gooseneck plate for flatbed

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hey guys. Im going to be building a flat bed on my f350 soon and will be putting a gooseneck hitch on the truck. I never had or pulled one, always used a tag along. I will have access to one and I want the capability to be able to pull one should I need to. Looking at hitches I see most of them have ways to hide the ball away and leave a standard bed open and unobstructed. Most flat beds I see have a little door and the ball is just mounted to a piece of plate. I have seen the plates with the chain mounts and ball, but they looked pretty cheesy and seemed expensive for what they were... ANyone mount a hide away or turnover ball right up on the deck of a flat bed? how would you guys build it and mainly attack it to the frame safely.- Christian M.C3 Welding & Fabrication - CNC Plasma Cutting-Mobile Welding-Custom welding and fabwww.c3welding.com
Reply:should of posted after I ate. Not sure how much of this made sense. One thing I dont like about the door is the fact that it seems flimsy, should I load something and out any weight on it I would worry about it bending. Im guessing a hideaway hitch for this truck and a standard bed will not sit at the right height for a flat bed with the standard mounts?- Christian M.C3 Welding & Fabrication - CNC Plasma Cutting-Mobile Welding-Custom welding and fabwww.c3welding.com
Reply:I built my gooseneck hitch. Didn't take pictures of it being built. But after it was installed. I have an aluminum flatbed. I made bolt on plates for each side of the frame. Bolted through holes in the truck frame. Seems as I used a large piece of C-channel for the gooseneck hitch. Welded flatbar to the toes of the C-channel, so the toes would not eat into the truck frame. Also welded a thick piece of plate for a doubler. Tightened the ball as tight as I could, then welded a lug next to the nut so it won't back off. Attached ImagesDon’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:nice dodge cep... Any idea on the overall thickness of your plate with the doubler? how many bolts per side?4? Im figuring it will be much easier to do something like what you did then trying to make a factory hitch work on the flatbed.- Christian M.C3 Welding & Fabrication - CNC Plasma Cutting-Mobile Welding-Custom welding and fabwww.c3welding.com
Reply:I used (14) 1/2-inch grade 8 bolts, (7) per side to bolt the plates to the truck frame. Used (4) 3/4-inch grade 8 bolts, (2) per side to bolt the gooseneck hitch to the side plates. I used 12-inch C-channel with two pieces of 3/8”x 2” flatbar skip welded inside the C-channel for strong backs. Used 3/4-inch thick plate for the doubler. Attached ImagesDon’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:I like the idea of welding a tab on the nut for the ball to keep the nut from turning that is holding the ball in.   Back in the 70s I have seen two Reese type 2x2 solid bars on pull behind trailers break near the welds.(Don't remember what brands but my friends horse trailer with two horses finally stopped in the parking lot of a service station he has driving by . The horses were not hurt. Trailer beat up)  The other one that I saw was a fifth wheel trailer coming loose from the ball plate.  The ball was still in the coupler and broken off at the base of the ball where it had been welded to the 1 inch thick plate that was mounted to the top of the channel iron cross members. The nut had been welded on the bottom of the plate.  All of these occurred in very cold weather. I don't know if this had a factor .  I don't know who or how all three of these were welded. I dont know what they were welded with,  what the quality of the ball material was or the quality of the plate or 2x2 solid square stock.  I thought I would pass this on just for information.   Good luck on your build
Reply:Ok. Thanks for the chart. Yours seems to be built well and much better than the plates the sell at tractor supply. I need to stop by the scrap yard and see what I can come up with... And when I do  I'm sure I'll be asking for pointers along the way- Christian M.C3 Welding & Fabrication - CNC Plasma Cutting-Mobile Welding-Custom welding and fabwww.c3welding.com
Reply:Originally Posted by camjeep3Yours seems to be built well and much better than the plates the sell at tractor supply.
Reply:NICE! so I think I have this correct... You have the channel flat side up, spanning the width of the frame... then the brackets are bolted on the side of the frame and go vertical, and are welded to the C channel? I am a very visual person and like to get a good idea of what you are talking about.- Christian M.C3 Welding & Fabrication - CNC Plasma Cutting-Mobile Welding-Custom welding and fabwww.c3welding.com
Reply:Yes the flat side of the C-channel is up, toes down setting on the truck frame with flatbar welded between the toes of the C-channel.Yes the C-channel spans the width of the truck frame.Yes the 3/8”x7” flatbar is bolted to the truck frame.No I welded flatbar to the ends of the 12-inch C-channel. Drilled holes in the flatbar on the end of the C-channel, then used 3/4-inch grade 8 bolts to bolt the gooseneck hitch / C-channel to the side frame plates that are bolted to the truck frame. Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:I got it now! thanks for spelling it out for me... depending on the steel I come up with I will probably go a similar route, seeing as yours can handle the weight! SO much to do so little time- Christian M.C3 Welding & Fabrication - CNC Plasma Cutting-Mobile Welding-Custom welding and fabwww.c3welding.com
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPI just pulled this on an 845-mile trip to California last week, and back empty. No problems at all.
Reply:This is how I do them for the ranchers around here. The door is hinged underneath so there is nothing sticking up around the door for bags of feed etc. to snag on. The light hook up is on a hinged bar that pulls up out of the recess so you can hook up the lights with out getting up on the bed. The hitch is commercial with the hitch lock coming out in the wheel well. When these ranchers get old, they don't want to have to crawl up into the bed to hook up This one is for the old guy in the over alls. Attached Images
Reply:Originally Posted by ExcaliburDang It CEP!   Looks like your asking a lot out of that old goat!
Reply:Originally Posted by 7A749Exactly how many bales of marijuana did you stuff in that trailer CEP????