Gooseneck trailer repair project

[Cord]

I fully admit that even though I did my homework before making the purchase, this project was a mistake. I paid too much for the trailer for the condition it was in. Having never owned a gooseneck trailer, it was also a great opportunity to learn about some of the failings between different brands. My attempt to get into a 30’ gooseneck on the cheap was a mistake, but I learned that the trailer that I really wanted was priced in the $20k range. I thought that if I could make this cheap Load Trail into something better at the price I could afford, I could then save the project.
This is where I started last fall:

 

[Cord]

Per the prior owner, he was towing the trailer behind a medium duty truck when a deer ran into the road. He locked the brakes and jack knifed the trailer. I saw the truck and it definitely had been jackknifed. Even managed to puncture the fuel tank under the passenger door! When I bought the trailer I knew that it had a “bow” to the deck and the head was crumpled. I found a truck frame shop that said they could straighten the bow. What I didn’t realize was the bow was the least of the problems. After I paid for the trailer, I went to hook it up and realized there was a significant twist to it. These photos were taken with the jack legs down. When it was resting on the ball, I’d estimate the twist was closer to 30 degrees!

 

[Cord]

I could tell the trailer had not been well maintained so I thought I’d start by repacking the bearings. I started on the drivers side and found the bearings to be packed with a mix of high temp red and black moly greases. The two greases never mixed. The brakes looked ok, maybe a bit thin but still serviceable. The rear bearing had blown apart at some point and had chewed up the spindle. I put everything together and then shifted to the other side. The brakes were wasted. The shoes were long gone. I ended up buying new shoes, backing plates and caps. After a few calls I found a shop that was still capable of turning brake drums.

 

[Cord]

The frame shop was able to straighten the bow and they also took the twist out of the trailer. They wanted to cut the suspension off to fix the dog track that remained, but I was out of funds. We’d have to save that project for our selves.

 

[Cord]

We took a few months off from the trailer while we bought tools and materials that would needed to finish the project. I called an old contact who did contract work for the state highway department. The state doesn’t allow used materials to be reinstalled so resells them. I bought three pallets of 6x8 treated wood crash rail posts to make into cribbing. These would support the trailer while we were working on it. We sawed the posts to length on our band saw and then screwed nylon straps to the ends so they would be easier to move.

 

[Cord]

I also bought a new to me band saw, a Ellis 1600. I knew I needed the metering capability to cut the steel to rebuild the head. There were only two saws on FB Marketplace and I made a lowball offer on the larger saw. Amazingly the seller accepted my offer! I ended up driving 6 hours to the saw only to realize the was heavily used. It had been in a production shop and it showed. I didn’t have other options so the saw was loaded up. I ended up having to put new tires, bearings, motor switch, extension cord, belt, motor drive pulley, motor tensioner and blade tensioner. It was a project, but the saw is awesome and is incredibly precise.

 

[Cord]

When I got back to the trailer, I started by cutting the head off. I felt it was bent and twisted badly enough that I’d be better served by cutting it off and starting over. I’d admit to having some hesitation to making the first cut.

 

[yanmars]

You seem pretty handy. That would be more of a project than I would be capable of doing. Hope it all works out well for you, interested in seeing your progress and repairs.

 

[Cord]

With the head out of the way, I could now focus and finishing the trailer straightening. When were moving the trailer, I noticed it had a bad dog track. To keep the trailer in the lane, I had to hug the fog line on the right side. We measured the trailer bed diagonally and found it was 3” out of square!!! I thought if we could restrain the drivers side and then pull on the passenger side, we could rack the trailer and pull the diamond out.

 

[Cord]

I quickly realized the trailer head was trying to rotate to the right. I used a 3,000lb concrete block to anchor the trailer. Then the tail of the trailer, 30’ away was trying to swing to the left! We anchored the trailer tail to a tree. By now we were bending the trailer with a 6 ton lever chain hoist, but that massive concrete block was moving! We used my 3/4 ton truck to anchor the concrete block. By now we had solved enough problems and had a Racked the trailer is it was square. The tires no longer had the crooked appearance and the fenders no longer had this weird wave running through them.