Gatormade gooseneck trailers.

[King of the Road]

Hello all,

When I was doing research on gooseneck trailers a year ago I found a few threads on this site that did not hold Gatormade in very high esteem. I was surprised because all of the Gatormade trailers I had seen had been very nice.

After doing my research I did end up buying a tandem axle, dual wheel gooseneck Gatormade.

This is the best trailer I have ever owned. Welds, powder coat, fit, finish and engineering are all top notch. It does what it is supposed to do. They folks at Gatormade were excellent to deal with before and after the buying process.

I pull whatever I need to. The most common load is my Kubota SVL90-2 at 11,000 lbs plus several attachments. I also use it for my Bobcat T250, Kioti DK50, Takeuchi TB228, unimogs, trees, whatever.

After I bought it I figured I'd wait a year an post up real world results since from what I read here, Gatormade's quality must have slipped for a while. I can't attest to that but I can say that my experience with them has been a 10/10. I wish I could say my other four trailers were this nice.

Eye candy:

 

[Navvet]

Hey KoR, I'm with you. I looked a long time for a "Last Trailer I'll Ever Buy". Checked out the major brands as well as 2 manufacturing plants in NC. I bought the GatorMade 16K Tandem tilt bed. I didn't want to deal with ramps anymore plus I needed something I could load my wife's Spyder and my JD AMT 626.

Gator (in my opinion) is stronger, better built, and easier to attach / detach and pull than any of the others. I use mine to haul just about everything (Including my wife's Can-Am Spyder) and I have never had the first problem.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but dealing with the factory directly saved me close to 30% over what the dealers wanted.

 

[lucky llama]

I have had my Gator gooseneck for four years. It has been fantatic in every way.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I bought a Gatormade 25+5 gooseneck with mega ramps and 17.5 super singles on two 10k axles instead of tandem duals and it has been perfect, the only thing I found not to be true that I was told was that it did not have Dexter axles, mine had LCI or Lippert axles but they have not given any trouble, if anything I feel they are a heavy well made trailer and as another poster said I couldn't pass up the deal buying straight from the factory , it saved me close to 2k.

 

[King of the Road]

I bought a Gatormade 25+5 gooseneck with mega ramps and 17.5 super singles on two 10k axles instead of tandem duals and it has been perfect, the only thing I found not to be true that I was told was that it did not have Dexter axles, mine had LCI or Lippert axles but they have not given any trouble, if anything I feel they are a heavy well made trailer and as another poster said I couldn't pass up the deal buying straight from the factory , it saved me close to 2k.

How are those singles working out in regards to cost, durability and handling? I didn't know they were an option.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

How are those singles working out in regards to cost, durability and handling? I didn't know they were an option.

I really couldn't say because I haven't had to replace one yet, but they wear good as they still look like almost new, I guess what I liked most was the way the trailer pulls with them verses some that I have pulled with tandem duals, I would imagine cost wise that one of them will probably be about the same as a pair of tandem tires, I'm sure they aren't for everyone but they worked out great for me.

 

[DanHen]

Their product looks innovative and made well in pictures. I considered them when buying my equipment trailer as the price was competitive with Sure-trac, my local dealers brand. What I didn’t like and why I didn’t buy from them was there sales tactics. They advertise locally using a website name that makes you (made me) think it was a local dealer and a local phone number. When you go to the website it re-directs to their website and the phone number calls the main office, they then gave the info for the nearest dealer who was over 90 minutes away. Felt deceptive to me and not worth saving a few $$, especially if I was going to have to travel that far for service or issues.... had they been local I might have reconsidered

 

[King of the Road]

Just an update since I was passing through(I was searching Unimogs and got a link to one for sale here).

I have only had 1 issue(in 3 years) with the Gatormade gooseneck. I let a buddy borrow it and when he returned it a tire was cut down. One of the leaf spring bolts(that goes through the spring eye to attach the spring to the hanger) lost a nut and the bolt backed out into the tire. The tire stopped the bolt from coming all the way out. Put in a new nut and bolt, bought a new tire(actually two tires since I wanted the same tire height on the duals on that side of the axle) and I was good to go. Checked the other nuts & bolts and they were all good.
From now on I do an annual torque check on all the fastners. I check all lugs once a month.

I did coat the treated deck boards with two coats of used motor oil/diesel fuel. Rolled it on with a paint roller with a week between coats. I did it in the drought last summer so it soaked it up like a sponge. I would not recommend oil/diesel on a trailer deck that hauls anything other than equipment. It's kinda nasty for a few months when the heat "sweats" it out.

 

[Hay Dude]

What I have found with trailers is most are made in TX, so the closer you are to TX, the better off you are. I tried twice to buy Gatormade, but dealers were very far.
Currently, I am in a Big Tex 30' 23,900lb trailer and have been very happy with it, but outgrew it. Need a 30-40K trailer. This time around I'm looking at MAXXD and Diamond C. They are the only trailers I can find with a GVWR over 30,000lbs.
Diamond C's are really, really nice. They cut their gooseneck beam from a continuous curved piece of steel. No welds or gussets on the neck. Their trailers are extremely light.
I priced up a 35' 32,000lb trailer with 3) 12k or 2) 16K axles and it only weighed about 9,000lbs. The camber the trailer deck slightly. The I beams are tapered where the axles go under to decrease deck height-just like a big rig trailer.

Only thing holding me back is the factory is closed. I did find a 34' MAXXD 40K trailer, but it looks to be much heavier, making empty travel more costly in fuel.