Gooseneck ball for dump body

[3rdgendslmech]

Just wondering if anybody has seen it or have done it themselves..... I'm inheriting a 95 12 valve cummins with a 12 foot dumpable stake body. Original plans were to shorten the frame and make it a regular dually but now my side work focus has kinda shifted a little and I'm just gonna leave the headaches and the dump body alone lol.
Anybody ever came across a set up that has a gooseneck ball and a dump bed? The hardest part of all this to me would be making the hole in the dump bed.
I'm looking to get into fixing up riding mowers and small equipment like that. Gonna dabble into restoring old farm tractors and possibly take them to shows when my kid gets a little older.
Good idea or bad idea?

 

[jblnut]

The dirtwork guy I use has a few 450/4500 pickup style rigs with the dump bodies that have fold down sides and he pulls gooseneck trailers behind them. No idea how it's all fabbed up but it exists and they all have DOT stickers on them. I'll see if I can't snag some pictures in the next few weeks as they'll be here on and off again for few weeks doing stuff.

 

[jack stand]

I built my dump body and g/n hitch. Simply reinforced the area (in the bed floor) around the approximately 10"x12" opening so that it supports the cover plate. I used a piece of "junior channel" I had in the scrap pile for the cover plate because it had the "channels" for strength in the long dimension and added some support in the other dimension and it's a nice tight fit that I stomp in when replacing it. To remove it I lift the body, flip up the ball and lower the bed down and it pops up the cover plate.
The bed floor is getting pretty beat up, but not the cover.
I don't have pictures on my phone, but if intrested I'll post some when I'm on my desktop.

 

[kbs2244]

can you put the ball on a removable plate that fastens to the bed floor?

 

[jack stand]

The g/n hitch needs to be fastened to the vehicles frame.
For the most part, gravity and the 2 hinges is all that holds the bed to the truck besides the hoist. I wouldn't even think of doing that, neither would anyone inspecting your truck after the wreck.

 

[gearhead1]

I envision a square opening over the standard gooseneck hitch that is attached directly to the frame. When you use the gooseneck, the plate that is normally bolted over the square opening is removed. When you use the dump bed, the plate covering the square opening is bolted to the bed.

Like jack stand said, beef up the bottom of the bed in that are from the underside. I'd weld nuts in the beefed up area to accept the cover plate. Or tap holes in the beefed up area if it is thick enough. The point is to make it a one person job and not need a person inside the bed and one underneath to remove the plate.

Another idea, is that the cover plate is recessed. The beefed up area around the opening on the underneath of the bed is flat bar or angle that is split - half on the bed/half in the opening to make a ledge. The cover plate just sits on that ledge. No bolts needed. Want to get the plate out? Raise the bed and poke it with a stick from underneath the bed to pop it out. Make the ledges in the opening big enough such that the plate can't fall through. In other words, the cover plate is way bigger than the opening created by the flat bar or angle. The true opening would be smaller than the recessed opening.

Another idea is a rectangular hinged plate. If the gooseneck ball is out (or flipped upside down), the hinged plate sits flat. If the ball is in, once the bed is lowered, it pushes the hinged plate up. You then flip the hinge plate all the way over and it rides on the bed 180 degrees back while you're using the gooseneck.

There's many ways to do this.