Gooseneck dump suspension mod

nisaacs · Sep 26, 2023

Dinged my tailgate with my gooseneck dump, twice....grrr... I think I have fixed the clearance issue. Drilled my hitch at 1-3/8" between the existing adjustments. I didn't want to move it 2.750" the oem holes in the hitch"

So, after this adjustment my trailer is high in the front, hate that.

To help level it out I modified my equalizer by flipping it end to end and mounting my springs in a different location. With a 2" rise on one end of each spring, I should net about a 1" lift on the trailer.

I do need to get new equalizers and center pin. The nylon bushing and pin is badly worn. This will work fine, until I get some parts and I can monitor the mod to see if all is well. I did turn the bushing and pin 180 degrees to get away from the worn spots. My rear spring slippers are getting thin, I will need to do something about that next.

First picture is oem, second one is the mod. Instead of the top of the equalizer as the front slipper, I have (3) 3/4" nuts and a washer on each side of them, clamped/supported by the bolt. That is my new slipper. The shinny bolt, I drilled and added, to insure the spring can't jump out of the equalizer.

Give me torsion axles.

nisaacs · Sep 30, 2023

So, I tackled my slippers on my dump, like I said, they are getting thin. Not a fan of this old school system at all. You would think they could upgrade to something better. For a home owner, they work fine, but for commercial duty, not so good.

So, I made some home grown bushings to take the place of the slipper. I just used some simple pipe nipples and pvc pipe to make a trial set, some R&D work

If it works good and I think it will, I will order some heavy wall tubing and some standard trailer bushings and build a heavy duty set, but the design will stay the same. I will go with 3/4" ID x 1.5" OD, 3/8" wall. The oem bushings (9/16" IDx3/4" OD) and spring bolt (9/16") will work. Unlike the friction slipper, this bushing will roll with the spring movement. Repair will take about 10 minutes for the future.

I did have a struggle cutting the slipper out. I had to use my reciprocating saw because my grinder wouldn't fit inside the hanger. I takes two blades and a lot of time to cut that weld out. I did move up some on the hanger to move away from the hard welded location. It drilled pretty good. The actual spring mount location is the same as before.

nisaacs · Oct 10, 2023

I have all my parts to make permanent, my hoke slipper spring conversion, to roller. Smooth bore, heavy tubing (no welded seam) for the rollers, standard 9/16's spring eye bolts and 9/16's x 3/4" trailer suspension bushings. They are only 1.750 long and I need 2" so I had to cut some, to make them long enough, two piece. 2" is not available in the size I chose, that would fit the tubing size available. I did have to buy a new tubing cutter for the bushings, for some reason my old one (1970 model) cut too much well pipe and was dull

Lineman North Florida · Oct 10, 2023

nisaacs said:
I have all my parts to make permanent, my hoke slipper spring conversion, to roller. Smooth bore, heavy tubing (no welded seam) for the rollers, standard 9/16's spring eye bolts and 9/16's x 3/4" trailer suspension bushings. They are only 1.750 long and I need 2" so I had to cut some, to make them long enough, two piece. 2" is not available in the size I chose, that would fit the tubing size available. I did have to buy a new tubing cutter for the bushings, for some reason my old one (1970 model) cut too much well pipe and was dull

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Looks good and well thought out.