The heavy duty handle that holds the ball in place is easily accessible in the wheel well.
The ball takes up little space in the bed, and when not in use, the ball is flipped over and inserted back into the hole. The ball hole can then be covered with the included magnet.
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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today on our 2012 Ford F350 we're going to be installing the Draw-Tite Hide-A-Goose 30K Gooseneck Head, part number 9460 in conjunction with the Gooseneck Mounting Kit, part number 4448. Now we've already gone ahead and removed the spare tire from the vehicle so our next step will be to remove the exhaust. We'll need to unbolt the hangers from the frame of the truck as we'll need to install hanger extensions before reinstalling our exhaust we'll undo the rear hanger here undoing the 1/10-mm bolt on the bottom side of the frame as well as the 10-mm bolt on the inside of the frame rail. We can then move forward on the truck and undo the two 13-mm nuts holding that hanger in place. They do face up towards the bed of the truck. It is quite a tight fit to get those undone.
With those undone, our exhaust is hanging freely and we're ready to move on to installing the rail. We'll place the 5/8-inch GRE carriage bolts from the gooseneck head box into the square holes on the forward and rearward cross members from the top pointing towards the ground. Now we'll know which one is the forward cross member because it has extra holes drilled in the center here. When we install the rear cross member we'll place one end above the vehicle frame between the frame and the bed of the truck and we'll maneuver the nut section of the opposite end above the frame. We can then just let it rest against the hatch channel of the bed of the truck.
When we install the forward cross member we'll install it by placing the notched end over the driver's side and slip the notched end on the other side above our frame. Next, we're going to loosely install the driver's side hitch side bracket by attaching the 5/8-inch hardware to the threaded studs on our cross members. We can then install our U bolts. On the driver's side here you'll need to be careful not to crush any of the wires when you put your U bolt in. Also, you'll need to remember that when tightening the U bolt down you don't want to have your wires between the U bolt and the frame.
After fitting the U bolt in here on the passenger's side we can then use our 1/2-inch flat washer, our 1/2-inch lock washer, and our 1/2-inch hex nut to attach it to the U bolt. With our U bolt loosely installed we can now take our 5/8-inch x 1-1/2 x 2-inch block and our 5/8-inch carriage bolt, we'll pass the block between the hitch side bracket and the frame of the truck. We can then move the carriage bolt through the side bracket, through the block, and through our frame on the other side. We'll then take our 5/8-inch conical tooth washer with the teeth of the washer facing the frame and our 5/8-inch hex nut and attach it on the other side of the carriage bolt. With all our hardware loosely installed on the driver's side we can then move to the passenger's side and assemble the side bracket on it.
On the passenger's side of the vehicle the U bolt must be positioned to the vehicle's forward side of the shock mount as seen here. With all our hardware installed loosely on the passenger's side we're now ready to move up into the bed our truck and drill and 3-1/2 inch hole. Now here in the bed of the truck, the Ford F350 has a nice indention in the bed of the truck marking our location for the gooseneck. We'll double check it and make sure it is the 46-3/16 inches to be sure that we're drilling our hole in the proper location. We can now drill our 1/4-inch pilot hole and after drilling our 1/4-inch pilot hole we'll use our 3-1/2-inch hole saw to drill our hole in the bed. Now that we have our hole in the bend we're ready to install the head of our gooseneck. Now to put the head of the gooseneck in position we'll make sure that the driver's side of the gooseneck has the pin for the ball protruding from it. We'll place it into position allowing the carriage bolt to pass through the brackets. We can then use the 5/8-inch conical tooth washers with the teeth of the washer facing the gooseneck head and our 5/8-inch nuts to install the gooseneck head. We can then loosely tighten them down. Now that our gooseneck head is in position we'll move up into the bed of the truck to make sure that the ball sleeve is in the 3-1/2-inch opening that we drilled in the bed of the truck. Now that we've determined that our sleeve is in the proper location we can tighten down all our hardware and torque it to specification as indicated in the instructions. Now that all our bolts are torqued to specification we're ready to drill our holes for our safety chain loops. From underneath the truck we'll drive a 1/4-inch pilot hole making sure to stay in the lower corrugation of our bed pan. Now that we have our 1/4-inch pilot holes drilled in all four locations for our safety chain loop, we'll move back into the bed of the truck and drill 1/2-inch hole down through the bed where we can pass the safety chain loops through the holes back down underneath to the gooseneck head. With the safety chain loops in we'll move back under the truck and we'll use the spring, the large flat washer, and the nuts to secure the safety chain loops. Now when tightening the nuts down on the U bolts you want to make sure that three to four threads protrude past the end of the nut. This will leave enough within the U bolt for you to get your safety chains wrapped around it. Now that both our safety chain loops are in, the next thing we'll need to do is to install the lock pin handle. We'll remove the handle from the box where we can place the orange sheath over the top of the handle side of our bar. We can then slide the bar into the locking pin lining up the holes where we'll use the safety pin to attach it to the locking pin. And with that done we're now ready to reinstall our exhaust hangers. To do this we'll take the front exhaust hanger and our two 3/8-inch spacer blocks, place the 3/8-inch spacer blocks over the studs that we'll use to mount the bracket. We can then place the bracket back up into position and reinstall it using the nuts that we took off the studs. With our forward hanger on, we'll move to the rear hanger where we can use the extension included within the mounting kit to extend our rear mount down making sure our exhaust won't hit the gooseneck head while you're driving down the road. Now that our Draw-Tite Hide-A-Goose is completely installed we'll go ahead and show you how it works. We'll reach under the driver's side rear fender where we'll pull the orange handle and shift it holding the lock pin out. We can then move to the bed of the truck where we can place our ball into the ball sleeve. You notice that the ball is keyed to make it easier for your lock pin to see. With the ball down in place, we'll move back to the orange handle where we'll shift it back to the center allowing the pin to lock the ball down. Now we're ready to pull our gooseneck. We can reinstall our spare tire which will complete our installation of the Draw-Tite Hide-A-Goose 30K Gooseneck Head, part number 9460 and Mounting Kit, part number 4448 on our 2012 Ford F350.
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