I tow a 303RLS with 2017 Ram Mega Dually with a Cummins engine. I also use the Anderson hitch. Ram duallies use 17" tires, plus I have the factory air to lower the truck to level as well. In general, I have no trouble finding a ball height to make the trailer level and I still get about 7" of clearance at the side rail. Because I put the king pin adapter block with the ball towards the cab, I think I get about 7-8" of offset, which gives me plenty of cab clearance, although I would not swear to 90deg. You will be at or greater than your payload if I read the Ram website correctly, so you may see quite a bit of sag on the truck with coil springs, folks do put on aftermarket air bags. My combination tows very well, but our trucks are very different so it is really an apples/oranges comparison.

You will not be able to use an offset ball with the factory puck system. The factory system uses a round hole, while the B&W system uses a square hole, if that makes sense. Because of the square hole with B&W, the offset ball is keyed/locked in place; the factory round hole has no ability to lock the ball in a fixed orientation. I have looked for an offset ball for the factory system and never found one. Now some folks go ahead and install a B&W system even with the factory pucks, which gives them the option for the offset ball. B&W makes a product that bolts into the Ram frame, but for the life of me I cannot find the post of the guy that did it.

Maybe others that have a truck similar to your will chime in.

Found a link where someone mentions swapping in the B&Whttps://hdrams.com/forum/index.php?t...ver-ball.2392/

Hi Matt,

I don't have either of the hitches that you are asking about, but can add some information WRT a Reflection 303RLS.

It is 50" from the center of the pin to the corner of the front cap. When you are considering how/where you will position the trailer pin in the box of the truck, you can check this measurement to the back of the cab. Remember to add/subtract the Andersen offset for that hitch.

On the "other side of this" consider the clearance between the trailer pinbox "wings" and the tailgate or side rails of the truck box. In the attached picture (I cannot recall where this picture is from) you can see that the Andersen cup is behind the pin and the wings still come very close to the truck box side rails. Putting the Andersen ball ahead of the pin would cause contact in a situation similar to this.

When you go shopping for your new 303, bring along some wooden blocking. Have the dealer set the pin of the trailer on this blocking at approximately the right height. As soon as the trailer landing gear clears the ground, you will be able to measure the loaded box rail height of your specific truck.

Rob

Hi Matt I think I may be somewhat unique in this group that I have had both the Andersen as well as the Goosebox. I ran the Andersen when I first got my Reflection 28BH (similar in size and weight to the 303) in 2017 with our F250. It worked great, and I loved its weight for both payload savings on the F250 as well as getting it in and out of the truck. I ran it in the middle hole of the Andersen and used a B&W turnover ball (that truck did not have the factory puck system). The F250 was a short bed, and I ran the coupler in both directions. I ran it rearward at first to give me more clearance to the cab, but then as Rob mentioned the wings of the pinbox ran too close to the rails for my cover and made contact once at an off camber site. No real damage, but it scared me enough that I reversed the coupler and ran it closer to the cab. I still could get close to 90 degrees, and if it was getting that tight I would reset and try from a different angle. I had been in some pretty tight sites, and my shop where I park it requires a close to 90 degree uphill approach and I had no trouble.

In 2019 we got a new F30 long bed truck with factory hitch prep. For the first year or so we continued to use the Andersen. With the Ford (not sure about the Dodge) you cannot run an offset ball because it is a round shank. I purchased the Reese ball in the standard height. With the F350 I found it was nose high even in the bottom hole of the Andersen. Online I found people were lowering the rear of the F30 truck by swapping spacers, and between that and some suspension upgrades I made to the Reflection I got it to tow level in the bottom hole. I am bit fuzzy on this but I think we reversed the coupler again to gain some space between the rear of the truck and the front storage bay of the Reflection, the new cover we bought did not have rails so no more clearance problems.

The only complaint I had about the Andersen was storing it when we would get to a site. We part time, and would occasionally find ourselves in a situation where we would need to use the bed at place we were at for a longer period of time. We would need to remove the Andersen, easy enough, but if I forgot, did not know I would need the bed when we headed out then it would be an issue. I was also looking for more usable bed space while underway, the footprint of the Anderson was troublesome for that. This had me thinking of the Goosebox.

I purchased the 20k version, per Reese its fine to use it with lower weights, and was not much more money. I figured this way I would be able to move it to a new larger rig someday.

I installed it myself, which was painless, but I did have a forklift to use. I have seen people do it using the landing gear and placing it on the bed of the truck. Given I am using a long bed, but I have no clearance issues with the cab, and it tows dead level with the standard height ball. I can unfortunately tell you that I had the overhang of the trailer come down on the bed once backing into a site. It was a bad approach, late at night, and the site was down a steep hill from the road. I should have gone back around and asked for a different site, but instead I "got it in", but did have contact. I blame myself for that more than the setup, but it does have me thinking of getting the taller ball and going with 16" tires on the trailer to try and get it level.

I love the Goosebox, but a few caveats. It is great for having a clean bed when I unhook. I would also say it tows similar to the Andersen. Maybe a bit more bouncy, but the difference is minimal I would say. I have never towed with a "regular" fifth wheel hitch so no comparison there unfortunately. It is a bit harder to hook up. You cannot see the ball in the mirror to know when to stop, and even from the side its tricky for my wife to know when to tell me to stop. The fifth wheel camera on the center brake light in the truck helps with getting it centered but knowing when to stop is tricky. The Andersen has a curved cup so it is pretty forgiving , I would say you could be off by probably 3/4 the ball width and the Goosebox you need to be pretty much dead on to 1/4 of the ball width. I would say we did gain some space underway in the bed, but because of the way the Goosebox comes down the space behind he hitch is not as tall. Bit of give and take there.

I made a few modifications to mine, I extended the release cable and air fill and mounted them closer to the side of the trailer so we can get to them without climbing into the bed. I also plumbed in a pressure gauge so I can tell when I walk up to it where it is at.

One thing I never saw anyone talk about (and I did a fair bit of research) is that the trailer does ride quite a bit closer to the truck. I would think this seems a lot worse for me coming from the reversed Andersen which moved it back four inches from center to begin with. I can no longer open the front storage when connected. I can pop it open a smidge, but not all the way. I used to keep our chocks and blocks in there, and had to move them. The tailgate goes down all the way, but only if I am dead straight to the trailer. If I need to hook up at an angle (rare but it does happen) I have to get creative with backing up, closing the tailgate and then backing the rest of the way. If I am off, then I have to reverse this to reposition. Kind of a pain, and I try to avoid it if at all possible. I think in my next truck I may skip the fifth wheel prep so I can get an aftermarket gooseball and do an offset ball to correct this.

TLDR, All said I would do it again, I love having the bed open when I unhook, but I think the Andersen is a great choice as well.

B&W Companion RVK3600 would be my choice.No issues at all with clearances.
I have a 2018 Cummins 3500 with factory puck system and a 2021 303RLS

Note “ps comment” in original post . . . we all have reasons for choosing other hitches, but that is not the question here.

Rob

It would appear I forgot the main point of the op's post by the time i read the other responses...Sorry...Carry on.

This is absolutely fantastic information!!!
Thank you very much to all of you for sharing your experiences & helping better inform our decision.
We made our deposit (refundable of course) over the phone today & drive to dealer on Monday to finalize paperwork! We are super excited & will share with the group when we are finally new owners.
Again, thank you vey much. Hopefully we can return the favor in the future by helping out another member.

Great news!! Best of luck let us know if you have any questions, and keep us updated on where you end up for a hitch.

Do you have any pictures of your modifications? Do you lock the hitch when in Tow? I have a long bed Ram on order, and after reading what you are saying I am a bit concerned. I can open the front storage no problem with the short bed. With the longer bed I didn't think that maybe it would be too close now.

The distance from tailgate to rear axle (hitch pin centreline) typically does not change with changes in wheelbase and box length. This difference is ahead of the rear axle. You should be able to find exact dimensions of your old and new trucks online for comparison. Look for the information published by the truck manufacturers for aftermarket accessory and body manufacturers.

Rob

Sure, here is one. I see if I can take a better one when I get over there today or tomorrow. I do not lock it while under way except for the built in latch.

I took off the factory release cable and just made a new longer cable. I fed it through a pulley and brought it over to the underside of the fifth wheel I also extended the air fill to there and plumbed in a gauge.

Very slick setup. My biggest complaint has been the difficulty in reaching everything. Your setup would fix that problem, except I run with a lock on the clasp at the ball, so I still would have to get into the bed regardless.

Yeah we still have to get in for the chains, but for the rest it's much easier. The release and air fill were a pain to get to, and the gauge makes it easy to walk up in the morning and make sure we're good to go.