Boy that doesn’t look good at all!
I bought an aluminum flatbed. Made side frames that bolted to the truck frame. Used grade 8 bolts. I used a piece of 12” C-channel, with a bearing plate under the ball. Under the C-channel I skip welded two piece of flatbar to beef up the C-channel. The C-channel sits on the truck frame, bolted to the side frames.

 

It is not a classical design for sure.

 

That is what I was thinking. I am just trying to figure out the best way to remedy it without taking the bed off.

There are four holes on each side of truck frame with nuts welded on the back side. They are close to 5/8" but metric - 16mm maybe? Anyway these are the holes where a BW gooseneck hitch would bolt to. See attached pic. My thoughts are to get some flat bar maybe 1/2" or 3/8" by 10" or so and bolt it alongside the frame on each side. I could then cut out a section of the 4" main flatbed frame runner to run a heavy channel sideways across the truck frame. It would rest on top of the frame and be welded to the flat bar.

It would have four ~5/8" bolts on each side holding it and I could weld the frame runners from the flatbed to the flat bar as well.

 

That would sure help!

 

Basically building it like on your dodge. Just don't know how hard that would be to do with the bed on there. I would cut all the other crap off.

 

I guess what bugs me the most about it is the whole plate assembly is basically tied in to the two 3" frame runners in front and behind of it which are just laying on top of the 4" main frame. Not much room to weld at all on that type of joint. I like the nested channels that seems strong as heck but it seems the whole middle section of the bed could rip out.

I would take it off and flip it over and redo but the bed has a 12 volt compressor mounted in a tool box with heavy power wires plumbed to a tank mounted under the truck, a diesel tank plumbed to pump into the factory tank, a backup cam, a bunch of aux lights, etc. It would be a major ordeal taking it off.

 

I guess what bugs me the most about it is the whole plate assembly is basically tied in to the two 3" frame runners in front and behind of it which are just laying on top of the 4" main frame.

That is exactly what got my attention!

 

I took this load from north west of Tacoma Washington to central California. No problems at all.

 

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I think you got way too many filled donuts loaded on the front of the trailer.

 

You sure hate to have to start rebuilding a brand new bed, but that's what it needs. If money grew on trees I'd say yank the bolts out of frame and tie it off to their front door and drive away. But, you own it and know what has to happen before you can use it and be content with owning it for the foreseeable future.

Chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on.

 

I didn't even bother trying to build my own hitch for my flatbed. I bought a turnover ball. Mounted it. And built my bed to fit. Would you be able to cut away your current hitch and instal a factory hitch? I can't tell looking at pics on my phone

 

While I have built some hitches in the past, I don't any more. My insurance doesn't cover it. I use the bolt ons and build the bed around it.

 

Most gooseneck hitches around me are manufactured ones by B & W .Even the custom bed makers use them. I would feel much safer with a manufactured hitch that has certified documented ratings over what some shop made. That doesn't look like a real hitch to me.
As for '' YOU '' doing the repair, I would not. IF something should happen it will be on you. The local shop will say they did not do the repair , kind of scary to me.

 

I am not afraid of something happening being on me. I do lots of things that expose me to potential liability as they should because I did it. I just want to fix it right. I already started welding more attachment points for the bed and have two of them in. Still thinking how I am going to reinforce the gooseneck but have some ideas.

 

I agree with Bob. I don’t have any insurance at all. I have no problem building a hitch for myself, or very close friends. Someone I don’t know, NO WAY!:nono::nono:
I built this hitch for a very good friend. But he ran crane for me for years. I put my life in his hands every day! This extended hitch is so he can pull his horse trailer, while his camper is in the bed of the pickup.

 

Not bad for a hobbyist!

 

Ok I am getting closer to a plan. See at the attached picture. It is pretty self explanatory.

My questions are what should I use for the cross piece? I figure it will be 12" wide. Should I get something like a 1" thick (or thicker?) by 12" strap or use a 12" channel?

Should I just cut out the existing plate where the gooseneck ball is and mount it on my new plate or should I just butt the new cross piece up against the existing plate on each side and weld it to it? The latter would be easier and would leaving everything that is there intact and would just be adding to it. It would be really easy to weld from on top of the bed a 12" long flat weld on each side.

 

This is my idea of leaving the existing hitch plate and welding to the sides of it.

 

I have a Reese gooseneck hitch on my F450 that is rated for 30K lbs, and I pull a 37' hydraulic dovetail dual tandem trailer with it that is frequently loaded with 20K - 25K plus 10K trailer weight (I have hydraulic disc brakes on the trailer that are rated for the weights that I pull). The Reese gooseneck hitch uses plates on the outside of the frame (similar to what you propose), and pair of 1" x 1.5" cross bars that the actual hitch receiver bolts into. The 1" x 1.5" bars carry the load from the ball to the frame rail. It is much heavier built than the B&W hitches.

I think that you are on the right track with your concept of the 3/8" - 1/2" thick flat plates bolted to the side of your frame rails with some type of heavy duty cross piece. A 1" x 12" strap cross piece would be pretty bomb proof for sure. You could even drill and tap the ends of the flat stock to accept 4 -5 1/2" grade 8 bolts on each side to allow you to bolt it inbetween the flat steel plates attached to the outside of your frame. That would make it easier to remove in the future.

Another idea is to use some 4" x 3" x 3/8" angle to attach to the side of the frame, and have your 1 x 12 extend 3" past the frame on each side of the bed. You could then bolt the 1 x 12 to the 3" face of the angle on each side.

No mater which way you go, I think that you are clearly doing the wise thing to beef up the hitch (considering the weights that you will be pulling).

 

Well I am committed to fixing it correctly now.

 

What you got to realize, is that the main load on a gooseneck hitch is shear. Tongue weight is minimal at best. Maybe a couple of thousand pounds if you're really running heavy. Cpuple of thou over a very minimal clear span, is nothing. Well, not nothing, but not what you think it is. You don't need 6" channel to span a 12" clear span if you only got a ton riding on it.

The rocking you feel when pulling a load, is the trailer trying to separate itself from your truck. Back, and forth, motion (shear). Granted, there's some pounding up/down.

I run a plain piece of plate, with stiffeners/strongbacks underneath. Low pocket.....just enough to clear the axle differential when springs fully compressed. All of it is tied to the bed, and also has pads which connect it to the top of the frame (not welded/bolted......just fitted so that they rest on the top flange of the frame)

Most commercial beds are ridiculous as to the gooseneck hitch. Too high. The pocket should be deeper.

Golden rule is....6" ahead of the axle center line. It allows some weight to distribute to the front axle. And it helps handling.

 

weird design you got there BTW

 

Weird design I had. Lol.

I agree on the shear part and while my tongue weight might be closer to 3-4K it still isn't that significant over such a short span as you said.

It will be plenty stout when I am done. I am running a 1" X 12" plate across the whole frame. Dang thing was so heavy it was all I could do to get it in there. The ball was centered perfectly on the axle. I will be moving it forward about 1.5". That is as far as I can go and not have clearance issues with the existing box for the ball which I don't want to redo.

I need to be careful on my steer axle weight anyway. I have a diesel with a big grill guard and when I ran it across the scales I had around 5k room on the rear but the front is about 500lbs below the rated axle capacity.

 

3/8 plate, 7"-8" below the surface of the bed. Camber was caused by welding, left it there....no point in straightening it. The strongbacks below the plate are 1 1/2 x 1/4 material. I haul as heavy as most folks, and it does just fine. Plus.......it's down below the bed where it belongs.....matches up nice with most trailers.

 

Hell, might only be 1" strongbacks. Learn your material, and you'll be surprised at what can be done with relatively small members.

 

you'll be surprised at what can be done with relatively small members.

Just keep telling K'kins that..:laugh:

 

Imo if you must "roll your own" I'd buy a B&W hitch and copy it. I have a B&W in my 2500hd duramax and wouldn't make my own even though I could. To cheap in the whole scheme of things imo to subject yourself to the liability involved.

 

My setup is a lot stronger than a BW. I have a BW on our 3/4 ton and they are great but they do flex quite a bit with heavy (over 25k) loads.

Here is what I did, I notched the 4" channel frame runners 1" down so the 1" X 12" plate would lay flat in them and flush on the top. I then sandwiched a 3" channel directly on top of it and welded all the way around.

Then in the hitch box I welded the 1" plate to the 3" channel which is basically all that was holding the previous hitch on.

 

While the above would have likely been plenty strong since my bed is held on by 14 1/2" grade 8 bolts spaced evenly around the bed I decided to go a step further and added 1/2" plates on each side of the pickup frame. They have holes cut in them and slip over the 1" plate and are bolted to the frame with four 16mm 10.9 bolts which thread into the factory threaded holes in the frame. These are close to 5/8" bolts.

I don't think she is going anywhere.

All I lack is putting the ball in. I special ordered a 40k rated ball for extra safe measure since I will be towing close to the 30k mark.

 

Good approach. That ought to handle the weight properly.