Fifth Wheel/GN Tailgate

Even when not hooked up, our practice is to lower the tailgate on our K1500 and back it under the GN part of our GN trailer. We always leave the tailgate down when we do this...well almost always. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

As I related in an older thread, my wife had the tailgate up and tried to pull forward. Obviously, the GN part and the tailgate collided. Now the tailgate looks like a ) when viewed from above. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] Enough so that the driver's side latch does not engage all the time, although the passenger side does.

I was thinking about getting a used tailgate in a junkyard, then the Northern Tool catalog arrived and I noticed the tailgates designed for use with a GN/Fifth wheel hitch.

Two questions...

1. Anyone have one of these installed?
2. Can you still treat on of these GN tailgates as a tailgate? By this I mean, stand on it, stack stuff on it?

Mike, I never changed to one of those tailgates, and fortunately never forgot to lower mine, although I read in one RV magazine that "there are two kinds of people who pull fifth-wheels; those who have torn their tailgate off and those who are going to." [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] However, those tailgates are very popular with RVers, and there are many different brands and models. Naturally some are stronger than others, but in general, not as strong as the OEM tailgates. Personally, I don't think I'd want to stand on the ones I've seen.

We have been looking into 5th wheel campers and in my research I ran across the attached item. It is a bed saver (made by Reese), should your 5th wheel come loose, it supposedly will prevent damage to the tail gate. I have no experience with them, just sharing what I found.

I haven't seen those gadgets before. So far I've never seen a fifth-wheel come loose on the road. But I HAVE seen people who THOUGHT they had everything hooked up, then when they pulled forward, it came unhooked and dropped the front of the trailer onto the sides of the pickup. That's always noisy enough that they stop before they damage the tailgate. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] The tailgates get damaged when someone goes to hookup or unhook and forgets to lower the tailgate.

Like most things, there are cheap tailgates, quality tailgates, and middle of the road tailgates. Of course theres a variety of prices as well.

In general many of the "fifth wheel" tailgates you see are relatively light in construction, and this is for two reasons.

First, most of them are "flow through" gates, meaning they are of a slat or screen construction on a frame so that air can flow through them out of the bed area. I've never towed a large fifth wheel RV, but my limited understanding of aerodynanics tells me there really isn't all that much merit to the idea - other than possibly reducing turbulance in the area behind the truck body/in front of the trailer under the overhang thereby reducing the amount of road crap that collects there.

The second reason for light construction is that many people keep nothing of any substance in the bed if the fifth wheel is mounted, and therefor feel that a light duty tailgate is sufficient.

There are heavier tailgates available, but most of these are fairly expensive. Truck body specialty shops are the best source for these, although some RV/towing companies may also list a few.

Another option I have seen is a factory tailgate modified with a cut out similar to the aftermarket gates. This also requires eliminating the factory center-pull handle, but none of the aftermarket gates I've seen have that either.

Of course you could always build your own, or have a local steel fab shop make one up to your specs. I'm shopping for a gooseneck eguipment trailer myself, and will probably try to junkyard a damaged factory gate and modify it myself so that it clears the gooseneck, but retains the factory appearance and utility.


Gregg

I have never pulled a 5th wheel RV but I used to drive big rigs for a while. I learned a very important lesson one day that might or might not cross over to RVs. Another driver and I were BS'ing at a truck stop one time just before he pulled out. He hopped into his truck and drove out from under his trailer. Some joker ( No, it wasn't me!) had walked by and yanked the guy's 5th wheel lock lever. That is highly entertaining (as long as it happens to someone else) but a major PITA to the driver to whom it befalls. I learned right then and there to, when leaving after the truck has been out of my sight, to first stick it in reverse and pop the clutch quickly to make sure the lock is engaged. I don't know if this would be necessary with an RV but it wouldn't hurt to check out the possibility and take preventative action.

For the RV type fifth-wheels there are at least two distinctly different types of locks. One about the same as the ones I've seen used by 18-wheelers, and your system is good. The other that I've used was a straight bar that slid across behind the pin and you can visually tell if it's still latched. Every time I hooked up mine, I raised the jack legs barely clear of the ground, then held the trailer brake manually and put the truck in gear to pull against the trailer brakes to make sure it was securely latched before raising the jack legs the rest of the way.