Tell Me I Haven't Lost My Mind Please

[Calbar]

I honestly wish I had made the choice to go GooseBox from the dealer. Now I have a $1200 Curt A25 sitting in my garage I need to sell

Thanks. This is my thought exactly. Go with the Goosebox from the dealer from the start. We shall see what all pans out over the next few years with plans and ideas but this is a good start.

Rob

[jh.xsnrg]

Thanks. This is my thought exactly. Go with the Goosebox from the dealer from the start. We shall see what all pans out over the next few years with plans and ideas but this is a good start.

Rob

Exactly what we are doing. Will know a lot more in 2 weeks. It is supposed to come off the line Friday!

[Roll With The Changes]

One quick note on fifth wheel vs gooseneck, the gooseneck is every bit as secure if not more so vs a 5er. It autlocks when you drop onto the ball, can't come off by accident - no levers or pins or anything. Takes a hair more effort to hitch up, but nothing onerous in my opinion. My GooseBox rides way better than my Curt A25 did and was actually easier to hitch up, since working the jaws/arm/pin on the A25 was a pain.

Glad to hear an opinion from someone who has pulled with both a conventional 5th wheel and a GooseBox.

Can others who have experience with both also chime in with your experiences? I'd love to hear your experiences and comparisons.

I will definitely NOT say that one is better than the other. I have pulled just about every configuration that you could think of from a gooseneck dump trailer to a helicopter on a gooseneck with air suspension to tractor trailers. I have pulled all of these on the road and over water bars on rough logging roads. I have done most of this with bumper pull setups also (with and without air ride hitches). I am by no means an expert. I don't have 10's of thousands of miles on any of them.

From all of this I have more questions than answers, but I think it is mostly personal preference. I will however share a few observations. I think a gooseneck (ball) connection has more flexibility in terms of misalignment (truck twisting relative to trailer) so in the off road environment a ball connection might be more appropriate. That being said, a fifth wheel connection in the same scenario gives more rigidity to the truck/trailer assembly (it tends to twist the trailer instead of the hitch connection) so it gives a more stable feeling to the driver (maybe at the expense of twisting the trailer.)

So now apply that to a very expensive RV. The priority is to give the trailer the smoothest ride possible. Most likely you're not taking your fifth wheel RV down a logging road. The worst case is the construction zone on the interstate or the bad expansion joint at a bridge. In that case, you want the least impact from the truck to the hitch. You want as much "suspension travel" as you can get at the hitch without sacrificing rigidity and stability.

Another thing I have definitely concluded is that a hitch with a suspension that is not sized or balanced correctly is worse than no suspension at all. Imagine an airbag hitch with no air in it. It rides along just fine until you hit a bump. At that point, the weight comes off and it floats up a little bit. Then it bangs down on the bottom worse than a rigid connection. (Same applies to overinflation where it bangs at the top of the travel)

All that being said, there are other issues to consider. Do you need the truck for something else? Do you have other gooseneck trailers? There's the rest of your personal story to consider.

This got really long, but in my case I decided on the Hensley Trailer Saver. Only time will tell if this was the right choice.

[Spike32]

I just pulled the trigger on a new F350 Platinum dually. Pick it up next weekend.

I'm excited about it, but also scared to death that I screwed up. I'm sure most of you know what those things cost.

Not really asking permission here, I'm just saying:

This is cool!
What have I done?!

I'm not a dually guy because 1) don't need the capability and, 2) I like to 4 wheel on the beach. But I'm curious...why not get the F450 instead of the F350? If you're going dually, may as well get the one that handles in tight places the best.

[SolarPoweredRV]

I'm not a dually guy because 1) don't need the capability and, 2) I like to 4 wheel on the beach. But I'm curious...why not get the F450 instead of the F350? If you're going dually, may as well get the one that handles in tight places the best.

Here was our reasoning: Ride Comfort and Ride Height. The F450 rides on 19.5 inch Commercial tires and the F350 rides on 17 inch Michelin tires which lowers the truck height (good if you are pulling a 5th wheel) and provides a much smoother ride with and without the 5th wheel being hitched up. The F450 uses only 19.5 "Commercial" truck tires which provide that "Truck Like" ride experience. Additionally, it has been my experience that Commercial tires have very poor traction in wet weather because the rubber they use is so hard the tires loose their grip in wet weather (kind of like driving on snot).

Additionally, the E250 Ford Van we were driving at the time had a really nice ride and we had become spoiled. I never seriously considered the F450.

Having driven the F350 for 18 months and towed over 6,000 miles I can say that we am very, very happy with our F350 Dually (we also love our 310 GK) and there has never been a situation where I could not drive it because of the turning radius ( the E250 van had a very good turning radius), sometimes you have to make 3-point turns, but, you get used to driving the truck and it's turning radius.

[Overtaxed]

Here was our reasoning: Ride Comfort and Ride Height. The F450 rides on 19.5 inch Commercial tires and the F350 rides on 17 inch Michelin tires which lowers the truck height (good if you are pulling a 5th wheel) and provides a much smoother ride with and without the 5th wheel being hitched up. The F450 uses only 19.5 "Commercial" truck tires which provide that "Truck Like" ride experience. Additionally, it has been my experience that Commercial tires have very poor traction in wet weather because the rubber they use is so hard the tires loose their grip in wet weather (kind of like driving on snot).

Additionally, the E250 Ford Van we were driving at the time had a really nice ride and we had become spoiled. I never seriously considered the F450.

Having driven the F350 for 18 months and towed over 6,000 miles I can say that we am very, very happy with our F350 Dually (we also love our 310 GK) and there has never been a situation where I could not drive it because of the turning radius ( the E250 van had a very good turning radius), sometimes you have to make 3-point turns, but, you get used to driving the truck and it's turning radius.

The ride height, that's a bit of a deal for me, the 450 is a bit high, I'd like to have a little more clearance between the rails and the RV. That said, I've never hit, I'd just like a little more room.

The 19.5's in the rain have been fine, not great, not awful. I suspect they'll be awful in the snow.

All that said, I owned a 250 and drove a 350 dually and 450 back to back. I wouldn't bet my life I could tell one from the other from the "ride" (how stiff it is). My wife swears the 450 is "softer" than the 250. IDK, they are all trucks, they ride like trucks. I don't find the 450 punishing or worse than the 250, but neither of them is a Lexus!

I never considered turning radius when I was looking until I got into a 450 and did a little testing. It's incredible how fast it turns, I really do like it and it's useful to me both hitched and unhitched. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't have it, but I'm glad I do.

The commercial tires supposedly last forever. IDK, we'll see, but I've heard people say 75-100K isn't unusual. That would certainly speak to your "they're harder" comment, I think you're right, but that has pros and cons. However, that said, they are expensive too! So I'm not sure how much of an advantage that is, what's the "cost per mile"?

[Roll With The Changes]

I'm not a dually guy because 1) don't need the capability and, 2) I like to 4 wheel on the beach. But I'm curious...why not get the F450 instead of the F350? If you're going dually, may as well get the one that handles in tight places the best.

I looked into the diffences between the 350 and 450 and there is no question the 450 is more truck. Wheel size, brake size, etc. The turning radius was a little vague. I have read here that it is MUCH better than the 350 and I don't dispute that but I was not able to find any specs from Ford on either one. I never got the chance to drive a 450 so I couldn't make an objective comparison. The 350 already turns tighter than the 2500 that I had so I'm happy with that anyway and I'm used to working with heavy trucks getting into impossible places so turning radius alone is not a deal maker/breaker. In the big picture, the 350 is more truck than I need and will probably be cheaper to maintain in the long run (tires, brakes, etc). But it really came down to trims and colors and options. This is the one I found that fit and if it had been a 450 I probably would have gotten that.

It turns out that this may be the only truck in the country like it. (at least that's what the dealer that found it said). It is exactly the trim and options that I would have ordered.

[[email protected]]

I'm not a dually guy because 1) don't need the capability and, 2) I like to 4 wheel on the beach. But I'm curious...why not get the F450 instead of the F350? If you're going dually, may as well get the one that handles in tight places the best.

The F-450 shaves between 8 and 10' off of the F350. I can make a u-turn from a left hand turn lane into the number 2 lane going the opposite direction quite easily. I to go to the beach on occasion mainly pismo or Daytona, and with Cooper all terrain tires, I fortunately have not been stuck yet, I do air down quite a bit though from the 110 rating into the 25 pound area. No hardcore 4 wheel drive trails with the Dooley, that's what the side by sides are 4.

[Overtaxed]

I looked into the diffences between the 350 and 450 and there is no question the 450 is more truck. Wheel size, brake size, etc. The turning radius was a little vague. I have read here that it is MUCH better than the 350 and I don't dispute that but I was not able to find any specs from Ford on either one. I never got the chance to drive a 450 so I couldn't make an objective comparison. The 350 already turns tighter than the 2500 that I had so I'm happy with that anyway and I'm used to working with heavy trucks getting into impossible places so turning radius alone is not a deal maker/breaker. In the big picture, the 350 is more truck than I need and will probably be cheaper to maintain in the long run (tires, brakes, etc). But it really came down to trims and colors and options. This is the one I found that fit and if it had been a 450 I probably would have gotten that.

It turns out that this may be the only truck in the country like it. (at least that's what the dealer that found it said). It is exactly the trim and options that I would have ordered.

That's kind of how I felt about it too, 350DRW or 450 would have been OK by me. I drove the 450 and really liked it, so that's what I bought. Honestly, of all of it, it was the turning radius that was the decision maker for me. It's scary sharp, that's the only way I can describe it. My wife and I still laugh when we are parking it and crank it all the way over, it feels like you're driving a forklift, and, given it's a massive truck, it's just silly/funny/neat to see something that big turn that fast. As far as "how much different", I can't remember. I think it was about 10' in in the 2019 model, but this is all I could find (2010):

F-350 DRW 172" W/B Turning Diameter

Curb-to-Curb = 56.6'
Wall-to-Wall = 58.4'

F-450 DRW 172" W/B Turning Diameter

Curb-to-Curb = 50.4'
Wall-to-Wall = 52.5'

So about 6.5' less room required. All I can tell you, for sure, is the "seat of the pants" when turning it feels just "wrong" compared to anything else I've ever driven. It's a strange feeling at first, I will tell you that.

Now, to your point, is it necessary? Not for me it's not. It's nice to have, and I do occasionally go "full lock" on the 450 to make a turn which indicates to me I couldn't do it in a 350 without a back/forth, but, no, it's not a "must have", not even a little bit.

Tires on a 450 are not cheap! I just hope they last long enough to make it cost about the same per mile as a "normal" tire.

[[email protected]]

That's kind of how I felt about it too, 350DRW or 450 would have been OK by me. I drove the 450 and really liked it, so that's what I bought. Honestly, of all of it, it was the turning radius that was the decision maker for me. It's scary sharp, that's the only way I can describe it. My wife and I still laugh when we are parking it and crank it all the way over, it feels like you're driving a forklift, and, given it's a massive truck, it's just silly/funny/neat to see something that big turn that fast. As far as "how much different", I can't remember. I think it was about 10' in in the 2019 model, but this is all I could find (2010):

F-350 DRW 172" W/B Turning Diameter

Curb-to-Curb = 56.6'
Wall-to-Wall = 58.4'

F-450 DRW 172" W/B Turning Diameter

Curb-to-Curb = 50.4'
Wall-to-Wall = 52.5'

So about 6.5' less room required. All I can tell you, for sure, is the "seat of the pants" when turning it feels just "wrong" compared to anything else I've ever driven. It's a strange feeling at first, I will tell you that.

Now, to your point, is it necessary? Not for me it's not. It's nice to have, and I do occasionally go "full lock" on the 450 to make a turn which indicates to me I couldn't do it in a 350 without a back/forth, but, no, it's not a "must have", not even a little bit.

Tires on a 450 are not cheap! I just hope they last long enough to make it cost about the same per mile as a "normal" tire.

I've looked around quite a bit for tires for my F450. And I find Cooper Tires, the roadmasters, are very affordable compared to my F250s pro comps. They're heavier duty then the stock tires that came with the truck, I think from continental. I've had them on approximately 20,000 miles now and they still look very good and no where near the wear bars. Nor are they coming apart like the stock tires did. The stock tires started throwing chunks, the lugs, at about 7000 miles. I took it back to ford and the 1st thing they asked me was if I was driving over 70 miles an hour. I said of course the speed limits are seventy-five where I drive, they said I voided my warranty those tires are only rated to 70 miles an hour. The Coopers are rated up to 88 which is slightly above where the Fords speed limiter is. And they have a very deep shoulder and lug pattern on them for when I am out in the desert or on the sand.