Good evening all, tomorrow I am getting a B&W turnover gooseneck for the truck. I will save $100 by installing it myself. Is it worth the hassle of installing it myself worth the savings? I have heard it is not too awful difficult, and $100 is better in my pocket than theirs. Any advice from the crowd?? Thanks in advance fellas.

 

pretty easy to install. some guys said they did it in a very short amount of time but i think it took me a couple hours to do. now that i did it i could prolly install another in 30-45 min.

 

longest part will take is re-measureing the cut for the hole 500 times
dont wanna miss

 

1 Hour is the normal install time. Save yourself some pain in the butt and do a couple of things right up front to save time. Use a 4 1/8" hole saw bit instead of just the 4", makes it alot easier to line up in the hole and the extra gap is so small you won't even notice it. Drop the spare tire out of the way. Unscrew the couple of bolts holding the rear of the bed to the frame, when you put in the front and rear angle iron bars for the hitch this gives you just enough clearance to roll them around without a fight. If your working by yourself put board across the top of the bed rails with a rope hanging through the hole in your bed and tied to the main hitch platform, use this to hold it in place while you position everything else. Last but not least ramps to get the rear end up off the ground so you can sit up under there and work, no fun on your back. I don't trust jack stands for this because you will really be jerking on the truck to torque bolts and that makes me nervous with stands.

 

I put mine in about 2 months ago. Was very concerned about drilling a 4 inch hole in my bed and being out of location. It couldn't have gone better. I'm glad I did it myself. I think I probably took a little more time than a shop might have and did a great job.

 

Thanks fellas, I think I will put it in this weekend. Appreciate all the advice.

 

I used red high strength locktite on mine for extra security. If I were to do it again, I would just torque everything down during the install and tow a couple of times to let things settle in, then locktite and retorque all the bolts...

A ratcheting strap and a stool or saw horse will also work to hold the center section up while you bolt things together...

I couldn't get a drill in under the passenger side to drill holes for the safety chain ancors, because the exhaust pipe is in the way. I used a dremel tool to drill pilot holes from the bottom so I could drill from the top and have them line up.

Lastly, having a die grinder (or sandpaper) and primer to clean up and protect where you have to drill/cut would be good.