Gooseneck Ball Placement in new (2021) Chevy/GMC HD Trucks
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- We get a lot of calls about the placement of the B&W Turnoverball gooseneck in the newer GM short bed trucks. Yes...The center of the gooseneck ball IS well behind the centerline of the axle. Here is why and also why you can trust the measurement that B&W specifies.
The bw 1020 gooseball setup is same frame as GM puck system. Both are 3 inches behind axle. I would love to see scale weights on both axles with 5th wheel camper hooked up.
Gm factory system is about 2 inches back I asked why on my 2021 finally got answer from gm that is center of the leaf springs
I have a 2018 2500HD and with the 4” offset B&W ball, the bulkhead of my trailer will barely connect with the cab of my truck when making over 90 degree turns. I’m so pissed! Thinking about getting a 2020+ short bed but A) worried I’ll have the same issue with the goose ball in the stock location or B) will stress the whole frame too much if I use the 4” offset on the newer truck?
Can the new short bed handle a 4” offset? Toy hauler is about 13k fully load if that helps.
I wouldn't like that hitch placement with the short bed. I just finished installing a B&W on a 2021 long bed and it sucked. They redesigned their hitch I'm guessing to deal with the attachment holes on top of the truck frame now. In the old days when you bolted the B&W brackets to the sides of the frame and simply slid the cross members in through the wheel well and bolted it all together it was a breeze. Now you have to bolt the end fittings to the shortened cross members. Most of it has to be installed in place up under the truck with little to no room to spare. Then most of the bolts have to be tightened in place, several to 150# which is nearly impossible. Then the 8 bolts that go down into the top of the frame have to be tightened to 110# and you can't get a socket on them. That's a lot to ask of an 18mm box end. The whole install is just a disaster now compared to how it used to be.
First of all, why is anybody buying an HD truck without a fifth wheel gooseneck prep package?? Second of all, I saw a video a while back and on the factory gooseneck fifth wheel package someone was asking why the ball is so far back and the answer was yes it’s far back but it is still in the middle of the leaf springs
Because not all of the trucks on the lot have the prep package. Many dealerships aren't very good at ordering trucks.
They put it there to get the 5th wheel trailer away from the cab. The front cab part will hit the truck cab if not
Believe us when we tell you, the engineers at the OEMs aren’t thinking about stuff like that when they design their trucks. They WANT to think about the implications of changes they make, but they never seem to ask for outside help with those decisions. They do what they want and then expect the aftermarkets to jump through hoops and change around their design.
They didn’t put that bed hat channel right over the axle to keep aftermarket manufacturers from designing hitches further back from the cab. They put it there because that just happens to be the strongest spacing of the bed supports.
Most 5th wheel manufacturers know that more and more people are towing 5ers with short bed trucks. As a result, they are designing the nose cones of the newer 5th wheels to be more aerodynamic and rounded off at the corners. These types of nose cones are more short bed friendly than their boxy ancestors. For proper weight distribution in OTA (Over The Axle) towing, we really need to keep the center of the kingpin or gooseneck ball immediately over or just forward of the rear axle centerline.
@@ConnectedCorrectly I pull a 5th wheel with short bed. RV manufacturers put 5th wheel pin box to where it is in front of nose now. I was pulling this 5ver with a 2015 2500hd short bed and had no trouble with sharp turning. My Demco Recon hitch can be turned around to put hitch right over axle.
I have no problem at all with the ball being offset to the rear on a short bed truck
There's nothing "going on" with GM. They know a few things about building trucks, and their engineers have spec'd the new trucks with the hitch set back because so many people want to pull a 5er with a short bed. And while these are already the longest short bed on the market @ 6'10", it helps even more to set the hitch back. They designed it this way, so clearly they're comfortable with the weight not centered exactly over the axle. I think their feeling is that as long as it's centered in terms of suspension travel, it's ok. And as Randy graham pointed out, it's centered on the leaf springs.
GMC
Don’t blame gm when curt didn’t have a problem making a gooseneck for the 21 short beds that the ball is in front of the axle... have one
That’s because they aren’t really meant for work. They are the least popular truck for real work, the least reliable and the lowest rated in every single way.
Biggest lie I’ve heard I take my Chevy diesel to the scrapyard weekly and I tow 20 k with it weekly
😂😂 SMH.
@@alfonsobernabe4291 we both know that isn’t true. It’s not even possible.