I’ll proudly admit- I’m a B&W fan boy. I love my fifth wheel hitch, the B&W Turnover Ball and Companion more than is normal for a grown-man to love something. But, it’s true- I never have the worries that I read about others having with hitching (it won’t hitch if you’re high hitched or have done something wrong) and unhitching (binding on uneven terrain or when there is pressure against the pin, etc.). It just works.
I also am a huge cynic – I saw a post on Facebook by B&W (yes, I’ve liked and follow their page) about the newly redesigned Companion hitch and merely shrugged my shoulder thinking, “so? how different can it be?”. The increase in capacity from 18,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds isn’t a game changer for me- my camper grosses out at under 16,000 pounds. But, a few posts on various forums piqued my curiosity…
What got me to finally go look is that the U-Bolts are gone. They have redesigned things so that you only use the draw-down bolt to secure the Companion to the mounting post. Currently, I have 2 U-bolts for 4 lock nuts that I have to tighten and untighten. With the new system, it’s going to be even quicker and easier than it is now to install and remove the hitch (and it was already really easy!).
B&W listened to their consumers and are accounting for the truck manufacturers changes in the truck beds by changing their footprint and including more adjustments with the contacts to the bed. Even the post can be moved forward or backward to two different options allowing greater fine-tuning of the hitch’s location in relation to the truck’s axles.
I’ll admit, the green eyed monster is making an appearance… I. WANT. ONE.
And, to prove my fan-boy fandom, here’s their marketing video for the Companion hitch’s all new features:
AMEN and AMEN!
I pull a 2014 Columbus 365RL with our 2007 Ford F350 XLT 4×4 DRW Supercab 6.0L, that came with a B&W flip over gooseneck setup. Just before we picked up our fifth wheel, I found a new (ok, it was used once, for 4 hours) B&W Companion for a very good price. Tows beautifully, with no chunking. Easy as can be to hitch and unhitch. Easy to remove or install. Love having a smooth, clean P/U bed when it's not in use. 🙂
I sweat- some folks have all of the luck. 🙂 I never find great deals like that! But, I completely agree- the perfectly empty bed and the easy of removal make it worthwhile. I'll say, I'm more than a little jealous of the new Companion- if my wife wouldn't drown me in my sleep, I'd start lobbying her for an upgrade.