fifth wheel king pin.

admin

Morning fellas, currently just bout to purchase a gooseneck trailer, I have two options, make up a gooseneck hitch plate that attaches to my existing fifth wheel hitch bedrails. OR make the removeable fifth wheel king pin attachment for the gooseneck. Essentially just a heavy wall pipe that slides into the gooseneck with two pins, flat plate on the bottom, with the king pin. My question is what have any of you guys made these? Iam thinking this is the easiest route. Also i know king pins are a hardened material, i presume they would be plug welded to the plate?
Reply:Don't know if the kingpin on RV's compares to a regular kingpin, but the kingpin assemblies are definitely weldable.http://www.etrailer.com/comparison.a...09&pc2=2085205"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:ah yes i see now, it looks like they come with a circular plate already, to get you away from putting to much heat into the pin itself. I believe the RV king pin is the same although what limits it from boasting the big 25-30,000lb pulling weight, is the frame/pin box. Its all 1/4" material. My pin box our our fifth wheel camper is rated for 18,000lbs. But again theres always the option of making a gooseneck ball hitch plate that pins into my exisitng rails. Iam sure youve pulled both sam, what is your preference?
Reply:I use this -http://www.turnoverball.com/products...ooseneck-hitchI installed the adapter on my fifthwheel so I can pull it with the ball hitch. My fifthwheel weighs 18,000# and it handles nice.I flip the ball over and have a wide open truck bed when not pulling.Thanks,HoboLincoln SA200's... at least 15 - 20. They come and go. Growing partial to the "Short Hoods" in my old age. Last count on Short Hoods was 13 in possession.
Reply:+1 for the turnover ball.
Reply:B&W makes nice hitches that fit where they should.  I used the model where the ball popped up when you pulled the lever, worked good unless gunked up (I lost the cover) or maybe the spring got weak.P_W, I almost think it would be easier to make a gooseneck plate that slid into your existing 5th wheel rails.  But I know the converters that go on the trailer are real popular here in the NW.Lincoln SA 200Esab Caddy 160Thermal Arc 201TSMiller Dialarc HFI don't like making plans for the day because then the word "premeditated" gets thrown around the courtroom....
Reply:I bought something similar to this from a local truck partshttp://www.adventurerv.net/reese-25k...ls-p-5317.htmlI was going to build one, but this was cheap enough (I think I paid $150) to not have any liability
Reply:They make exactly what you likely need, follow my link:http://www.rigidhitch.com/default.as...emcode=2085205just slide out your old ball hitch tube and slide this in, done.  Unless you get some weird homebuilt trailer that used an oddball size.  you can buy this in square tube too.
Reply:-cd,Thats exactly what i would be making, i think it would be alot less work/hassle to go this route apposed to making a hitch plate with ball. I mean i could go out and just buy these items but honestly i have a hard time buying anything thats not welded by me. Still a little on the fence about getting the gooseneck flatbed. Its one of those things for us, were on the acreage and theres definatly some use for it hauling the skid steer around, bales, even our sleds. But i find iam trying to convince myself that i need it.Case in point, my mother and father's reese hitch that he uses to pull the boat behind the camper the front plate was cracked. so i bent up a new one to reinstall, started cutting off the old one from the 2" tubing and the weld was swiss cheese inside, FULL of porosity.
Reply:Originally Posted by Pressure_Welder-cd,Thats exactly what i would be making, i think it would be alot less work/hassle to go this route apposed to making a hitch plate with ball. I mean i could go out and just buy these items but honestly i have a hard time buying anything thats not welded by me. Still a little on the fence about getting the gooseneck flatbed. Its one of those things for us, were on the acreage and theres definatly some use for it hauling the skid steer around, bales, even our sleds. But i find iam trying to convince myself that i need it.Case in point, my mother and father's reese hitch that he uses to pull the boat behind the camper the front plate was cracked. so i bent up a new one to reinstall, started cutting off the old one from the 2" tubing and the weld was swiss cheese inside, FULL of porosity.
Reply:Originally Posted by Pressure_Welder-cd, i think it would be alot less work/hassle to go this route apposed to making a hitch plate with ball.
Reply:haha i believe i may be going ahead with a purchase. I think ill phone the local semi supply shop and see if they have any king pins. May be a dumb question, but compared to a fifth wheel camper are most king pins universial?
Reply:http://www.buyersproducts.com/towing...50-BOLSTE/267/The company I worked for years ago used these on 21000 gvwr equipment floats.Thermal Arc 210 FabricatorHypertherm PM 45and lots of other tools the wife doesn't know about
Reply:Guys aren't there two different sizes of pins?
Reply:Guys this may help out:http://www.wallaceforge.com/king-pins.aspx
Reply:well may have found the perfect unit for us and to solve our justification problem. Found a 20' flatbed with fifth wheel hitch already installed. Given its an older trailer, it seems solid and in decent condition, not flawless by anymeans. But for 2000$ who can go wrong. Havent pulled the trigger yet, but plans are to head out to take a look friday. Brother and i were talking take the wheels off, wire wheel it and apply a new bedliner coating, the decking seems in great condition. Also make a beaver tail with ramp system. Still be WELL under a new priced unit. What do you guys think? again shes not flawless by any means but nothing a little work cant fix. Attached Images
Reply:Trailer looks like its in good shape for all that funny white stuff on the ground. Good price.
Reply:Originally Posted by a1998z3Guys aren't there two different sizes of pins?
Reply:I don't think you can go wrong on that for 2 grand
Reply:thats what were thinking. EVEN if we  throw an extra 1500$ into it were still further ahead i am thinking. Plus material is more or less free at work. Only major job will be building the beaver tail/ramp system which will be fun more than anything, and then having to relocate tail lights. But at that point we might just rewire the whole unit. Looks to be a nice heavily built unit too
Reply:Would like to see how you do the beaver tail section..
Reply:If your hauling tractors, with decent ramps you don't really even need the beaver tail.  It's not that high of a trailer.
Reply:the main reason for the beaver tail would be for the skid steer, you would need some fairly long ramps to accomodate that kind of height, mind you i havent been able to see it in person yet maybe some long slide under ramps would work fine. But with that heavy of a ramp it would be nice to have the spring loaded ramp type system a beavertail offers.
Reply:Originally Posted by Pressure_Welderthe main reason for the beaver tail would be for the skid steer, you would need some fairly long ramps to accomodate that kind of height, mind you i havent been able to see it in person yet maybe some long slide under ramps would work fine. But with that heavy of a ramp it would be nice to have the spring loaded ramp type system a beavertail offers.
Reply:You asked which I prefer for a hitch.  I really prefer a ball hitch because it doesn't put strain on the trailer or truck in situations where the truck and trailer are cocked in a corkscrew fashion.  Remember that a kingpin type hitch only flexes fore and aft, whereas a bal will allow flexing/movement in all directions.The trailer looks good.See if you can change the post to a standard ball hitch down the road if you find you like a ball better.Carefully check the equalizer for wear on the slip pads, and center bolt.  I had to fabricate a new one for my gooseneck flatbed.  It wasn't too hard to do, but still a PITA.Depending on the miles the trlr has on it, I'd just about count on replacing all eye bolts in the spring hangers.  They're reasonable, and available at a trailer supply place usually.  I believe most have 9/16 bolts, and they're specially serrated near the head so they grab the hanger.Tires are looking nice, tires can be expensive.  Look at the load range to be sure they're up to what you're going to do with the trailer.  They should show load for single, and double, applications on the sidewall.Grab the tops of the wheels, and try to move them in and out by pulling/pushing hard.  This will tell you (sorta) if the wheel bearings are loose.  You'll probably inspect them once you've bought the trailer anyhow.Look for a breakaway box, DOT requires them on this size trailer.That's a 5 thousand dollar trailer brand new I think."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/Originally Posted by farmersamm Remember that a kingpin type hitch only flexes fore and aft, whereas a ball will allow flexing/movement in all directions..
Reply:not too worried as we dont haul any sort of major offroad stuff. plus i have a 4 way pivoting head hitch, 20k i suppose it may not be as versitile as a ball but ive hauled the fifth wheel in some pretty uneven conditions and never had an issue.
Reply:well we finally picked her up today. Overall i am fairly impressed i mean its a used trailer, but for the price we just couldnt go wrong. I havent done a full blown inspection thus far, but a few cracked welds here and there in none critical areas. It will be a fun project were quite looking forward to refurbing it. Impressive main frame, its 2" x 10" x 3/16" i believe. At the back in theres about 8" that is rotted out so well be replacing that when we fab up our beaver tail. I do have a question though, with viewing the pictures, how much would i be able to extend the deck at this point without relocating the axles? Plan is to splice into the main frame rails, back atleast as far until we find good material, continue on with 2" x 10" tubing to a safe "bed extension length" and then setting our angle for our beaver tail with 2 x 10 also. Ill take pictures for you fellas. Cant wait to get started!