learn me about....

[Matt J.]

Gooseneck for the win here. A good set of E rated tires is a must. A lot of people overlook the quality of tires when it comes to trailers. Especially when you buy a used trailer. The seller will just slap on some cheapies tires to help with a quick sale.

 

[Fordum]

When you are outfitting your tow vehicle, they make some really nice popup and removable balls for the bed.
The frame is under the bed, and the ball sticks up through. When you are not towing, either the ball swings down to leave a nice smooth surface, or it comes out and a plate swings over.

Don't care how dedicated the tow truck is, sooner or later you are going to need to haul something on it.

I can ask about brand names if you need'em.

 

[sweetk30]

found the pics of kirts diy4x hitch

 

[howdiy]

ok, good.. so a pair of stout axles is fine.. I'm guessing 7000 lb'ers would be good.. what trailer are you putting the burb on? you got a pic of that right?

I haven't found a trailer yet

I want to find a low profile trailer like the one you posted but I'm not having any luck

I may have to go with a deck over, I was thinking that the 1 ft lower deck height would help me in the MPG department but it's probably negligible

This would be ideal, in a 22 or 24 so it would still have enough for a UTV up front

 

[ryoken]

found the pics of kirts diy4x hitch

yeah, i found em after going thru most of that thread.. i definitely wanna do something like that... maybe I'll buy Kert's and save a little fab work... I'll have enough with the tube bed....

so are those 1 ton frames pretty much the same setup as a blazer? maybe 15", 20" of rail, x-member at the back, tank and such.. moving the tank to the front of the bed, so thats no issue.. and i'll do a whole x-member, tube bumper thing in the back with the tube bed... maybe chop a foot off the frame... have the bed end like 6, 8" behind the tire.. dually's with a big ole mudflap at the back corner of the bed to keep the NJ nazi's happy...

I just don't want the tube bed to be super, fleetside long...

 

[blazinzuk]

Okay a couple things here, no one has mentioned the advantages of a bumper pull over a gooseneck.

I am with everyone else here, a gooseneck pulls so much better, turns better. It is always going to be heavier duty simply because it is usually designed to pull more. Most goosenecks are deckovers. Although you do see them alot with the lower deck, they are usually more expensive.

Can't really comment on price because across the country price varies alot

Now the disadvantage of a gooseneck. Takes up more room when you are parking it. I have seen guys break a tow rig and no one else have a gooseneck ball in their truck and have to leave a truck and trailer sitting. Nearly everone with pickups is setup to tow a bumper pull not so much a gooseneck. A gooseneck will be heavier, they are built heavy duty so they can be quite alot heavier than a comparable bumper pull.

Most bumper pulls are not going to be deck overs, with a deck over expect worse mileage than with a lower height trailer, sticks your truck up there in the wind alot more plus the extra wind resistance of the trailer it self.

At least around here the initial investment in the gooseneck will be substantially higher.

For just one rig it would all depend on the deal I got on the trailer. I have pulled many miles with both and much prefer the gooseneck, its more forgiving than a bumper pull. Then again I am just fine with my current bumper pull and would have no problem pulling across the country with Horton in tow.

 

[sweetk30]

pics of a crewcab long bed to give you ideas for long box 1ton frame

dont forget you can loose 4" extra on rear if you move the front hanger ahead 4" and swap the leafs lbackwards for the 4" extra on the end of the leaf pack to the front. thats what i did in this project STUBBY build in my sig links. last pic is forward and long end to front.

 

[86chevred1tun]

It's been a long time so the details are a little fuzzy but I think this was a 20' 7k trailer I borrowed to pull my old crew cab to the Indy Jamboree back in '03. Just thought I'd post it to give a little trailer length vs truck perspective.

hillcrest and schillinger RDs Mobile ALabama,

ok end hijcack

I would recommend the 7,000 lb torsion axles as well, they definitely ride better, Make sure the tires are in decent shape; they sidewalls take alot of abuse from sliding while turning sharp. I can fit my 4wheeler crosswise and my truck on my 24' goose neck, but thats all.

 

[buffblazer]

gooseneck for the win everytime.

like stated before, better load distribution, less trailer sway and better control when under heavy braking.

Great thing about trailers is you buy it for one use and end up using it for so many more. you will be surpised how many times you use it other than to just tow your rig.

i personally would not get a deck over for the reason of using it as a car hauler. sure your rig will climb right up on the dove tail but say you gotta haul a car for a buddy thats broke down or something, you will end up tearing the front bumper and rear bumper areas

i disagree about the comment about the gooseneck taking up more room when parked then the bumper pull. standard length deck will be the same and most heave bumper pull trailers have a long neck on them anyway so your gonna be within a very close length for both.

turning is amazing. and you can park and drop the trailer in certain spots and back under it at a complete 90 degree angle and get it out.

i do agree with the statement about not many trucks having a ball in the bed. which can be great because trailers are a big time theft ticket and your more likely to have thieves with no ball in the bed than with.


buddy of mine built a car hauling trailer with a goosneck setup but used a fith wheel hookup because thats even harder to steal.

but bumper pulls are cheap compared to goosnecks.

 

[ryoken]

all excellent info guys, mucho thanks... didn't even think about tire scrub, etc...

I'll definitely look for something with a pair of 7000 lb torsionals..... I'm thinking a 20... that should give a fair amount of room up front for tool lockers and such...

and, I think my other thread got carried over into this with the good frame info...

what did this WB end up being? that was CC longbed, so it's still 164 with a foot or so chopped off the back? I definitely like the idea of switching the springs and gaining 4" more off the back...

 

[rjfguitar]

how are axles rated? is it more a third being added, or the capacity of each? like would 2 7500 lb axles be as good as 3 5000 lb ones?

It's the way the trailer is rated, not specifically the axles themselves on ANY trailer. The general rule on distribution on most trailers...

Bumper pull: 10% of the overall trailer weight will be at the ball in front.

Gooseneck: 30% of the total weight will be at the ball.

The advantage here is that you can indeed carry more weight with a gooseneck than you can with a bumper pull that has the same set of axles under both trailers.

Turning..... yes, you can make a sharper turn with a gooseneck, but they also don't track as well either. You will always need to swing out wider through a turn with a gooseneck trailer. A bumper pull will track you much tighter.

But, IMHO, gooseneck is the way to go. Bumper pull is for people that have a 1/2 ton and want to pull their bass boat once a month.

As far as buying a GN for $1500, it's either an awesome deal, or you'll wind up with something pretty junky. You'll probably need $3K or so, closer to $5K if you want tandem duals, which are badass.

I started building another GN last winter, but ran out of time before I needed a dovetail GN really bad in the field and never got mine completed. I went ahead and bought a Big Tex and payed $4500 for it, which is a steal around here. I've got another we built that has triples, but I like the tandem duals better, better brakes, more capacity, and longer life because the hubs and brakes are so HD.

 

[Russell]

I also bought a Big Tex GN-14 (20 foot deck, 5 foot beaver tail, 2x SRW 7000 lb axles) and I wouldn't even consider going back to a bumper pull trailer.

I went with a deck-over because my trucks don't fit between the fender wells on a low-boy and didn't want to go through the effort of making them strong enough to drive on.

My 20 foot deck is a little bit big for the trucks I normally haul (12 foot long K5 and 16 foot long Tahoe) but it has come in handy when I've had bigger fullsize trucks to haul around.

I put an 8000 lb winch on the front of mine to hauling broken down rigs up onto the deck, very handy!

 

[ryoken]

whats a normal wheelwell to well width on most lowboys? worst i imagine hauling will be the K5, 38 TSL's on a pretty narrow track width...

 

[sweetk30]

what did this WB end up being? that was CC longbed, so it's still 164 with a foot or so chopped off the back? I definitely like the idea of switching the springs and gaining 4" more off the back...

yes it was crew cab long bed.

no its not 165" wb anymore. its now 132" as i moved the whole suspension up and fliped the springs like i said and home brew shackle fliped the rear with 1ton 2wd short hangers from a c30 rear spring front hanger position. then kirts diy4x usdr 7" shackles and bds lift springs 4" 56" packs.

here is the choped off frame pic's and you can see the old front hanger spot to the new flip hanger spot also.

this gives me a nice wb for wheelin and play and street drivin and not to long for turning around in 10 acre field. plus i got 4ft 6" behind cab for 3" each end and 4ft flat bed in the middle. if you want more click my link in my sig called project stubby full build up in there up to the point i am at now. fyi its super easy simple to get 132" or 136" from a cut down crewcab with no welding of the frame.

 

[ktmoutfront]

Had a goose neck with a camper mounted on the front and a long travel buggy on the back. Tool boxes mounted under camper sides.

Brother is now doing the same thing. 30' goose neck, 8 foot camper, comando on blazer frame on the back. Will tow real nice.

 

[British Slave]

whats a normal wheelwell to well width on most lowboys? worst i imagine hauling will be the K5, 38 TSL's on a pretty narrow track width...

Look for drive over fenders on the trailer.

 

[howdiy]

Looked up a few things, looks like the deck height is 8-9" lower on the low boy trailers. I asked on pirate about the difference in MPG while towing, probably negligible

My crewcab went on my uncles trailer, those are 35's on stock dually front wheels

I think I may go deckover, I'll probably end up using it for other stuff. But the only problem is the weight, a 28 footer weights about 6000# by itself

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=13225572#post13225572

 

[ryoken]

I like this one...

 

[rjfguitar]

found the pics of kirts diy4x hitch

This is pretty much just a copy of a B&M turnover ball that you can buy at any RV/automotive/trailer store.

 

[nvrenuf]

whats a normal wheelwell to well width on most lowboys? worst i imagine hauling will be the K5, 38 TSL's on a pretty narrow track width...

I believe the standard is 82".

My bet is you'll still be too wide to get between the fenders. My K5 has dually axles with narrow H1's and I still have to put one tire on/over one fender.