Sliding Goose Neck ball?

[hptulsa]

My dealer told me there is  a gooseneck ball mount that slides forward/backward.  We've been warned by some friends that it is easy to turn too much while backing a trailer and then the trailer breaks the back truck window... dealer said this sliding mount solves as you can manually move the ball towards the back of the bed for jackknife manuevers... 

 

is he crazy?

[CRApex]

16 minutes ago, hptulsa said:

My dealer told me there is  a gooseneck ball mount that slides forward/backward.  We've been warned by some friends that it is easy to turn too much while backing a trailer and then the trailer breaks the back truck window... dealer said this sliding mount solves as you can manually move the ball towards the back of the bed for jackknife manuevers... 

 

is he crazy?

I suppose its possible, 5th wheel sliders have been around for a long time.  Most goosenecks don’t have the same clearance issues 5th wheels do so not sure how helpful a gooseneck slider would be.

[CRApex]

He’s probably referring to a sliding 5th wheel adapter that mounts using the factory gooseneck location, I just googled and saw they are available.

[hptulsa]

found this extender...probably what the sales guy meant:

https://www.bwtrailerhitches.com/product/extend-goose-gooseneck-coupler

[MTU Alum]

I would take a look at the 2020 truck in it's current position before buying the slider.  The gooseneck ball is 2" behind the rear axle (but still in center of leaf spring) and the box is 3 inches longer on the standard box.  You may have enough room without a slider.

 

#iworkforGM 

Edited September 18, 2019 by MTU Alum

[Pfc1]

Do you have a long bed or a shorter box, I can't see it making a difference for a gooseneck though.

[BigWhiteMastadon]

I have the 2019 3500 Dually with 8’ bed, with the 39’ travel trailer on a Geny Executive Gooseneck long hitch and I can turn a little more than 100 degrees and not get the window or fender. I suppose if I wasn’t paying attention or really uneven terrain....

[jpgcrna]

I saw a video the other day of a guy using a gooseball and a goosebox king pin on his 5th wheel to check clearances on the short bed chevy. Using this combination and his particular nose shape of his trailer he was able to make 90* turns with no clearance issues. Very cool. Moving the mounting location 2" to the rear definitely helped this happen, that and the wheel base is a little longer now for the short beds.

 

The other option if you want to tow with a 5th wheel hitch is a slider hitch, those are available in automatic and manual versions.

 

There are also rotating king pins available for 5th wheels now, I like this option.

 

I don't know of any sliding gooseballs, most of the sliding 5th wheel hitches, especially the automatic ones, work because the hitch head locks out at a certain rotational degree and then the head moves on a set of gears that slide it forward and back. It would take a specialized gooseball and kingpin adapter to make that work for a gooseneck setup and I haven't seen anything like that on the market.

 

There are gooseneck extensions like mentioned above, and I would avoid them on these trucks. The gooseball is typically directly over the axle. On these trucks it is already 2" behind the axle, so they have already given you that from the factory. I wouldn't add more to it, that would be pretty far back.

[BigWhiteMastadon]

Don’t be several trips now with the 39’ Raptor trailer, no issues even on serious incline to flat. So very happy with my above mentioned choices.