Special Features
The first thing you see is that the coupler head of the fifth-wheel Companion hitch rides on polyurethane bushings that encases a steel bar for support, and because of it the Companion absorbs much of the shock from poor road conditions. We confirmed it with a test drive through some typical mountain roads. Another feature worth mentioning is that the Companion has 1 1/8-inch locking jaws machined from cast malleable iron, and the jaw mates securely with the king pin, thus eliminating those unnerving jerky starts and stops. The jaws operate with a cam so that it unlocks with little effort, even in a “bind” situation.

To keep side-to-side movement stable, the Companion is designed with a built-in shock absorber that allows seven degrees of gentle movement. According to B&W, this feature helps in hitching and unhitching a trailer because the coupler is allowed to give slightly.

Turnover Ball
The Turnover Ball is essentially a gooseneck hitch, ideal for horse trailers and ranch trailers. It meets all OEM fastening specifications and bolts to factory mounting points, so there’s no need to weld anything during the installation phase. The only fabrication work that you’ll need to handle is drilling a 4-inch hole in the truck bed for the gooseneck ball and perhaps notching the crossmembers of the Turnover Ball kit. Other than that, it’s really simple to mount without removing the bed.

What make it even more attractive are the seven unique accessories, which are optional and work on other types of hitches using the same system. These include an eyelet ball, a kingpin, a 4-inch extender, an inverted ball, a high-rise ball, a 3-inch ball, and of course the Companion fifth wheel.

Some gooseneck designs feature a ball that rotates within the receiver, but B&W’s Turnover Ball is fixed in place. According to B&W, a rotating ball design is just one more lube area and wear point, and they do not believe it is critical to the performance of the product. Having the security of a pin that goes through the ball and receiver was more important, B&W said.

The entire installation took about four hours from start to finish, but if you are planning on handling it alone, plan for more time. Our test drive towing Loren’s toyhauler revealed how smooth and jerk-free the B&W product was, especially on twisty sections of mountain roads. Another satisfying aspect was how simple it engaged and disengaged without the need of any type of lining equipment.

On a side note, the truck bed paint was in such bad shape that Loren asked his friend Mark Harrington to dress it up with a spray in liner, which he did. Mark doesn’t usually do this sort of work, but he happened to have the right equipment, and it turned out beautiful, adding to the overall look of the vehicle.

Now let’s take a look at how the major steps were performed, thanks to Dedicated Express Mobile RV Repair.