I have put gooseneck hitches in 5 different trucks and haven't had to remove a bed on any of them. On a Chevy 2500 we did have to loosen the bolts and lift one side of the bed to slide in the hitch, but even that was pretty easy. Etrailer.com as mentioned above will have the full installation instructions you can look at before you buy anything so you can see what you are getting yourself into. I've bought hitches through them and through Amazon depending on who was cheaper and haven't had an issue with any of them and never was in for over $600 for any of them. They come with thorough directions that give you measurements for where you need to cut the hole in the bed floor and what needs to be moved or trimmed for the hitch underneath. If you think your hitch will be too far forward, all of the manufacturers make adapters to move the ball back a few inches and they are plenty stout for anything a half ton is going to be towing. A slider would be the way to go if you were looking at pulling an RV or 30 ft trailer but I wouldn't be attempting that with a half ton anyways.
The last one I put in was the Chevy 2500 which is my dads truck, just the two of us doing it. He's 66 years old and the two of us had everything installed in less than 2 hours without much trouble at all. No special or odd tools required other than something to cut the hole in the bed floor for the ball, a hole saw would be preferable but dad ended up doing it with a jigsaw so he didn't have to buy the hole saw. If it's costing me twice as much to have something installed, you can bet I will be laying in the driveway doing it myself.
