The Dodge Power Wagon's factory electronic disconnecting front sway bar, 12,000-pound Warn winch, and electric lockers always seem to steal the spotlight, but the fact is, the Power Wagon's foundation is a 3/4-ton truck that's designed for work. In this installment, we're going to capitalize on the Power Wagon's towing capabilities by upgrading it with a few products including gooseneck and fifth-wheel trailer hitches.
From the get-go, one of our goals for this truck was to set it up to tow gooseneck and fifth-wheel trailers in addition to standard bumper towing. Setting the Power Wagon up for fifth-wheel towing will allow us to test a wider variety of toy haulers and other recreational vehicles. The ability to tow gooseneck trailers will give us added flexibility to pull larger flatbed or livestock trailers. Additionally, we like the improved turning radius and weight distribution that these trailers afford.
Our parameters for a hitch system were simple. We wanted a system that allowed us to tow either a gooseneck or fifth-wheel trailer at will, but we wanted the gooseneck ball and fifth-wheel hitch to be completely removable so we could have unobstructed access to the cargo bed. To select a system that would help us meet our requirements, we heeded our own advice from the "Heavy Hitters" story (July '09). We selected B&W Trailer Hitches' Turnover Ball Gooseneck Hitch and Companion 5th Wheel RV Hitch.
B&W Trailer Hitches is a Kansas-based company that was formed in 1987. In 1991, they addressed the annoyance of having a gooseneck ball permanently mounted in the bed of a pickup truck. Their resulting invention was the Turnover Ball Gooseneck Hitch, which allowed the gooseneck ball to be pulled out, turned over, and stowed beneath the bed. Think "vertically mounted receiver hitch," and you'll understand the Turnover Ball. Not only was this a revolutionary idea, but the mounting system they devised bolted to the truck frame and required no welding, drilling, or bed removal to install. B&W then created the Companion 5th Wheel RV Hitch. This slick hitch is an accessory to the Turnover Ball and actually utilizes the Turnover Ball hitch receiver as its mounting point. Today, they offer the Turnover Ball for every fullsize truck on the market.
Matt Dinelli at Attitude Performance completed the amazingly easy install of the B&W Trailer Hitches components on our Power Wagon while we shot photos and recorded video. Here's an overview of the install.
 1. Here are all of the components...  1. Here are all of the components of the of the B&W Turnover Ball Gooseneck Hitch and Companion 5th Wheel RV Hitch systems. In this photo, you can also see the handy Tow & Stow receiver hitch we installed to aid in bumper towing. We'll detail the Tow & Stow a bit later in the story. |  2. Our Power Wagon has the...  2. Our Power Wagon has the optional factory drop-in bedliner, so before we could begin installing the Turnover Ball system, we had to get the bedliner out of the way. After removing 12 bolts, it removed easily from the truck. |  3. The Turnover Ball requires...  3. The Turnover Ball requires a 4-inch hole be drilled in the bed. Here, Dinelli marks the center point of the area to be drilled. For our shortbed Power Wagon, the instructions directed us to center the hole 45 1/2 inches from the back of the truck box. |
 4. With the drill point clearly...  4. With the drill point clearly marked (and triple-checked for accuracy), the 4-inch hole was drilled in the bed. Naturally, we inspected underneath the bed to ensure that it was clear of any wiring or obstructions before we started to drill. |  5. On the passenger side of...  5. On the passenger side of the Power Wagon, there's a sheetmetal flange that is hanging down from the bottom of the truck bed floor. A small notch must be made in this flange before the rear Turnover Ball crossmember can be installed. The notch is made by enlarging an existing factory hole. |  6. With the notching completed,...  6. With the notching completed, the front and rear crossmembers were slid in place from inside the wheelwell through the gap between the bed and the truck's frame until they spanned the framerails. |
 7. The centersection went...  7. The centersection went in next and bolted to the crossmembers. This is typically a two-person job due to the weight of the unit and the fact that bolts have to be installed while it's being held in place. Another option is to lift the centersection into position by using an overhead lifting device like an engine hoist. The chain can be routed down through the 4-inch hole in the bed and fastened to the latch pin in the centersection. Either way, the mounting bolts are left loose at this time. |  8. Next up, the side plates...  8. Next up, the side plates are bolted in position. On the driver side, we had to remove the emergency brake cable bracket from the frame and temporarily unclip a wiring harness from the inside of the frame-rail. On the passenger side, we had to temporarily remove one of the rubber exhaust mounts and move the exhaust slightly to fit one of the mounting bolts. The side plate on the driver side has an integrated carriage bolt for remounting the factory emergency brake cable bracket. With the side plates installed, all of the mounting bolts were then tightened using the torque specs provided in the instructions. |  9. The latch pin handle is... 9. The latch pin handle is what is pulled to release the Turnover Ball. It mounts to the latch pin with a provided hex cap screw and center locknut. |
 11. Here you can see how Dinelli...  11. Here you can see how Dinelli contoured our factory bedliner to match the new Turnover Ball mount. You can also see how the Turnover Ball locks in place in the hitch receiver via the latch pin. |  12. The Companion 5th Wheel...  12. The Companion 5th Wheel Hitch is an accessory to the Turnover Ball, and it mounts to the RV post (shown). The RV post locks in place in the Turnover Ball hitch receiver. The RV post has two holes: the lower hole is for trucks with bedliners, and the upper hole is for those without bedliners. |  13. This is the RV base and...  13. This is the RV base and it has a number of mounting holes for the RV pivot arms. This offers adjustability options so the RV coupler can be positioned up/down and front/back as needed to compensate for different truck/trailer combinations. |
 14. With the RV pivot arm...  14. With the RV pivot arm bolts installed, they're torqued to spec. |  15. U-bolts hold the RV base...  15. U-bolts hold the RV base to the RV post. Before the U-bolts are tightened, the RV base is placed square in the truck bed, and a draw-down bolt is installed through the RV base and into the RV post. The draw-down bolt creates upward pressure on the RV post so the latch pin cannot be disengaged. In other words, the Companion hitch must be unbolted from the RV post each time you want to remove it from the truck. The draw-down bolt and then the U-bolts are torqued to specs in that order. |  16. The last step is to lubricate...  16. The last step is to lubricate the polyurethane bushings on the RV pivot arms with high-grade lithium grease and then the RV coupler is attached using the saddle lock pins and hairpins. The Companion hitch is now assembled. |
 16. The last step is to lubricate...  16. The last step is to lubricate the polyurethane bushings on the RV pivot arms with high-grade lithium grease and then the RV coupler is attached using the saddle lock pins and hairpins. The Companion hitch is now assembled. |  17. As we mentioned earlier,...  17. As we mentioned earlier, we also installed one of B&W's Tow & Stow receiver hitches. This all-steel, powdercoated hitch has vertical adjustability in 1-inch increments and you can simply rotate the ball assembly to select from three ball sizes (17/8-, 2-, and 25/16-inch). |  18. Have you ever whacked...  18. Have you ever whacked your shin on a protruding trailer hitch? Well, another neat feature of the Tow & Stow is that you can rotate the ball assembly forward (as shown) so it doesn't protrude from the back of the truck when not in use. |
Here's how the Turnover Ball...
Here's how the Turnover Ball looks with a gooseneck trailer attached.
The Bottom Line
It's impressive how easily the Turnover Ball system installed in our Power Wagon. The folks at B&W have done their homework, and the design and quality of the products is impeccable. Since the installation, we've towed a gooseneck livestock trailer with the Turnover Ball and everything worked great. The Turnover Ball is rated to 30,000 pounds gross trailer weight (GTW) and 7,500 pounds vertical tongue weight (VTW). We're using the standard 25/16-inch ball, but B&W offers seven towing accessories including kingpin, inverted ball, eyelet, 4-inch extender, 3-inch ball, high-rise ball, and the Companion 5th Wheel RV Hitch. Speaking of the Companion, we're impressed by the neat way it utilizes the Turnover Ball hitch receiver for mounting. The Companion has an 18,000-pound GTWR and a 4,500-pound VTWR; a patented hydraulic dampener that permits seven degrees of side-to-side tilt; a cam-action latching handle that offers effortless hookup and release; lots of vertical and horizontal adjustability; and vibration-dampening polyurethane bushings to provide quiet, rattle-free towing. We're anxious to borrow a fifth-wheel trailer so we can install and test the Companion hitch. Finally, we're also impressed by the Tow & Stow receiver hitch. We especially like the fact that with the three ball sizes we can tow a variety of trailers without having to mess around with moving hitch balls to our drop hitch each time we tow trailers that require a different hitch ball size.