PrintGetting Hitched
B&W Trailer Hitches was born 24 years ago in a small garage in Humboldt, Kansas, when farmer Joe Works and classic car restorer Roger Baker teamed up to build the perfect truck bed. Starting off with custom beds, the pair narrowed their focus to trailer hitches after realizing the frustrations caused by a permanent ball hitch and the demand for a better, easier-to-use removable one.
At the time, in order to have a removable ball, the original hitch had to be replaced with one attached to a large plate. The replacement could fold down, but installing it meant putting a giant hole in the pickup. So the duo designed a hitch that allowed for the ball to be flipped and stashed away under the truck. Better yet, bolting their hitch to the frame was less intrusive and problematic — no drilling or welding necessary. A quarter-century later, their Turnover Ball hitch remains the standard for gooseneck hitches.
But success hasn’t gone to Works’ head; the former farmer and now sole owner, CEO, and president of B&W Trailer Hitches still focuses on producing hitches of the highest quality and staying involved in the process, keeping the company close to home. Every B&W product is finished to completion at the Humboldt facility. “When it comes to making something as important as a trailer hitch, we feel best about making the parts here, where we can readily oversee everything,” Works says. Consequently, B&W’s designs have set the industry standards for the past two decades. C&I can understand why — we pull our trailer with a B&W hitch, and it has never let us down.
FYI: 800.248.6564, www.turnoverball.com.
Issue: July 2011
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