Patent ID: 7775541
Filing Date: 2010-08-17
Classification: B62D

Abstract:
1. A mounting bracket for coupling a fifth wheel hitch to a goose-neck hitch comprising a brace frame having a ball receiving socket therein and the brace frame being positioned beneath a bed of a wheeled vehicle with the ball receiving socket centrally located relative to the bed of the wheeled vehicle and aligned with an access aperture through the bed and wherein the vehicle bed has a lengthwise axis oriented substantially parallel to a forward direction of travel of the vehicle and a widthwise axis oriented substantially perpendicular to the forward direction of travel of the vehicle, said mounting bracket comprising: a stabilizer comprising a pair of elongate support arms coupled together by a cross-member that maintains respective long axes of said pair of elongate support arms in substantial parallel orientation; an anchor arrangement that couples said mounting bracket in the vehicle bed with respective long axes of said pair of elongate support arms oriented transverse to a lengthwise axis of the vehicle bed, said mounting bracket having a lower portion configured for abutting engagement with the vehicle bed and an upper portion configured for receiving fixed coupled engagement of a fifth wheel hitch head; and said anchor arrangement further comprising a releasable fastener having an upper portion that engages said mounting bracket at a geometrically centered receiving aperture and a lower portion that releasably engages the brace frame at the ball receiving socket by extension through the access aperture in the vehicle bed.