Anyone have any experience with these? http://www.safety-hitch.com/

Does anyone know how this would affect the pin weight of the goosenect to the truck ?

I understand the standard 'formula' is to expect it to be approx 20 % of loaded trailer weight, which is generally too much for the 150/1500 series of trucks. (as apposed to 10-15% of (lighter weight) bumper pull trailers.

Is the safety-hitch a magic bullet to be able to pull a gooseneck safely with a 'lighter' truck ?

THANKS! from a towing newbie---very little experience and on a steep learning curve !

Since the trailer hitch weight is on the safety-hitch, there is no hitch weight on the truck....

BUT !!!  it doesn't change the max Combined Gross Vehicle Weight Rating.  So if your 1/2 ton truck has a max CGVWR of 10,000 pounds, Your 5500 pound truck can still only pull a loaded 3500 pound trailer (guessing the safety-hitch system weighs 1000 pounds)

Mr. Truck review.. http://www.mrtrailer.com/safetyhitch.htm

And this one for the bumper pull users... Would probably work good with my heavy tongue bumper pull behind the ML350.... http://www.mrtrailer.com/hellya.htm

Thanks for the well thought replies.

Yikes! that is pricey..........could buy the extra gas for a bigger truck for quite a while......

Yes, I realized the weight of the safety-hitch would need to be included in the GCWR, which might be a deal breaker on it's own.

Thanks again, very helpful information and ideas.

Since the DOT does not consider this hitch to be a "dolly" therefore having one more pivot point, it is legal  It is considered a trailer hitch. 

It would certainly decrease the amount of weight you pace over your truck frame, by a lot.  I don't see it being anymore stressful to the frame of your two vehicle than a heavy bumper pull would be.  My hitch is attached to my frame, and a old 20 foot bumber pull camper puts a heck of a lot more strain on the frame than the safety hitch, which is doing most of the work.

If you have a cap on your pick-up, you can't pull a fifthwheel or a goose.  You would have to remove the topper.  For me, that is almost 200 cubic feet of storage room. 

If you are concerned about Pin weight, by a Cummins powered Dodge Ram.  They have 2,000 extra pounds on the front axle that other trucks just don't have.  The mighty Cummins will hold the nose of your truck down.

If you want to compare this towing to Class 8 trucks, you have to take all things into consideration.  The biggest thing being, driver skill.  When I pull 9500 gallons of heating oil with a Kenworth and a tri-axle trailer on a snow packed road, I have a lot of go traction, and pretty good whoa traction.  I don't have a lot of steer traction, but it gets around.  Once the tank is empty, I have next to no frozen road traction, in any direction.  So, I adjust my driving habits to suit the conditions of my tractor trailer and the environment.  If you cannot handle doing that with a safety hitch, because of a loss of Pin weight, you should hire out your towing, and arrive at your trailer's destination in a car.  

Always look as far ahead to the horizon as you can when you drive, leave the cell phone conversations to your stopped time, and assume that every other driver on the road is an idiot, and stay the heck away from them.  If you always assume that you are lacking traction on your steers and drive appropriately, you will never loose control.

Having an extra set of brakes, especially the big disk brakes on that F-450 axle that the Safety hitch uses, is quite appealing.  I have spoken to the designer, he is no slouch.  The product is well thought out.  I would not be so quick to to talk bad about it with no real knowledge.  I will be looking at a 3 horse Equispirit, and will certainly be looking at this hitch.  I like my topper, and they room it gives me.  We don't like to travel light.