I am in the same boat and an RV owner myself but hopefully soon will make the move to fifth wheel now that I have the bigger truck. I’ve been researching hitches for four years now and I’m amazed at how opinions are all over the map.
I’ll distill it down to what I’ve found:
B&W companion Is top-of-the-line and you can’t go wrong. The only part that I (and many others) don’t like is it is freaking heavy especially if I want the slider version due to my short bed and how much of the bed it will take up because I will have to leave it in due to the ridiculously heavy weight. However that thing is built like a tank. After this I would put my trust in the full steel Curt units as once again they are built like tanks and they only fail when you fail to lock the king pin properly.
Anderson and the other models of super light tripod hitches. While they look like a cool idea they scare the crap out of me. Kind of like a CP4 pump, tons of people don’t have any problems with it but if you do, you have major problems. I don’t want to end up being an accidental statistic. I’ve seen enough images of accidents where it broke and that was enough for me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an image of a proper full steel fifth wheel hitch where the king pin has managed to break it and go straight into the cab (but hey I haven’t been looking for one either). I bought a 3500 so that I don’t need a super light hitch.
Reese goose box 2.0. This is probably the way I will go. As long as you have a Lippert frame for your trailer they will not void the warranty if you use this hitch on the trailer. The nice part is you just use a goose ball in your bed which takes up zero space and is very easily removable. Everything I’ve read about this hitch has been amazing lots of video reviews lots of foreign reviews people can’t get enough of it because they don’t have a monstrous fifth wheel hitch in their bed. Waze safe also just released a goose ball with the scale built-in.
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However if I was towing a triple axle monster toy hauler fully loaded I’d probably stick with the B&W companion for peace of mind. But then I would have to trade for a Dually with a long box.
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Currently we own a Grand Desig Imagine 2800 BH which is quite light for our new truck (so this season should be a freaking joke towing wise) but we are looking at a Grand Design Momentum 353G when we can afford it. The problem is this new truck cost as much (almost more) as my mortgage and now I have no money for a trailer... 1st world problems eh!
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The automatic sliding hitch is strangely I only recently discovered I don’t know why it didn’t show up in searches more often. Possibly because I didn’t realize it was an automatic slider. They definitely have my interest and will keep an ion them if whatever trailer I buy needs more clearance on the cab but again it’s going to eat my truck bed and weigh a ton to take it out. The goose box with goose ball is just the cats pajamas.
Cheers
Tim
