# GN hitch question



## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Anything you put back there needs to not interfere with the movement of the trailer-- so nothing on the sides that will be hit when you turn sharply and nothing that will move around too much. So, when I had a GN, I had a couple of bales of hay ahead of the hitch up against the truck bed and I'd sometimes put the step-in posts for the camping electric fence and folding bag chairs along the sides, tied in so they didn't move around. Good quality bungee cords and small ratchet straps stored under the seat of your pickup when not in use will come in handy. Have someone drive and watch the trailer as the driver makes turns and drives. See how much that gooseneck pivots, and don't put anything in high enough to interfere with that pivot. We went horse camping with another couple a few years ago and they put their kids' bikes in the truck bed of their rig... a sharp turn at the gas station resulted in two bent bicycles and scratches and dents in the gooseneck. The bikes sat up higher than the clearance allowed, so when they turned, the trailer bent those bikes right over.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Before you can make comment about what space you will have you need to consider what length truck bed you refer to.
Not everyone has a 8' bed on their truck.
Some trucks have actual flatbed beds so they can carry additional items...there is a huge difference in "bed" and "bed-length" usable with a gooseneck trailer.
















Not everyone has a stand-up hitch but a angle hitch part on their trailer will also make a difference in answer given.
And most importantly... you must know the pin weight your trailer is, how much your truck is rated to handle and then how much bed load additional weight you refer to putting up there...
Even a few bales of hay...are they 50 pound bales or 100 pound bales that you store 2 or 4 of is a large weight differential.
If you stack or place something in bed back and for some reason need to make a unusual tighter turn...well, it could cost you some damage to your truck and back window is a price you might pay.

To me you need to offer a bit more information...
In the general answer, yes you "should" have some space to store or keep some items...there though are so many variables to consider.
:runninghorse2:...


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

@SilverMaple so are you saying that it's OK for things (like hay bales) to rub up against the post thingy (Yes, I obviously do not know the technical term for that) as long as they aren't so tall that they hit the part of the trailer that hangs over the truck bed?
@horselovinguy I don't have any specifics right now, I'm just trying to figure out how things would work out with a gooseneck trailer. I'm sort of daydreaming about what I might get in the future. To my surprise, my husband kind of likes the idea of getting a truck, so it might not be out of the question in a year or two. With three horses, I don't think I really want a bumper pull, but the bumper pull is sure a lot simpler than the gooseneck. I'm just wondering, if I did have the gooseneck, how usable would the bed of the truck then be? It's a good point about the weight of the hay, too. Like I said, I'm just in the daydreaming stage right now, but that's good to consider. Because, yes, it's hay that I would be hauling back there.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

No, you don't want anything touching the hitch. We had a long box on a full-sized pickup, so lots of room to put other things in the bed even with a utility box on the truck. If you're towing with a short box or regular box truck, you won't have as much space. Most pickups that have a crew cab or 4-doors have a short box, leaving not a lot of room for anything other than the hitch, and limiting your turning radius before the gooseneck hits the cab if you turn too short. 

For a 3-horse, I'd recommend a gooseneck. By the time you add in your supplies, tack, and water plus horses, a 3-horse is going to be too much weight for most bumper pull rigs. 95% of the 3-horse trailers in our area are goosenecks. If you're going to upgrade to a 3/4 or 1-ton tow vehicle, a gooseneck makes more sense, is better on bad roads, is more maneuverable, and has better resale value. Store whatever you would put in the pickup bed in the tack room of the trailer/over the gooseneck. The only BP ones here are those towed by Suburbans or people who put kayaks or have a camper on their pickup so can't tow a GN. 

If your concern is that the GN hitch limits the use of the truck bed when not hauling your trailer, there are turnover balls so that the truck bed is flat when you aren't hauling and you don't have the ball sticking up. A v-tailgate after-market purchase allows room for the trailer but still gives you a tailgate on your truck for about $250. You'll want to lower it before hooking and unhooking, though. A tailgate makes climbing in the truck bed to hook/unhook a pain in the rear, so most people take it off altogether if they haul a lot, or get a flatbed.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Opposite opinion from Silver Maple, naturally....

I prefer a bumper pull, and have a large (28 foot) 3 horse bumper pull. It has a decent size dressing room, and we had the wall cut and hinged so that we can haul a carriage and a pair of horses. It is big enough to haul a 1972 Corvette. 

We had a slide in truck camper, and used a “Superhitch” which extended the hitch out past the end of the camper. I have hauled 4 horses, 4 people, the camper, all the fence panels for the horses, hay, etc., from Houston into the Texas Hill Country like this, and the normal load (2horses, carriage, camper, feed, hay, etc., for 2 weeks) about 100,000 miles, when I was showing driving horses.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Thanks guys. One thing I was trying to figure out was whether I would be able to use the bed of the pickup truck for hay bales while hauling a GN trailer. It seems like the answer is probably not. So I'd just need that much more room in the trailer for them.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I just went camping and put five bales of compressed hay in the bed of my truck with a gooseneck hitch. The bales were up against the front of the bed. They didn't touch the hitch and stayed below the rail so no worries about the trailer hitting them on a turn. Obviously, you can't fill the bed up, but you can still put some stuff in there as long as you consider everything involved.

I just went from a bumper pull to a gooseneck and like it a lot better and I find it no more complicated.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

A lot of people use the front stall for hay, put it in the tack room, or put a rack on the trailer roof. There are lots of options if it won't fit in the truck bed.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

ACinATX said:


> so are you saying that it's OK for things (like hay bales) to rub up against the post thingy (Yes, I obviously do not know the technical term for that) as long as they aren't so tall that they hit the part of the trailer that hangs over the truck bed?



It's okay to put haybales in the truck bed so long as they aren't touching the gooseneck hitch and not impeding movement in any way.




ACinATX said:


> To my surprise, my husband kind of likes the idea of getting a truck, so it might not be out of the question in a year or two. With three horses, I don't think I really want a bumper pull, but the bumper pull is sure a lot simpler than the gooseneck. I'm just wondering, if I did have the gooseneck, how usable would the bed of the truck then be? It's a good point about the weight of the hay, too. Like I said, I'm just in the daydreaming stage right now, but that's good to consider. Because, yes, it's hay that I would be hauling back there.



If you can swing it, it would be nice to get a 4 horse trailer because it is very nice to have the extra space in the trailer for things such as hay, since you have 3 horses. 



Get a gooseneck. Hands down. Do not get a bumper pull. If you get a good sidewind while you are hauling somewhere, the BP has the potential to start fish-tailing. The GN will not. And I think they just pull better in general b/c they distribute the weight better. I will never own a bumper pull, IMO. There's a reason you'll don't see a big living quarters horse trailer as a bumper pull; weight matters.


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## QueenofFrance08 (May 16, 2017)

It’s not the most popular but we have a 5th wheel hitch in our truck and an adapter on our trailer. This lifts the hitch a little higher and we can still fit a water tank and some hay bales in the bed of our truck. We do have a 4 horse trailer and usually haul 3 so 99% of the time our hay is in the first stall behind the stud divider.


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