How to Convert a Fifth Wheel Trailer to a Gooseneck
Fifth-wheel trailers hitch to a large, flat horseshoe-shaped plate that is fastened on the bed of a pickup truck. The trailer's hitch, a matching plate with a projecting 2-inch kingpin, hangs below the foremost part of the body and seats into the horseshoe. Gooseneck trailers also use a hitch that hangs from an elevated body section, but have a receiver that seats onto a 2-5/16-inch tow ball like a conventional bumper hitch. An adapter is required to convert a fifth-wheel trailer so it can attach to a gooseneck-equipped tow vehicle.
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Instructions
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Use the jacks under the corners of the trailer's front section to level its chassis, then measure the distance between the fifth-wheel hitch and the ground. Measure the distance between the gooseneck ball in the truck bed and the ground, then buy a gooseneck adapter that can mate the two measurements. For instance, if the fifth-wheel hitch is six feet from the ground and the gooseneck ball is five feet from the ground, the adapter's height adjustment pillar should have a setting that makes it one foot tall.
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Follow the adapter manufacturer's instructions to install the adapter onto the fifth-wheel plate and kingpin. Because all the pivoting occurs on the gooseneck ball at the bottom of the adapter, and not at the kingpin, the adapter must be locked in place. Usually the adapter is secured by two horseshoe clamps with integral bolt and washer assemblies or by set screws. Use a wrench to tighten the nuts or a screwdriver to tighten the set screws.
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Move the tow vehicle beneath the elevated section of the fifth-wheel trailer so that the gooseneck adapter receiver is precisely above the gooseneck ball. Unlatch the adapter's gooseneck coupler, then lower the jacks under the trailer's front section. Allow the receiver to seat over the ball and continue to lower the jacks, then follow the adapter manufacturer's instructions to secure the coupler.
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Tips & Warnings
Both gooseneck and fifth-wheel hitches tow by having the front of the trailer extend over the rear part of the pickup bed to an attachment point midpoint between the cab and rear axle, at the point the vehicle manufacturer considers to be the optimum point to transfer the mass. Both are supported by rail/bracket assemblies which extend either side of the midpoint to bolt onto the chassis.
Gooseneck and fifth-wheel hitches are able to support trailer weights that would snap off a conventional bumper tow package, and locating the hitch forward of the tow vehicle's rear axle allows for much tighter turns.
A fifth-wheel-to-gooseneck adapter develops considerable lateral stresses at the ball. Check with the truck and hitch manufacturer's customer support staff that the adapter you are considering is safe to use.
References
- Photo Credit lake mead national recreation area 14 image by Jim Parkin from Fotolia.com
