Escapees July-August 2024

are in fl ated using a Schrader valve on the top of the Goose Box. We used a pancake air compressor to in fl ate them at home, and we bring a cordless power in fl ator with us on our travels, just in case. There is a gauge on the driver’s side of the Reese Goose Box that allows you to see the air bag in fl ation level. We have had to re-in fl ate the air bags just once since we fi rst in fl ated them. Unhitching a trailer with a Reese Goose Box is as easy as pulling the cable to unlatch the clamps around the gooseneck ball while raising the landing jack legs! It is truly that simple, and I love it because one person can do it solo. Once the trailer is unhitched, we clip the safety chains onto the Reese Goose Box and stow the power cord in the kingpin so there’s nothing left dangling. Towing As I mentioned, we have towed our trailer on all kinds of crazy roads, and the airbags inside the Reese Goose Box consistently make the ride incredibly smooth regardless of the terrain. There is no chucking or bouncing, and best of all, no clanking hitch noises that are so common with fi fthwheel hitches! The trailer fl oats along behind us. We’ve taken some very sharp turns with our long-bed truck and haven’t had a problem with the Reese Goose Box touching the cab. And, we’ve gone over some serious bumps and sharp inclines and declines and the overhang of the fi fth wheel has not come close to the tops of the bed rails either. Installation We did the installation ourselves and despite the heavy weight of the original king pin and the even heavier weight of the Reese Goose Box, it wasn’t dif fi cult. The hardest part of the installation was removing the old kingpin! Fifth-wheel kingpins are very heavy. When we unbolted ours, we removed oppos ing bolts to keep the weight distributed evenly. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any The Goose Box bolts on easily. We had extra holes, so we used leftover bolts from the old kingpin for added strength. A magnetic telescoping pole with a ball on top makes left/ right hitching alignment a cinch. We eyeball front/back alignment from the side of the truck. Using stacked boards for support, we placed the Goose Box on a sheet of cardboard to make it easy to slide around and align in the truck bed.

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July/August 2024 ESCAPEES Magazine