PJ Deckover Trailer Questions

[GATC35]

Runner..............some pics. Old trailer like you are considering, and two different tractors on gooseneck trailer. I thought I had some with Bobcat and several buckets / grapples stacked on the front but I can't seem to locate them.

Your height is fine. Our trucks are nearly identical. I have air bags on the rear of mine. In these pictures they have little to no air in them. Air bags were really installed for my travel trailer.

Trailer in picture is a "North Alabama" brand 20 + 5 deck 8 ft wide. fold flat ramps 7,000 lb axles-brakes on both.

BTW this thing pulls like a dream on the Interstate, 65 - 70 mph is like riding on air.

If you have questions...........let them rip.

 

[medicshawn]

I agree once you get that heavy a gooseneck is the way to go. I got a deal on a 14K 20 + 5 deckover. I also put the B&W hitch in my bed. I have a rubber mat in there and you don't know the hitch is there with the ball turned over.

 

[Runner]

OK, I emailed the PJ Trailer question guy and here is his answer:

"Total weight of trailer about 3,800 lbs with about 15% tongue weight."

If what he says is accurate, the empty tongue weight of this trailer is only 570 lbs.

I'm no engineer, and didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night, but that just don't sound right.

If it is right, I'd order one this weekend....

 

[Duffster]

OK, I emailed the PJ Trailer question guy and here is his answer:

"Total weight of trailer about 3,800 lbs with about 15% tongue weight."

If what he says is accurate, the empty tongue weight of this trailer is only 570 lbs.

I'm no engineer, and didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night, but that just don't sound right.

If it is right, I'd order one this weekend....

Sounds about right to me. I couldn't see how it would have weighed 1k.

 

[HCJ]

Runner, I assume this trailer is not available for you to check personally. My local dealer probably has one, but unfortunatley, they are in S.C. When I looked at this same trailer, my initial gut feeling was "wow, that a load to hang on a hitch"! My only problem with a trailer like this is that it would work fine if you have the ability to load it optimally, and have a quality hitch. You could position the tractor perfectly to get optimal tongue weight. In the real world, I have found that when I want to trailer my tractor, FEL, rotary cutter, and maybe try to squeeze in a box blade, I have to get creative in how I load it. Sometime I load it forward and sometimes back it on. Having a gooseneck gives me a little more "wiggle room" and allows more room for error in hauling less than ideally balanced loads. There again, it just depends on just what you are carrying, and what future implements or loads you could acquire. A gooseneck is simply more flexible and forgiving, at the price of taking up the bed. And I think most will agree that a GN will handle better with heavy loads. (and one last advantage, most of your friends can't ask you to borrow it!)

 

[GATC35]

Runner.........after re-reading your post I realized you have an F-350 with 4:30 rear gears vs. my F-250 with 3:73 rear gears. This will give you a little better advantage. Don't get me wrong I used that bumper pull trailer for two years. Yes it is tounge heavy, but you just have to be careful on how you load it. For example if carrying multiple buckets/grapples etc. instead of sliding the spare all the way to the front and chain it to the headache rack I would just chain it in the bucket already on the tractor. This would shift some weight towards the back. As you can see in the pictures above I keep the weight shifted towards the rear anyway. Also keep in mind a goosneck trailer will weigh more than a bumper pull, which will count against your GCWR. You can read for hours here in this forum on bumper pull vs. gooseneck.

Let us know what you decide, and of couse pictures.

 

[GATC35]

Runner.........after re-reading your post I realized you have an F-350 with 4:30 rear gears vs. my F-250 with 3:73 rear gears. This will give you a little better advantage. Don't get me wrong I used that bumper pull trailer for two years. Yes it is tounge heavy, but you just have to be careful on how you load it. For example if carrying multiple buckets/grapples etc. instead of sliding the spare all the way to the front and chain it to the headache rack I would just chain it in the bucket already on the tractor. This would shift some weight towards the back. As you can see in the pictures above I keep the weight shifted towards the rear anyway. Also keep in mind a goosneck trailer will weigh more than a bumper pull, which will count against your GCWR. You can read for hours here in this forum on bumper pull vs. gooseneck.

Let us know what you decide, and of couse pictures.

 

[Runner]

GATC35,

What do you think about the 570# empty tongue weight? Does that sound about like what yours was?

I guess if it is coming straight from the manufacturer, I can trust it.

After towing boats for years, it will actually be kind of NICE to have a trailer I can get some tongue weight on. I've experienced way more tail-wagging from rear-loaded trailers than I care to remember....

Thanks to all for the responses so far.

 

[GATC35]

570 seems light to me. I will tell you this. My cousin and I were hooking it up one day and we were about 3 inches off to the side of the ball to get the hitch aligned. So instead of moving the truck again we decided to just pick it up and move it over...lol. No way! We wound up moving the truck again . I'm 6' 2" about 260 lbs, he is 6' 5" and well over 300 lbs.

 

[firefighter jim]

Runner, Before you buy, check out: sure-trac.com I've recently purchased my 4th one from them. Excellent quality and price. Made in Indiana. Check them out! Do it now! :thumbsup:

 

[powerstroke444e]

After having a big trailer its hard to go with a smaller trailer, I think you have more than enough truck and will be very happy with this bumper trailer. I really like gooseneck trailers and have one but it sucks that I have to spend several hundred to set up a truck to haul it 4 trucks and only one with gooseneck hitch. You will really like the deck over as it makes loading oversized stuff very easy, but may take you a little to get use to driving up the ramps(spend $30 on good wheel chokes).

 

[flusher]

Hi All,

I am still looking for a trailer to haul my JD2520 with loader and rotary cutter, cars, building materials, etc. on. The tow vehicle is a 2004 F350, V10, 4WD, automatic, longbed, extended cab, with camper and snowplow packages and a 4.30:1 rear end.

Now for the question. I am looking at a new, bumper pull, PJ 8 inch I-beam flatdeck trailer with 22 feet of flat deck and 3 foot dove tail, 96 inches wide with 7000# axles and brakes on all wheels (see picture). Here is my delimma - from what I have read on the web, this thing probably weighs around 4000# empty. According to the information in the brochure on the PJ web site, there is 11.5 feet of flatbed (plus the 3 foot dove tail) aft of the centerline of the wheels and 13.5 feet (plus the tongue, say about 5 feet) ahead of the centerline.

If my calculations are correct, this makes the tongue weight of the empty trailer at least 1000#, which seems like an astronomical amount for an empty trailer. Does this sound right, and if so, does this sound like it will work with this truck?

I have no doubt that the truck is capable of pulling the weight, but the tongue weight issue concerns me.

Should I be looking for a lighter trailer or at least one with different wheel placement?

I assume that your 2520 is the little 26hp tractor, not the 54 hp 2520 from the 1960s that weighs around 7000 lb.

If so, that 22 ft PJ deckover seems a tad oversize for your load. I'm wondering if the PJ equivalent medium duty deckover with the 6" frame wouldn't solve your tongue weight problem.

 

[Diamondpilot]

570 seems light to me. I will tell you this. My cousin and I were hooking it up one day and we were about 3 inches off to the side of the ball to get the hitch aligned. So instead of moving the truck again we decided to just pick it up and move it over...lol. No way! We wound up moving the truck again . I'm 6' 2" about 260 lbs, he is 6' 5" and well over 300 lbs.

I agree. There is no way its that light. My 18' Car hauler is just over 1,250# empty and it has to have 400# on the tongue because its all 2 guys can do to move it. I am only 170# and my co worker is 225# and its much easier to move the truck than to wrestle it around.

Remember, trailer manufactures lie. I run into this all the time in my Marine Business. Most everything I see is usually heavier than listed. The weights are also the basic setup, no spare, tool box, ramps, ect. It all adds up.


Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

After having a big trailer its hard to go with a smaller trailer, I think you have more than enough truck and will be very happy with this bumper trailer. I really like gooseneck trailers and have one but it sucks that I have to spend several hundred to set up a truck to haul it 4 trucks and only one with gooseneck hitch. You will really like the deck over as it makes loading oversized stuff very easy, but may take you a little to get use to driving up the ramps(spend $30 on good wheel chokes).

I agree. I had a 25' GN with tandem duals for 25,000# GVWR. While it was a nice trailer I hated the height, not having the bed of my truck, and its empty 6,000# weight. Yes, it would haul 19,000# but I went back to bumper pull and am happy I did. My F-350 will handle any bumper pull I put on it fine.

Chris

 

[firefighter jim]

An 18 foot car hauler that only weighs 1250? Open center?

 

[Diamondpilot]

No open center. I guess its not a car hauler but a landscape trailer. Most landscape trailers are only 76" wide but this one is 82" wide and most are only 16' long and this one is 18'. I ordered it new in 2004. It has 2 3.5K axles and I had it weighed the day I picked it up. It was just a tad over 1,200# I have since added a winch, and electric brakes to bring the weight to just about 1,250#.

I have hauled my 5,200# tractor on it tons of times. It last job was rescuing a Chevy 1500 with a bad fuel pump. It has also been to Chicago to get a Hyundai, take a Suburban to Terre Haute, went to Detroit to pick up a Lincoln Aviator, and pulled about 20 cars around locally including both my uncles and fathers Corvettes. I would guess it has well over 3,000 miles pulling cars and another 3,000 miles hauling boats, furniture, tractors, ect.

Here it is behind my wifes 2004 F-250 4x4 Powerstroke. You can see how wide it is.

Chris

 

[Runner]

As a followup to this discussion, I asked a structural engineer that I work with to run this trailer through his computer program to check the loading. His calculations confirmed that the tongue weight would be between 500 and 600 lbs as stated by the manufacturer.

Just for fun, he placed a 4000 lb vehicle on the trailer with the wheels set at 4.5 feet and 19.5 feet from the rear of the trailer. With that load, the tongue weight calculated to 1190 lbs.

This assumed a uniform load, so you'd have to take into account that the weight distribution on an actual vehicle is actually biased more to the front.

 

[GATC35]

So what ya going to do?

Buy the bumper pull like in your original post -or- Shop for a Goosneck?

 

[Runner]

I think I'm going to take Firefighter Jim's advice and check out Sure-trac trailers. They are sold by one of the local trailer suppliers (Croft), although I've never seen a deckover version on any of their lots. I'm sure they could order me one, so I'll see if I can get some more information from them. Maybe their deckover has the wheels set a little farther forward.

I tried the Sure-trac web site, but it's not very user friendly. Croft trailer has been around for years and has several dealers in KC, but they are only open 8-5 M-F,which makes them hard to deal with in my opinion.

Anyway, if I don't find what I want in the Sure-trac line, I think I will go ahead and order the deckover PJ. I already have the drawbar part of a weight-distributing hitch, so I'll just pick up a pair of bars and brackets for the trailer. Then, if I ever need to haul anything very heavy or anything that results in a lot of tongue weight, I'll be able to handle it.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would still check with the Folks in Sikeston. It will keep the money in MO and you will save some money. They are also willing to build you what you want. I posted a link to the company I buy from in a earlier post. Nice folks.

Chris