Need Trailer Advice

[ddivinia]

I have my new JD 4720, 400x loader, MX-6, and a 6' box blade. Now I need to take it places. I thought my current was going to be big enough, but it is not long enough (didn't look at all the numbers). Oh well, so I need a trailer. I have a Dodger 3500 quad cab, short bed with single rear wheel.

I have never had a goose neck trailer before, but it seems to be calling my name. Anything to be concerned with having a short bed and a goose neck?

How long of a trailer should I consider without getting too stupid?

Thanks,
D.

 

[RedRocker]

With an equipment trailer you'll be OK, with a goosneck or fifth wheel you need a sliding hitch to keep the cab from hitting the cab area of the trailer in a tight turn while backing. Since an equipment trailer doesn't have all that sticking out from the tongue you should be OK. I hope that's clear. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Egon]

Consider a trailer capacity to match the truck. It always seems the load has a magical tendency to mysteriously increase.

Get the longest that fits your weight limits. It may sound overkill but in the long run will be the best choice.

I have been told the low boys pull easier.

I have a 20 foot lowboy bumper hitch 10K trailer pulled by a 96 dodge diesel. It's original jobs involed three trips from Alberta to Nova Scotia moving our possessions to a retirement location.

Egon

 

[ddivinia]

OK - I am looking at a big tex 12gp-24. 24' gooseneck.

http://www.bigtextrailers.com/pdf/12gp.pdf

12,000 GVWR

My truck is rated at 9,900 gvwr (Dodge 3500 srw Cummins)

They have heavier trailers but i think this will do it.

I plan on hauling:

JD 4720
with 400X and bucket
MX6
6' frontier box blade.

I am trying to figure out the weights of my stuff.

JD 4720 -> 3700
MX6 > 1050
400X - ?
box blade - ?

trailer is 3440

I think it is a go 24' should do it. If I have it all flat on the deck (bucket not up on the goosebeck, the MX6 wheel will hangoff a tad.

Price:
$3995 for the trailer with heavy duty ramps.
$110 for a spare tire/wheel
$450 to put in a gooseneck setup

Thanks,
D.

 

[Cheyenne]

You are really limiting yourself with a gooseneck trailer. I haul a 4520 and about the same implements with a bumper hitch 22 ft, 14,000 lb capacity, flat-bed trailer. Also, it's about half the price of what you're contemplating. I tow with a 3/4-ton Suburban with an 8.1 liter engine

 

[Egon]

The trucks legal towing limit may be greatly increased with a gooseneck as compared to a bumper hitch.

Egon

 

[kennyd]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You are really limiting yourself with a gooseneck trailer. )</font>

Can you explain this better?
Most trucks (if not all) can tow much more with a GN trailer compared to a bumper pull.

 

[Chillimau]

"You are really limiting yourself with a gooseneck trailer"

I'm guessing since he has a suburban, a gooseneck was out of the question. With a gooseneck you need a pickup with a gooseneck hitch. A gooseneck is the way to go if you have a pickup to pull it. Besides, most of your friends probably won't have a gooseneck hitch and couldn't use the trailer when they needed to borrow a trailer. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[txhawg]

Don't limit yourself to Big TEx. I just went through shopping for a trailer myself, and wound up buying from Performance. They have either gooseneck or bumper pull and seem to run a quality shop. I bought one to pull around my 4310, so I couldn't justify twice the price for the gooseneck. Check them out at Performance Trailer . I drove out to Mount Pleasant and picked it up direct from where they manufacture them. Great people to deal with.

 

[Cheyenne]

When I said "you are really limiting yourself...", I meant the lack of versatility of a gn vs. a flatbed. The latter can be towed by vehicles without a "pickup bed diminishing gn hitch". I own a Chevrolet 3500 p/u as well as a K2500 Suburban and can pull the flatbed equally well with either vehicle. I merely recommended the fb primarily because of the additional costs involved with the gn. Don't forget, however, that vehicle towing limitations are also based on Combined Weight, i.e., weight of tow vehicle plus towed trailer, regardless of how the trailer is connected to the tow vehicle.

Note: The term "bumper hitch" doesn't imply a hitch connected to a bumper; in the vernacular of the RV industry, it means a towed trailer connected to a tow vehicle's weight-distributing receiver hitch versus a fifth-wheel hitch. It is a rarity to see a trailer (unless it's a very light duty unit) being towed directly from a ball on a bumper.

 

[pat32rf]

Maybe I'm out in left field, but I was always under the impression that most every "bumper" style receiver hitch, limits the tonque weight to about 500lbs, ideally 10-20% of the load, but with a GN hitch you can load up to the gross rear axle rating of the vehicle. Having said that, I still use a 2 and 5/16 ball receiver hitch to pull my 4300 so I have the truck bed free for the extra stuff. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RobertN]

Depends on the reciever hitch; there are different classes.

Mine can do 500lb tongue/5000lb trailer, or 1000lb tongue/10,000lb trailer with weight distributing hitch(factory Dodge towing package hitch). I think that is a class-4 reciever?

Some are limited to the 500lb tongue/5000lb trailer weight. Some go hiegher too, like 12,000lb.

 

[dieselmotorhead]

I ended up getting a similar setup to what you are contemplating. Dodge 3500 SRW/6 sp/full box ( 9900# ) for the truck 23,000# total combined. An "appalachian" trailer 24' with dovetail, deck over neck 14,000# weighs about 4,000# empty. I have the full bed. I do need to be carefull at greater than 90 degrees, I cant really jack it around to much. Without the deck on top of the trailer neck there is would be no problem with shortbed and a gooseneck ( unlike travel trailers). IMHO I do not think the gooseneck is a poor choice, this would be proven by towing the same load flat VS gooseneck. I towed a john deere 4600 with a 7k flat car tailer. Only 3550# right?? NOT! after the FEL and BH I was close to or up over the limit of that trailer. White knucle ride to the dealer. I was more comfortable with a 13,000# trailer with the gooseneck on an interstate than the flat trailer at 40 MPH. Shortly thereafter I got the gooseneck. Only paid a little over 4 K$ and I picked it up in ohio where they make it. They are a "low bidder" brakes on both axles though- insist on it. There are better ones out there, I only tow a few times a year so the time savings of the good and $$$ features did not make any sense.