Location of Gooseneck Ball

[cdnSpinalTap]

Hello,

 

This may have been discussed elsewhere, but I recently found out that they moved the gooseneck ball location 2" behind the rear axle now, as opposed to right over or ahead of the rear axle.  Has anyone seen any communication on why they did this and the justification for it?  I have no knowledge or expertise either way, but it was always my understanding that the tow point for a fifth wheel or gooseneck should be over the axle or just in front.

 

Has anybody noticed any steering issues or anything else different with this change?

 

Thanks.

[L86 All Terrain]

I haven't heard any reports, but it will reduce the amount of weight you can get transferred on to your steer axle. Which means, higher weights on your rear axle. More payload will be taken up by just the rear axle leading to higher chances of being over weight at the scale. It will reduce steering traction as well. 

 

All my class 8 trucks run air sliders on the 5th's so I can position them for different trailers, different loads, and can fine tune my axle weights by sliding the 5th position. Having it behind the axle makes no sense from a GVWR perspective. I suppose they did that because the new bed is taller or longer. If I am moving a D8 dozer, sliding the 5th wheel 2" can mean having 4,500kg on my steers, or 6,000kg. Which I move ahead to get the max on my steer, and lighten up the drives to around 23,000kg each. Having the gooseneck behind the rear axle will mean you will likely never use up 75% of your steer axle gawr before going over weight on the rear axle. Likely, you wont be able to max your GVWR out on these trucks without being over in the back. I am sure some owners will report soon, I don't have a new T1 HD yet. 

[Cool J]

The box is longer making the distance from the hitch to the front of the bed longer, but the hitch location is still centered over the rear axle. Moving the hitch location also helps with those that tow fifth wheel trailers and shouldn't need a sliding fifth wheel. I have towed my fifth wheel over 2,000 miles with my 3500 SRW Duramax on my last trip and the truck did great with very good control. A little advice is to make sure you turn off the truck before connecting or disconnecting your 7 pin plug and camera plugs. 

[cdnSpinalTap]

28 minutes ago, Cool J said:

The box is longer making the distance from the hitch to the front of the bed longer, but the hitch location is still centered over the rear axle. Moving the hitch location also helps with those that tow fifth wheel trailers and shouldn't need a sliding fifth wheel. I have towed my fifth wheel over 2,000 miles with my 3500 SRW Duramax on my last trip and the truck did great with very good control. A little advice is to make sure you turn off the truck before connecting or disconnecting your 7 pin plug and camera plugs. 

In reference to the green text above - isn't the hitch location actually 2" behind the axle, or am I misunderstanding something?

 

Just to be clear - I am confident it is fine, as well, but just wanted a better understanding of the logic.

[Cool J]

My bad, I think you are correct about the ball being 2" behind the axle. 

[ssowie]

I read somewhere on here that it isn’t exactly over the axle but it is over the center the center of the springs. Not exactly how all that works but I tow my 5th wheel no problem. It tows better than my 2017 Chevy did.


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[cdnSpinalTap]

18 minutes ago, ssowie said:

I read somewhere on here that it isn’t exactly over the axle but it is over the center the center of the springs. Not exactly how all that works but I tow my 5th wheel no problem. It tows better than my 2017 Chevy did.


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Yes, I read the same thing.

 

I recently found this from Mr. Truck.  According to the video, starting at about 1:09.

• The ball is gooseneck mounting point is 2" behind the axle
• It is centred on the rear leaf springs between the front hangar and the rear shackle
• According to GM engineers, supposed to be the right distribution for the standard bed truck, also gives you the additional 3 or so inches to the cab

Anyway - glad to hear that everyone thinks it tows great.  Looking forward to getting mine out there.

 

I sold my previous truck and included the fifth wheel hitch in the deal.  I think I am going to swap out my pin box for the goose box.  Looking forward to the extra room in the bed of the truck.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dq0QqkhKxs

[XY74]

It is centered over the springs which gives it a little more clearance to the cab.  TFL had a video that showed a 3000 lb pin weight took 100 lbs off the front axle which seems trivial to me.  

[MTU Alum]

The center of the hitch is 2 in behind axle on standard bed and 2 in in front on long beds.  The same hitch is used and it is just rotated 180 deg.  

 

The 2 in behind axle is not significant.  If you put 2 to 3,000 lbs on a 2 in lever arm versus 7,000 - 8,000 lbs on a 157 in lever arm you are going to move much.  

 

You honestly take more load off the front with a conventional trailer than the gooseneck.  Crew cab diesels have the same tow rating between the two on 20 series.  

 

#iworkforGM 

[cdnSpinalTap]

3 minutes ago, MTU Alum said:

2 in in front on long beds

I think it is only 1" in front of axles on the long bed - I could be wrong though.

[Sniperdan]

11 hours ago, Cool J said:

The box is longer making the distance from the hitch to the front of the bed longer, but the hitch location is still centered over the rear axle. Moving the hitch location also helps with those that tow fifth wheel trailers and shouldn't need a sliding fifth wheel. I have towed my fifth wheel over 2,000 miles with my 3500 SRW Duramax on my last trip and the truck did great with very good control. A little advice is to make sure you turn off the truck before connecting or disconnecting your 7 pin plug and camera plugs. 

Why would you need to turn off the truck before connecting or disconnecting the trailer wiring?  I am still waiting for my truck so I can't test it right now. 

[MTU Alum]

If you have the trailer information module (trailer app) it seems to recognize the trailer connection better if the truck is asleep before pulling in the 7 way.  This is especially the case if you are running trailer cameras.  

 

#iworkforGM