Coochas

Maybe someone here knows the answer to this.

I have a 2010 Ram 2500 diesel crew cab SRW SHORT bed. Right now I pull a small bumper pull enclosed but am looking to step up to a Gooseneck 2-car hauler this winter.

The bed of my truck has a hard plastic liner which I'm sure can be easily unmounted. The question is: do all of these trucks have the framework to attach a gooseneck ball in the bed?

I'm not ruling out getting a long bed truck to make this easier as well.

mbean

We haul both a 20 foot horse trailer and a 24 foot equipment trailer with our 2002 Duramax Diesel GMC long bed 2500. 22 mpg without the trailer, 16 with it at 70 mph. Some of our friends had problems with their short beds, as you can turn too far and hit the cab with the gooseneck. Awkward! A long bed tows much better, due to the longer wheelbase, and you have to worry less. You should get a hitch that has a ball that flips (ok, this thead is going to go off track...) and has a heavy frame that bolts to your frame under the bed. A lot of places try to cheap out and just bolt a steel plate on top of your bed, but it's not as strong and leaves your bed a mess. The only problem with a gooseneck is you can forget it's there, as it rides so much better. The weight distribution is better, but make sure the trailer matches the height of the sides of your truck. The new trucks are so tall that a friend had to have his new trailer modified to fit his new truck. When you flip the ball with a hide-a-hitch you have a clean bed. OK, I can see this is headed sideways.
Buzz

HoBoJoe

A quick google search shows a few videos of a gooseneck hitch being added to a 2010 2500.

Coochas

Thank you. So the Gooseneck hardware isn't standard equipment. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and get a long bed and order one with the hitch.

RickBetterley

Dave, congrats on going to a 2 car trailer! Irene deserves it.
I have only had bumper pulls but encourage you to move to the long bed. Threads on truck forums I used to read were full of stories about short beds, trailer hitting the cab (maybe not always a problem, but often enough to be a concern, and you know how you are about hitting stuff). And besides, the new trucks are great.
Will you keep the Aerovault? Would be real nice to have a single car trailer for those times you only haul 1 car. Friends with a trailer that has living quarters are really glad they kept their single for runs to the shop.
Maybe a good time to be buying a truck and you can spec it to the towing needs.
I am SO good at spending your money.

Coochas

Hey Rick,
We are closing on our new house in Sudbury today (fingers crossed) and will have a lot more space than Cambridge offers. So, we are thinking we'll keep the Aerovault. I know that Dave K put a hitch extender (?) for his gooseneck on their short bed truck and that it works well but apparently can still touch the cab if you're really cutting it.

Somebody above pointed out that Ram is discounting the 1500 series by 20%. Maybe they'll offer something similar for the 2500/3500. My Ram has been wonderful although those Denalis look pretty nice! If we go long bed, I still might stick with the SRW. I'm not feeling DRW.

And thank you for spending my money although after getting the bank check today for the new house, I am feeling gun shy.

ned911

I believe if you get a tapered nose on the trailer that alleviates much of the short bed issues.

RickBetterley

Congrats on the new house. Guys with trailers should live in the country.
Dave and Kristin are exactly who I was thinking about with the small trailer for hauling a single car.
I have had a short bed (2008 f250 crew) and long bed (2001 f350 duallie crew and 2012 F250 crew) and much prefer the long bed. Always though having a big truck with a short bed was odd if all I do is tow and make dump/Saturday store runs.
Duallie was a bit much for my CargoPro but might not be for your 2-car trailer.
Get the big truck and fight the sketchy Hello Kitty urges.

Coochas

I'm thinking about that too!
Well the closing got screwed up and moved to next week but I'm optimistic!
Thanks for the advice Rick,...as always.

RickBetterley

How's the truck lust? I saw your post re duallies; will that be required for a 2-car trailer?

Coochas

I would definitely not say required.
We want to step up to a two car this off season.
I have the short bed SRW which can work on a two car with either/and a gooseneck extender or a tapered neck as some have suggested.

Given how light our cars are, a bumper pull is not out of the question which I think is within a reasonable safety margin with my current truck.

The biggest downsides I see to a dually are parking, toll booths and not being able to go through a car wash (which my 6'7" 2500 SRW can do). The upside is of course that I could tow just about anything more safely.

Decisions decisions.

HoBoJoe

My shop pulls a 44ft 2 car gooseneck with a Ram 3500 SRW and says it does awesome. I think it's rated to pull around 20k lbs.

RickBetterley

And maintenance cost. 2 extra tires and wheels etc.
Dually if you need it, singles if not would be my preference.
Though I did enjoy having the monster dually for awhile. It was a 2001(?) King Ranch Long Bed Crew. Man could that thing haul my 2500 lb. CargoPro.
Wretched excess? Yup

97C2s911

Just in case I am selling my 04 dodge dually 3500 with a 44' gooseneck Pace with disc brakes .

Mussl Kar

Are you thinking of a 2 car stacker trailer? Very different from a 2 car end to end where you need inter trailer phone system from front to back. I am sorta thinking about a stacker.
Gooseneck trailer hitches are mounted to the frame below your truck bed, and you want the flip over ball for off season truck use. Mine is rated at something like 30,000 pounds? I had a F350 super cab and the tapered front of the gooseneck corners would press into the rear glass rubber gasket at sharp turns. Never broke the glass. The 2013 crew cab had a slightly shorter bed and the corners left a good size dent in the drivers side rear pillar. My 2015 has only a slight nick from the same thing happening. Get a full size bed if that works for you, less chance of kinking the cab. Most kinks happen from backing up, at least that is my luck.