I think I've finally found the right hitch combination to tow my fifth wheel camper with my Freightliner HDT and keep the commercial hitch in place without spending a fortune.
Trucker heresy up north, beautifully done brother, continuous improvement to get to the finish line with safety and affordability in mind, have a motorcoach but like the truck 5wheel trailer setup, nice to be able to bobtail when your parked for errands and such, thanks for the intel eh 🇺🇸🙏🏿🇨🇦 Nice goat🐳
The use of the Andersen hardware makes sense. It's essentially the normal Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection setup, but the truck is so tall that the usual Andersen Ultimate raised frame is not necessary to hold the ball. By the way, the Andersen Ultimate ball and socket are both aluminum, and the socket adapter (installed on the trailer) has nylon liner to prevent damage to either the ball or the socket. It should work fine with a steel ball, as is done here, but it would make sense to check the socket for wear at reasonable intervals.
The GenY gooseneck hitch is strong and provides flex while driving. There's absolutely no compromise to the front structure of the 5th wheel. Luxe uses them on some of their heaviest 5th wheels without any issues.
The idea of the long cable to the release handle of the Andersen Ultimate is that you can mount it under the front of the trailer at the edge, rather than having to reach in all the way to the pin box.
Appreciate your videos. I’m currently trying to figure out using my HDT to tow my fifth wheel. Considering switching out pin box to gooseneck and maybe using an adapter into the commercial fifth wheel or adding one behind it. However you are still hauling this with no issues I might just try leaving it and hooking up with the commercial fifth wheel and rolling the dice.
Some of those commercials 5th wheels have adjustable locking for play in the pin and locking the 5th wheel in place is what you have to do with a walking dump trl.
I have seen some 6x6 army trucks that had full size fifth wheels that pivoted front and back and side to side. Back then everyone I knew with them changed them out because it was too easy to turn over log trailers off-road. One of those military truck dealers may have some for cheap because nobody wanted them.
Which Andersen adapter are you using? Would love to see your setup as well. I’m trying to figure this out but not a lot of info out there with using the commercial fifth wheel. I’ve considered switching out the pin box to some kind of gooseneck and either adding a ball behind the fifth wheel or using an adapter directly into the commercial fifth wheel.
I am using the anderson ultimate fifthwheel adapter. It is the only adapter I would recommend. I connected directly to my commercial fifthwheel for several years without any issues, however I like the ball or RV fifthwheel for piece of mind. I was always worried about putting it in to much of a bind and snapping the pin box off. If I was not going to ever use my commercial fifthwheel again I would take it off and mount a ball or RV fifthwheel. I like the goose boxes but they are expensive. The adapter I use in my fifthwheel had to be custom made. They do sell some adapters like mine but the ball is to short and won't work with the Anderson adapter. If you want to keep the commercial fifthwheel, and don't mind spending the money, I would mount a gooseneck ball on the truck behind the fifthwheel and buy a goose box for the camper. Thanks and let me know if you have any other questions.
Unless the idea is to be able to rapidly convert between the original commercial fifth-wheel and the RV ball hitch, there wouldn't be any point to all of the hardware of the fifth-wheel modification and pin-to-ball adapter - just build a frame to hold a "gooseneck" ball at a suitable height, bolted to the truck frame, with no moving parts or extra hardware. But for converting back and forth, this is one way to go. An alternative which would be simpler, lighter, and stronger, would be to use the same ball setup for all trailers, as long as the loaded equipment trailer isn't too heavy. Those balls are fine for at least 30,000 pounds of trailer gross weight with at least 7,500 pounds of weight on the hitch.
The play shown at the end is expected, and I think it should be considered unacceptable (but of course that's just my opinion). I think it should be expected with any adapter of this type, because it is using a fifth-wheel hitch in a way for which it is not designed. A much larger plate on the adapter would reduce the problem, but the only really good solution is to use separate fifth-wheel and ball hitches on the truck.
Interesting. The final result looks like it could be lifting the trailer hitch higher than designed, but I'm sure you measured it all before you started, maybe not mentioning it in the video. As for the Andersen adapter, it is a solution, but I'm a doubter that is is a great solution, simply because I do not believe set screws will keep it from spinning, especially when the tractor is 90 degrees to the trailer and there is more than "parking lot" stress.
curious why you didnt choose the Goosebox hitch like the one Reese has? it bolts directly to the frame and is covered under the warranty by lippert on the RV
Price mostly and to pull from my fifthwheel with the ball adapter, I think it would be to tall. My rv is a 2010 so warranty doesn't really come into play for me. I'm not 100 percent sure but I don't think the Anderson adapter voids the warranty either.
Not yet, I basically just tied in to the rear tail lights for brakes, turn signals and markers. Then I ran an auxiliary power wire from the fuse box and an electric brake power wire from the brake controller. I need to make a video on it, I get that question a lot. Thanks
Yea I have a 2016 cascadia 116 single axle that I need to wire an rv plug but I cannot finds anything online about it I have an electric brake car hauler I’m trying to run
