trailer search help

[desertheritagetaxidermy]

i am thinking about looking for a older toy hauler 22ft-28ft that my ranger would fit in but here's the issue I want a gooseneck and I find a lot of bumper pulls and 5th wheels. any ideas from you guys.

[muledeerarea33?]

Educate me on the difference in a 5th wheel and a goose neck? I always thought it was the same?

[Pine Donkey]

Many aftermarket conversion to remove the fifth wheel hitch and replace it with a goose neck. They run $300-600.

[desertheritagetaxidermy]

thanks pinedonkey I didn't know they had conversion kits. the difference is a gooseneck is a still a ball but in the middle of the bed that you can just flip to have your bed open a 5th wheel you have to have that big ugly hitch going across your bed and a pain to take out and in.

[muledeerarea33?]

Oh ok. My pops has a 5th wheel trailer but his assembly is in the truck is removable when not in use. Wasn't sure the difference.

[az41mag]

You may want to consider a 5th wheel toy hauler and adding a gooseneck hitch adapter. Converting from a 5th wheel hitch to a gooseneck hitch is the route I went with my travel trailer. I went with the Pop-Up brand converter. The converter clamps around the 5th wheel kingpin and bolts to the kingpin frame of your trailer. This also means that you can convert it back to 5th wheel if you want. It has adjustable height configurations so you can level the trailer, and there are converters available with an offset so you can gain a little more clearance between your trailer and the cab of your truck (good if you have a short bed pickup). As mentioned earlier, the gooseneck ball takes up way less room in the bed of your pickup than a 5th wheel hitch does. You're right about there being lots of 5th wheel toy haulers out there, and the only ones with gooseneck hitches that I've seen have been converted. Hope that helps.

[swwildlife]

Hey Dale, I have a 5th wheel toybox (40 foot) that we put a gooseneck converter on. I love a gooseneck, no slapping, and much more stable and tight, and I have the whole bed available and I dont need to muscle the 5th wheel hitch in and out, however there is added torque on the "neck" of the trailer and over the years have actually bent the "neck" or over bed portion of the trailer slightly, due to the added torque. One other drawback on the gooseneck is if you want to pull another small trailer it is illegal to do so with a gooseneck, but legal with a 5th wheel, that was no concern to me because 40 ft trailer and my truck was close to overall max legal length

[desertheritagetaxidermy]

thanks Jim and everyone else for there comments. if I find the right deal I may get one.

[bigorange]

I'm no expert on 5th wheel conversions to gooseneck, but on one of the rv forums I saw a discussion that gooseneck puts different strain on the frame of the trailer than 5th wheel so some trailers shouldn't be converted. I'd expect a toy hauler to have a stronger frame than a regular 5th wheel trailer, but just something to keep in mind.