Trailer hitch with lift gate?

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I just bought an f550 165" wheel base cab chassis truck.Then i found a flatbed, 8X12 with a 2500# lift gate, that tucks up underneath the bed, as opposed to the ones that fold up perpendicular to the bed.  Its a single cylinder center ram.Id still like to be able to tow a trailer, i buy and sell alot of stuff cars/machinery mostly and i have an idea of how i could make it work.  Ive heard of offsetting the hitch, but cant find any examples.  I have another idea of something that will work and be removeable but i thought id see if someone had any ideas.id also like to add a B&W gooseneck to the bed, but i cant find any specs on how much room you need from the center off the ball to the back of the truck.
Reply:I will get you the measurements from our 3 trucks with goose neck hitches.    all fordsi have seen several lift gates with 2" receivers but i cant rember off hand how they pulled it off.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Right on, thank you sir
Reply:I got swamped with that stuff up in napa today,   If  you dont hear from me by 2-3PM tomrrow give me a call on my cell.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:The idea of the gooseneck is to get the tongue weight over the axle. On a standard ford pickup bed, at least my 2007 and 2012, the distance from the back of the bed to the ball is 47 inches. This puts the ball directly over the rear diff. With that being said. With the ball over the axle you want to make sure the corners of the bed will miss the trailer for the obvious reasons.Cain's Mechanical LLC Southwick, MAwww.cainsmechanical.comRig:-2006 Chevy 2500 utility body-Lincoln Ranger 10-Miller Spectrum -Tons of hand and power toolsAWS D1.2 Structural Steel Certification
Reply:I like to see the gooseneck ball 2" to 6" ahead of the rear axle center line depending on your application or preference.
Reply:I agree, 6" is pretty much standard.  It helps with stability, and steering.  It also transfers some weight off to the front axle, and increases useable tongue weight.It's the beauty of the gooseneck trailer, the weight is better distributed on the towing vehicle."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:2 to 6 inches ahead of the rear axle is best.  As far as a bumper hitch, I want to see this solution.
Reply:Read the replies and decided to go look at my truck again. Looks like the 2" to 6" suggestion. Sorry for my miss information. The center of my plate is closer to the center of the axle, but the ball is offset. Also, to the other guys, thanks for the info.Cain's Mechanical LLC Southwick, MAwww.cainsmechanical.comRig:-2006 Chevy 2500 utility body-Lincoln Ranger 10-Miller Spectrum -Tons of hand and power toolsAWS D1.2 Structural Steel Certification
Reply:both of my ford pickups which are long bed duallys have the ball 46" from the edge of the bed to the centerline of the ball which puts it 6" in front of the centerline of the axle.    One is an old body style 94 and one is a 00.On my 9' flatbed with a GN hitch its 60" from the rear of the deck to the centerline of the ball. Which also puts it 6" in front of the centerline of the rear axle. With the 00 dually and the 6 horse i  could load all the axles within 100 Lbs of the max axle ratings on the truck with a combined weight of 27,975lbswith a full 8' wide bed with square corners  your going to have to measure the clearance from the hitch centerline on a trailer to the corners of the trailer behind the neck.  72" is probably as far as you can put the centerline of the ball from the rear of a full 8' wide flatbed.    If your going to put the center ram liftgate on a F550 make sure it has the midship tank and not the aft axle fuel tank.Last edited by Dualie; 05-25-2013 at 11:02 PM.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:That's what I was looking at yesterday. I'm not sure my lift gate is going to clear the tank. I just stripped the flatbed down yesterday that I bought and cut the lift gate off. I'm going to pickup the 550 on Tuesday,I'll have to see if its going to fit
Reply:I put the flatbed on and measured for the lift gate,  I think i figured out how to make it work.The bed is going to be up on a piece of pressure treated 2x4 and im going to drop that rear fuel tank down 3 inches and it should make just enough room for the lift gate to clear it.Still have to figure out a rear hitch.  I measured for the gooseneck and the ball would need to be almost 3ft in back of the axles to work and clear the corners of the bed.  So i guess it wont be getting a gooseneck installed.Dualie-Ronald called me a couple weeks back and said he had more plates to cut, hows that big job up in napa going?
Reply:I would nix the pressure treated wood,  the stuff they use now to pressure treat is HORRIBLE stuff.    You cant use regular nails when working with as it will rot the carbon steel within months.   Stainless hardware is recommended when working with it.   I would get some strips of UHMW plastic to sandwich between the bed and the trucks frame rails. You can still do a goose neck but  your going to want to just remember how far past the axle centerline it is when loading a trailer.      Or you could slide the axle back on the truck to make it work better. As for the fuel tank, as if i recall those were already pretty dang low to begin with,  you might want to look into getting a titan tank.   They make a poly replacement mid ship fuel tank for the F-450+ cab and chassis trucks.    most of the wrecker builders use them as the aft axle tank wont work with any sort of wheel lift.     Transfer Flow also makes a tank but its pretty pricey. as for Napa it turned into a urinating contest/detailing disaster with the engineer. .   stay tuned.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:have any pics on how the lift gate works?Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Its been a year so I'm sure you have figured it out. But one important thing about a goose neck is the hitch needs to be in front of the rear axle of the truck. Typically the ball is mounted over the yoke of the rear end or somewhere in that area the trailer should load the whole truck not just the back end. When you pull off hard it will feel like the front pulls up a bit but when you break hard it should feel like the the trailer is pushing the front of the truck to the ground.