First 5th wheel hitch question

[Rgkeaney]

By the way if these ball style hitches are so much better, why don't we see them on semi's?

I too had the companion slider in my Ram 2500. Great hitch, absolutely! Hated losing my bed and needing to find friends to get it out. AUH was the answer for me.

Oh, and consistency between all the trailers that semis have to connect with is the reason the industry picked one style and went with it. And it may indeed be the best solution.

Why did the world go to vhs back in the day rather then Betamax, a superior solution? Answer, because they had to standardize in something. Not enough market to support both.


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2016 Ram 2500 Cummins
Andersen ultimate
2020 GD 31MB
Champion dual fuel 3500 generator
Steadyfast stabilizers
Dinosaur electronics ignitor board
MicroAir Easy-Start

[RWFSAF]

I have a Reflection 295RL, 150 Series with the Turning Point Hitch set for the rear pivot point.
I tow with the Curt A20 Puck System in my Nissan Titan XD with 6.75 foot bed.
I can do a 90 with a couple inches to spare between the cab and Camper.
I had to buy a different wedge specific to the Curt Hitch for about $35.
Overall, very satisfied with the setup.

[Richter]

Thank you Richter. We need to put a stop to this nonsense of the warranty being voided if you use an AUH. Thousands of posts on this topic on all different trailer manufacturers forums and I haven’t yet seen or heard of a single time this has actually happened. I think there might be 4 or 5 photos of a crumpled AUH that get shared everywhere like the boogeyman is coming to get you. People need to start thinking about the reality of this stuff, and the world, and quit living in so much fear and paranoia.


+++++++++++++++++++
2016 Ram 2500 Cummins
Andersen ultimate
2020 GD 31MB
Champion dual fuel 3500 generator
Steadyfast stabilizers
Dinosaur electronics ignitor board
MicroAir Easy-Start

I’ve seen the photos and there isn’t enough information to clearly state the reason for the failure. Was it installed correctly? Were all of the support bolts tightened to spec? Plenty of speculation, but a shortage of facts. Gotta love the internet. If you hear the same thing repeated 100 times, then it must be true...

[Banshee94]

I’ve seen the photos and there isn’t enough information to clearly state the reason for the failure. Was it installed correctly? Were all of the support bolts tightened to spec? Plenty of speculation, but a shortage of facts. Gotta love the internet. If you hear the same thing repeated 100 times, then it must be true...

I love our AUH, have no desire to have a heavy, greasy, loud clucky hitch I couldn't remove myself with ease. 2 minutes to install & 2 to remove. Great setup.

[Kevin.lanes]

I'll get to my question but first a little background...thanks in advance for you replies! I've never owned a fifth wheel or even seen one in action other than videos so it's difficult to picture how all of this works. My wife and I just sold our 175 bunkhouse TT that we pulled with a Tundra that went back on lease. We made the decision to upgrade well over a year ago and the Momentum 21g and 25g toy haulers caught my attention which brought us to Grand Design. Have since decided against the TH and we are 98% of the way there to pulling the trigger on a Reflection 150 268bh. Research on towing the bigger TT or small 5'er landed me on my new truck which is a 2020 GMC 2500 AT4 diesel with a 6'9" bed. The truck has the 5th wheel/Gooseneck prep package with the cutouts in the bed and came with a $500+ hitch package that is the ball and anchors that attach to the connection points in the cutouts for a gooseneck trailer.

Here's the question...Does anyone have this setup and what hitch did you go with, or if you had this truck with the above listed equipment looking at the 268bh with the turning point pinbox, what hitch would you recommend or what hitch are you using with a similar truck. I know there are a million options and that opinions will vary, but from what I understand, the setup on the new gen GMC is different for this year and the 268 is on the smaller side of 5th wheels. Looking for ease of use, portability, and anything that will take the best advantage of my existing equipment.

Again, thanks in advance for your response and I'm one excited soon to be Grand Design owner!

I am like you new to the 5er, we bought a 311bhs and I got a 2020 Denali HD with the duramax to pull it. I have a curt a20 on the factory pucks and am really happy, it works perfect with my backflip mx4 tonneau cover. In 2 months I have towed over 4000 km with zero issues.

This week I removed the hitch to pick up wood and when I put it back in my wife could not believe how easy it was, line up the pucks lock them in place and insert the pin, not the 5th wheel hitch from my youth.

Enjoy

[[email protected]]

This is not correct. More internet lore than fact. The Andersen is not a gooseneck. A gooseneck will place additional stress on the frame. The Andersen places less stress on the frame than the “approved” Lippert version. There are way too many threads on both this and the “other” forum speaking to this issue.

I guess if you consider what lippard says to be internet lore. It's not the bed mounted ball that's the problem, it's the hitch mount. The extra several inches on the hitch under a couple thousand pounds of pressure were not engineered into the weight limits of the trailer.

[Richter]

Listen carefully to what Lippert says. “We cannot say that it will not void the warranty” is a lot different from “It will void the warranty”. This is cleverly drafted language, by an attorney who is paid to do that. Attorney speak and marketing yabber drive me up the wall.

[powerscol]

I guess if you consider what lippard says to be internet lore. It's not the bed mounted ball that's the problem, it's the hitch mount. The extra several inches on the hitch under a couple thousand pounds of pressure were not engineered into the weight limits of the trailer.

I guess the only question remaining is why did AUH recently change their design (improve) using additional bracing and angel changes? To me my family safety comes first and in an accident I don't want the trailer uncoupling. Yes you can take the failure photos with a grain of salt, but some are easy to see what happened. Rear end hit folded AUH forward until trailer hit cab and back of truck. Just think what would have happened if they would have had an ind bed aux gas tank? There was a post here or at the other place where someone else got hit from behind with a B&W hitch. Trailer badly damaged - truck and hitch no visible damage. Yes this is all what ifs. I have seen too many unfortunate things in my travels to not think "what if".

However I have never seen a failure of a standard 5th wheel king pin set up. The hitch did not break. This is excluding the human error failures of high hitching or not properly locking the hitch.

Now as to the the engineering of the AUH and that a goose box set up puts more stress on the trailer I politely disagree.

In simple terms the AUH with the mount on the king pin puts additional stress on the king pin and king pin mounting plate. All loading is centered on the king pin itself. Everything is transmitted through the pin. In a normal 5th wheel hitch the pin weigh stress is carried by the hitch and king pin plate over a wide area, and the king pin only handles the for/aft loading and possibly some up and down loading on occasion. A big difference. Now a goose neck replacement pin pox like the approved Reese replaces the entire kin pin assembly and attaches to the outer mounting frame - same as the normal king pin plate does - no difference. In most cases the same mounting holes are used.

Now as far as the AUH being classified as a goose neck and needing safety chains, it probably depends on the state your in. In general any ball mount being either goose neck or travel trailer require safety chains. Why - with a ball mount all the stress is centered on the ball shank and in times past this was the weak link.

Just my 02

Stay safe and happy travels

[weekend warrior]

I just purchased a 31 MB last week and had the Reese Goosebox installed. It towed great on our 2.5 hour trip home from the dealership.

I have a 6.5' bed on the 2020 Chevy 3500 and the factory gooseneck puck system has the ball a couple inches behind the center of the rear axle, which helps with cab clearance. Based on my first tow with this setup, I think I could get close to a 90 degree turn.

[SabreDriver]

In simple terms the AUH with the mount on the king pin puts additional stress on the king pin and king pin mounting plate. All loading is centered on the king pin itself. Everything is transmitted through the pin. In a normal 5th wheel hitch the pin weigh stress is carried by the hitch and king pin plate over a wide area, and the king pin only handles the for/aft loading and possibly some up and down loading on occasion. A big difference.

Now as far as the AUH being classified as a goose neck and needing safety chains, it probably depends on the state your in. In general any ball mount being either goose neck or travel trailer require safety chains. Why - with a ball mount all the stress is centered on the ball shank and in times past this was the weak link.

Just my 02

Stay safe and happy travels

The AUH distributes a significant portion of the vertical load to the king pin plate through the four set screws torqued through the mounting block. The king pin still carries virtually all the horizontal (pulling/stopping) load.

There’s a significant load on the aluminum king pin mounting block, but it is very robust, it’s definitely not the weakest link in the system. I have not seen a picture of one that has failed.


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