porthole
Retired
Did you find the air relief was constantly dumping air on bumps?
New Goose box hitch attached
- Thread starter silver_2000_tj
- Start date
Did you find the air relief was constantly dumping air on bumps?
74Beeper
Member
I really need to learn to read carefully before I spout out questions..... The very first thing you said was you had a 20k!
They say the 2nd thing to go is eyesight...... I can't see what the 1st is!
Just ordered my Goosebox.
Being military we moved a lot, so we just didn't think having a camper to drag along with household goods was wise thing to do. After I retired and stopped the 27 year road show it was time to get the camper We had looked at campers for years before and all things considered, landing on the Big Horn 3670. I knew what I wanted, but didn't want the big hitch in the bed of my truck. One day I found a 09 BH 3670 on Craigslist. So I called Hartland and talked to the engineer about putting a Goose neck adapter on the BH so as to not have the big hitch in the truck, he said get a goose box hitch, its new! That was the first week in July 2013. It took 4 or 5 days for the hitch to come and another day to drive to get the trailer. I had the hitch installed at an RV dealer and that was that! Cant say if its better than the Big hitch, but I can say I really like the Goose box. Just add a shot of air once-in-awhile and your off! The guy I got the trailer from sad "I wouldn't put that dam thing on", you cant see the ball in the bed of your truck and you will never get it hooked up! Good point, so I made a trip to Harbor Fright and got a pair of the telescoping antenna things with the foam ball on one end and magnet on the other. Problem solved. I put one in the bed a few inches in front of the ball and the other on the top of the Goose box, so when the yellow balls come together the ball is ight where it needs to be. Love my Goose Box so much, I'm going to take it to Alaska for 6 weeks this summer! 
Have about 600mi of driving now after installing the goosebox and like it so far, no longer get that slamming or chucking I guess it's called when there's a dip in the road and while truck is going down trailer is still going up then it comes slamming back down. Did seem to notice a little more forward-back tugging but got used to quickly. Yes is little more difficult getting hooked up hard to see the ball in the bed, but I have grooves in bediner now I know which groove to line up on, thrn it's just matter or stopping when ball is right under the hitch. Not a big deal I'll get the hang of it after a few more hookups I think.
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Chippendale
Well-known member
I travel by myself and have the Andersen hitch. I use the "green tennis ball" in front of the hitch ball and match it up to a strip of blue tape centered on the pin box. I also use an iBall camera https://www.iballhitchcam.com/ placed on the wheel well facing the hitch to show me when to stop. Works well for me, I can usually hitch on the first try.
I had a similar issue with my 2500 Chevy with airbags. The airbags on the truck are fighting with the airbags on the hitch and being counter productive. On my 3500 I don't have bags and the Reese is smooth as silk.
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I had my local stereo shop install a backup camera in the bed of the truck for lining up the hitch. Easy peasy!
Being military we moved a lot, so we just didn't think having a camper to drag along with household goods was wise thing to do. After I retired and stopped the 27 year road show it was time to get the camper We had looked at campers for years before and all things considered, landing on the Big Horn 3670. I knew what I wanted, but didn't want the big hitch in the bed of my truck. One day I found a 09 BH 3670 on Craigslist. So I called Hartland and talked to the engineer about putting a Goose neck adapter on the BH so as to not have the big hitch in the truck, he said get a goose box hitch, its new! That was the first week in July 2013. It took 4 or 5 days for the hitch to come and another day to drive to get the trailer. I had the hitch installed at an RV dealer and that was that! Cant say if its better than the Big hitch, but I can say I really like the Goose box. Just add a shot of air once-in-awhile and your off! The guy I got the trailer from sad "I wouldn't put that dam thing on", you cant see the ball in the bed of your truck and you will never get it hooked up! Good point, so I made a trip to Harbor Fright and got a pair of the telescoping antenna things with the foam ball on one end and magnet on the other. Problem solved. I put one in the bed a few inches in front of the ball and the other on the top of the Goose box, so when the yellow balls come together the ball is ight where it needs to be. Love my Goose Box so much, I'm going to take it to Alaska for 6 weeks this summer!
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Just install a backup camera in the bed or get the magnetic stick markers with the bslls on top. Makes the hook up cake.
porthole
Retired
I don't see why the air bags would be "fighting" with each other. They are bot h doing the same thing.
My truck has air rear suspension and both my former ts-3 hitch and my current Reese Goosebox have air bags. In 40,000 miles of towing I never had a feeling where I thought the air bags on the truck were counter productive with air bags on the trailer.
The post you quoted though - I think 50 psi in the goosebox air bag may be a bit much.
Maybe it is the 50 psi. I tried quite a few different air pressure settings on my old setup and it got better but on bumpy stretches of highway where you had the evenly spaced expansion joints it was never as smooth or controlled at the 3500 without the bags. My thought was with 2 sets of bags becoming compressed at the same time, the reactive forces would push them away with more strength then just one set of bags. Who knows. I'm not an engineer, just going by having two setups, one with one set of bags (Reese only) and the other with truck bags as well.
i do know that I will only use the Reese goosebox. Best hitch around as far as I'm concerned.
74Beeper
Member
I did hear my local RV dealer mention some thing about having air ride in both hitch and rear suspension not working well together, but I have bags in my Ram and so far haven't had any issues that I can feel.
The only thing in the oil field that's 100% for sure, is nothing is for sure.......
porthole
Retired
Although there are some problems with mine, and I am waiting for a replacement, overall I'm pleased with it.
There are some things to get used to, little more difficult to hook up, higher disconnect heights, the benefit of a clean truck bed when the trailer is parked overrides the negatives.
I have the goosebox on my 3/4 ton shortbed ram 2500 and absolutely love it. I wanted to keep my gooseneck available because of my other flatbef trailer I have. This hitch rides better and absorbs most of the road better than any other gooseneck adapter by a big margin. I had an offset straight hitch while I was waiting on the goosebox to come in and this is not even comparable to each other. The chucking and bucking was horrible, the goosebox cuts 99% out.
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danemayer
Well-known member
As far as hooking up, just flip the camera in your phone so you can see on the screen what the camera sees and hold it out the window to see what's going where. No need for all the other stuff. Or if it's not a crew cab, you may be able to hold it up inside the cab and see the ball in the bed.
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porthole
Retired
You have actually done this hitching up to a goosebox pinbox ?
If you can't see it in the mirror odds are pretty good you are not going to see it on a phone.
True as far as inside the cab. Obviously you'll need to elevate your phone to see over the bed rail, but it works. Try it sitting in your truck and just see what you can see. Learned this from another poster/member. I have a crew fan and tried it inside first and it's a no go, but I can see the ball by holding the phone outside the window.
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porthole
Retired
I have a B&W Gooseneck hitch with the turnover ball. I've been using a Gooseneck adaptor until I can change out the pin box, then I'll use the Anderson Ultimate I purchased already.
