Gooseneck vs. 5th Wheel Hitch

**JKellerJr** · 10-02-2018, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by boyscout

Short box or long box? Thx.

Long. Distance would be the same regardless if you could get to a 90 but short box wont allow a 90

**Unit88** · 11-23-2018, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by JKellerJr

I have towed with a traditional 5th wheel hitch, an Andersen, and the goose box. I have the goose box now and wouldn't go back to any of the others for any reason (short of needing a heavier than 20K hitch or having a short bed truck). It takes slightly more accuracy for hook up as you need front to back as well as side to side. Its the smoothest combo I used. Lift off the unit and you have an empty bed save the ball and the ball pulls in a minute and weighs a couple of pounds. I think when I did the math the total weight was about 20-30lbs heavier than an aluminium Andersen and the stock pin box but much lighter then a traditional hitch if you have payload concerns.

Its approved by lippert and Grand design. And while lippert and Reese have a connection I don't see Lippert approving something that could potentially cost them expensive warranty repairs just to help sell a few hitches. It just doesn't make sense.

Does your Denali have an 8' box?

**GENESIS** · 11-24-2018, 09:09 PM

Kinda interesting here about the "stresses" that are transferred to the wing set/frame via the GooseBox. Didn't realize that there were degreed stress engineers (like second chance) that were members. Me?? I'm just a lowly M.E. with a minor in stress analysis. That said, it seems that all the Monday Morning stress engineers haven't taken into account the design of the GooseBox (i.e. material thickness, flanges, fulcrum points, pivot fasteners, steel temper, etc.) that are a part of the GooseBox design. Yet they pontificate about its "suitability" as a load bearing and transferring structure. Not doubting these folks since I'm sure they have a PC at home that is capable of running a FEM (Finite Element Analysis) report that details the stresses over a given set of input loads and how those loads (bending, shear, torsion) are transferred into the super structure.

sigh................

Tom

**Leon T** · 11-24-2018, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by Unit88

Does your Denali have an 8' box?

He stated in another post that his bed is the "long", which is the 8' bed. Just an FYI in case you missed the post.

**Unit88** · 11-24-2018, 09:52 PM

Originally Posted by Leon T

He stated in another post that his bed is the "long", which is the 8' bed. Just an FYI in case you missed the post.

yes, i must have missed it.......thank you for clarifying

**TLB923** · 11-25-2018, 09:57 AM

Tom,
Have you done a comparative FEA on the various designs or are you stating your opinion like most of the others are? If you have that would be invaluable information to have and I'm sure everyone here would be eternally grateful.

**Justonemore** · 01-11-2019, 09:12 PM

I really like ours. I have over 3000 miles on our GD 29rs and Reese goose box and I can only say I wouldn’t hesitate to buy again. Being from cattle country in the north west and using cattle gooseneck trailers with 20 k plus total trailer weight I can assure you that gooseneck Systems work well. I well say it takes a little more effort to get the ball and hitch lined up but not really a big deal. Another advantage is it all but eliminated a rough ride which I believe reduce the stress on the trailer. And no more dealing with a fifth wheel hitch!

**GENESIS** · 01-12-2019, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by TLB923

Tom,
Have you done a comparative FEA on the various designs or are you stating your opinion like most of the others are? If you have that would be invaluable information to have and I'm sure everyone here would be eternally grateful.

No - I haven't done an FEA on the GB. And, quite frankly, I don't think I need to. And yes - if you wanna label my post "opinion", go right ahead. HOWEVER, anecdotal as it may be, I cannot find one instance on the interweb of a failure that was contributed to a GB. And knowing how forums and the interweb tend to be (i.e. folks just love to post negative stuff), I'm sure that if there was ANYTHING inherently bad about the GB as a load carrying/transferring member, you'd read about it. How many posts have you run across that read like this, "don't buy so-n-so because it's a POS"? Anyhow.......I digress. I'm not asking you or anybody else to agree or believe me. However, I have a bootleg engineering drawing of a GB via a Reese engineer (hope this doesn't get anybody at Reese in trouble), and from it, along with physically looking at the structure, my 35+ years of doing my thang doesn't keep me up at night about the structural integrity of the GB. Now......that rats nest wiring under the chloroplast does keep me awake at night. I don't wanna get all wonky, but the GB design incorporates sound engineering principles of box construction, proper material thickness, stiffening return flanges of proper dimension, proper bend radii for the thickness of material, and IIRC at least grade 10 bolts of sufficient diameter to handle considerable KSI shear loads. Now......having said all that, I will concede that I do not know what type of steel they use nor do I know if they do any heat treating or their method of forming or whether their welds are x-ray'd or dye pen inspected, etc. Hell.....I might have a stress crack and don't know it. But I'll promise you guys, if the dang thing fails, you'll be the first to know it.

Tom

**Crazyal** · 02-06-2019, 07:24 AM

The Goose neck has no ill effect on the truck and resolves the "chucking" from a typical fifth wheel hitch. I sold a number of them and received nothing but "thanks" for suggesting the goose neck. The fact that you don't lose your box and that you don't have to move a bulky hitch is a bonus. If it was not a superior setup the "horse" community would have found something better.