Gooseneck vs Fifth Wheel Trailers

[@georgewashington1106]

Flatbed trailers are available with 5th wheel or gooseneck mounts. If you're going to make the comment that a gooseneck is better for a flatbed, you should explain why.

[@etrailer]

Because the connection between a gooseneck coupler and the ball is tighter, there's less chucking and banging than what you'd experience with a 5th wheel hitch.

[@georgewashington1106]

@@etrailer - Every hitch manufacturer's website disagrees, and even if they didn't, you're saying that "better" is based on the noise it makes, not, as Curt says, "...smoother, quieter, more stable towing". You should probably Google "gooseneck vs. 5th wheel"

[@armslength2618]

@@georgewashington1106 Instead of parroting what 5th-wheel RV manufacturers are promoting for their own interests, you should think about what's going on with the technology. Indeed, a properly-fitted goosneck coupler and ball is tighter and quieter, especially after significant mileage wear on the jaws of an RV 5th-whl hitch. It's for this reason for example that receiver hitch RV trailers use a ball instead of a pintle hitch. Although the pintle can be made for very high weights, those will always be noisier and chuck worse than a ball. The tight tolerance between gooseneck ball and socket rides on a thin film of lube just like the journal bearings of your engine. The weight and sideway pressures of the gooseneck socket are applied simultaneously around the the solid ball at all times. In a 5th-whl those a broken apart, where the weight is carried by a plate and the sideways pressures are resisted by the jaws. Each of those is moving on its own so you'll never be able to get all the slop out of the assembly.

[@4schitzangiggles]

​@@armslength2618that's crap.if gooseneck was better every single class 8 truck would have a goose neck instead of a 5th wheel... Adjusting the 5th wheel jaws is part of routine maintenance and I've seen way more slop in gooseneck balls and hitches than I've ever had with 5th wheel hitches, again, because they can be adjusted. I've driven more miles than most people will in several lifetimes (cdl since '97) with both 5th wheels and goosenecks (class 8, heavy haul, hot shooting, etc.) so it isn't like I don't know what I'm talking about. Every one I've met prefers a properly set up 5th wheel to a gooseneck.

[@ferrumcampitor7555]

This was very helpful. Thank you.

[@etrailer]

You're very welcome, we're glad it was helpful!