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Gen Y Executive Gooseneck Hitch with Short Bed

OuachitaAdventure

OuachitaAdventure

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Just thought I would share some thoughts on the Gen Y Executive Hitch. I recently purchased in hopes of getting some bed space back. Got the hitch recently and filmed a little video. Attached below in case your interested.
Long story short, I am getting a 4" offset adapter to push the camper back some and get some more real clearance. Hitch is definitely heavy duty. It's at least twice the weight of the rota-flex hitch I removed.

So far I am very please with the quality of the hitch. It connects easily and does exactly what I wanted it to; give me my bed back. First impressions of the ride is that it isn't any better than my previous set up. Granted, if you have an older hitch and basic kingpin, this would probably be an upgrade. The rota-flex hitch mated with the B&W companion made for a great ride. I can say that there is no chucking with the Gen Y so that is an improvement. Hookig up is more involved with the Gen Y mostly due to the safety chains.

More reviews to come as I tow with it more.
 
Good video.

Couple things.

How heavy is your RV? The B&W 4" extended ball is only rated 20K.

5" is NOT enough bed rail clearance in my personal experience. You need 6-7 minimum or you will eventually make contact with your tailgate. Ask me how I know.

If you need more clearance, why not just lower the pinbox?
 
Brutal_HO said:
Good video.

Couple things.

How heavy is your RV? The B&W 4" extended ball is only rated 20K.

5" is NOT enough bed rail clearance in my personal experience. You need 6-7 minimum or you will eventually make contact with your tailgate. Ask me how I know.

If you need more clearance, why not just lower the pinbox?
Click to expand...

GVWR of the camper is just a little over 16k so thats plenty of wiggle room for me on the 20k limit of the ball.

I definitely want some more bed rail clearance, but since I also like the idea of have a little more front to back clearance, the extended ball seems like the best choice. If I just wanted clearance, I probably would just adjust the pinbox. Honestly, getting those spacer plates in there was such a pain. The cost of the extended ball is worth it just so I don’t have to redo that...
 
OuachitaAdventure said:
GVWR of the camper is just a little over 16k so thats plenty of wiggle room for me on the 20k limit of the ball.

I definitely want some more bed rail clearance, but since I also like the idea of have a little more front to back clearance, the extended ball seems like the best choice. If I just wanted clearance, I probably would just adjust the pinbox. Honestly, getting those spacer plates in there was such a pain. The cost of the extended ball is worth it just so I don’t have to redo that...
Click to expand...

Seems the offset is 1-14" taller. Is that enough?




1604360560492.png

1604360685458.png

This pic makes it look WAY taller.

1604361066928.png

P.S. I wish I could move my trailer back a bit with my 5th wheel hitch (Curt A25) so I could open the dang basement door. OTOH, I don't wish to move the weight behind the axle.
 
Here's a little bit of an update after a few thousand miles on the hitch.

 
Whew! Only 5-6" clearance? Around here that would result in some smashed bed rails and tailgate - absolutely. Here we're looking for about 10" of clearance! I actually had to block the axles on one of my trailers because of that. I didn't take pics of the "test hitch" before finally deciding to do it. I also wish I'd taken pics of a guy who showed up here delivering a horse from flat country. Had an older gooseneck, and a ram 3500 DRW. His bed rails were smashed on both sides.
 
I have right at 7" of clearance now after the hitch extender was added. I was a little nervous because it was about 2" less than my previous hitch, but I did a little testing before my last camping trip and everything looked ok. Been a little over 2k miles so far and it's worked ok.
 
The issue I've seen - and it almost bit me - was when the truck and trailer have to traverse either a short but deep dip, or a short but marked (hump), which can be aggravated if either are off camber - and made yet worse if the two are diametrically opposed camber. And then even worse yet if it's during a sharp turn. This is known and common issue for many with gooseneck horse trailers (particularly trailers more than 10 years old) that replace their trucks with newer trucks (that all seem to have higher bed rail heights). I can't tell you the number of people who have crunched their bed rails by having 6" or less clearance. Here, in the SW PA area we have tons of steep quick grade changes. Blocking the axles of gooseneck horse trailers is an extraordinarily common activity as a result. When we got the '20 RAM, there were several inches less clearance over the bed rails and tailgate than with the '04. Blocking the trailer axles to raise that height was not optional. OTOH, if you're driving in either flat, or the larger longer grade areas you may well not have an issue. It seems crazy to say it, but here in SW PA we have more to worry about with grade changes and steepness than in the Rockies, Bighorns, etc.
 
I should also say, trailer dealers out this way tell people that if they have less than 8" minimum clearance, they need to do something about it. They prefer 10"
 
For us, that's the issue. Lots of horse trailers end up going into areas where there are exactly those conditions. Probably not likely with a big 5th wheel I realize.
 
This hitch intrigues me if I can keep my bed. Since I haven’t got my truck yet (2021 Ram 3500 DRW on order) or my trailer Riverstone 42FSKG (21000 GVWR and 4200# ish pin weight also on order) I have no way to measure clearance. From the site it looks like they have a 30k tow and a 3.5-5.5 pin weight so it seems it’s strong enough. I hope it will have the clearance, but I can’t believe a single ball can support 21k in an accident better than a fifth wheel hitch attached at 4 points. Thoughts?
 
Big Booty Judy said:
This hitch intrigues me if I can keep my bed. Since I haven’t got my truck yet (2021 Ram 3500 DRW on order) or my trailer Riverstone 42FSKG (21000 GVWR and 4200# ish pin weight also on order) I have no way to measure clearance. From the site it looks like they have a 30k tow and a 3.5-5.5 pin weight so it seems it’s strong enough. I hope it will have the clearance, but I can’t believe a single ball can support 21k in an accident better than a fifth wheel hitch attached at 4 points. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

These trucks are actually only rated to tow their max with a gooseneck setup.

The GN is every bit as strong as the kingpin on the pinbox.
 
Big Booty Judy said:
This hitch intrigues me if I can keep my bed. Since I haven’t got my truck yet (2021 Ram 3500 DRW on order) or my trailer Riverstone 42FSKG (21000 GVWR and 4200# ish pin weight also on order) I have no way to measure clearance. From the site it looks like they have a 30k tow and a 3.5-5.5 pin weight so it seems it’s strong enough. I hope it will have the clearance, but I can’t believe a single ball can support 21k in an accident better than a fifth wheel hitch attached at 4 points. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
5th wheel king pin is one point aswell and at the smallest part it is 2” where a goose neck ball is not much smaller where it narrows down and the standard 2” king pin is good for 80k believe it or not....
 
Brutal_HO said:
6.5-7" is plenty unless you have a steep driveway to work or are going off-road.
Click to expand...
Depends on where you go. I have 7 inches clearance and am looking this year to increase that. I do a lot of primative camping and have already dinged my tailgate because of angles. My short bed probably would have cleared, but the long bed didn't.
 
Big Booty Judy said:
This hitch intrigues me if I can keep my bed. Since I haven’t got my truck yet (2021 Ram 3500 DRW on order) or my trailer Riverstone 42FSKG (21000 GVWR and 4200# ish pin weight also on order) I have no way to measure clearance. From the site it looks like they have a 30k tow and a 3.5-5.5 pin weight so it seems it’s strong enough. I hope it will have the clearance, but I can’t believe a single ball can support 21k in an accident better than a fifth wheel hitch attached at 4 points. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I think if anything fails, it will be the mount to the truck frame. Not the ball itself.
 
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