKELLER14K]

Buy the way....I have a 02 Dodge Dually that requires the bed rails. Now this is in itself is another challenge and learning curve as many of you have newer systems...heck I didn't even know what a "puck" was or a "turnover ball" until last week.. so again the education is so very important. I'm a slide in camper guy who is going bigger....I know this forum is the best place with the best people in the world to learn from ...so again thank you all!