Question on gooseneck

[Chris611]

I just started pulling a 25' Loadmax 14K gooseneck trailer with my '05 Duramax Crew cab short bed. I pull an 8000lb pickup on the trailer. Last weekend was my first weekend pulling this setup. I noticed a lot of for aft jerking when hitting bumps in the road or on rough roads. Is this normal? Do I have a weight balance issue?

Thanks
Chris

 

[LaVoie Equipment]

You could have several different issues. First go to a known flat area, length of vehicle. Measure height at center of axles (equalizer), then measure at front of deck. You should be a minimum of 1" higher at front of deck. Now there will be varying opinions on this, but typically this is where we start for a dually. You may want to be 2" at front for single wheel truck.

Second; do you have coupler tensioners (bolts) around the coupler? Some manufacturers are doing this and this will remove a lot of the bucking.

Load positioning could be a problem. Gooseneck trailers are designed to carry more tongue weight....

Lastly, it could be your hitch. B & W makes (my opinion) the nicest gooseneck hitch for any truck. Standard position for the ball is 4" to 6" in front of the rear axle - towards the cab. Less than 4" will cause bucking - not enough weight transfer to front of truck.

Now, some forward and rear movement is going to happen with any replaceable / turn over ball hitch. If you are using a drawtite or reese hide-away ball this could be your problem - they have been known to have excessive amounts. I am not knocking them just trying to help.

Tony

 

[Diamondpilot]

The post above was excellent. Very good advise give. 9 times out of 10 its the placement of the ball in relation to the rear axle or the amount of pin weight.

Chris

 

[tractorboy5500]

Maybe you didnt have enough weight on the ball, it will jerk around if you dont have enough tongue weight.

 

[Chris611]

Some good advice. I will check into the front being higher than the rear. I have a BOSS flip ball gooseneck hitch and mounted it where the directions said for the short bed I have. I can't remember the exact number, but I can believe it's close to the 4-6" ahead of the rear axle. The trailer is pretty close to my toolbox when hooked up. The BOSS hitch is appears to be exactly like the B&W flip ball. I compared mine to a buddy with a B&W and I'd say it's an exact copy. Only difference is I can't store my ball upside down in the holder, I can only remove it completely. Maybe next time I will try putting the truck farther ahead on the trailer. It is squating the truck pretty good, so I figured that was far enough. I also think maybe I should shim the ball in the socket. I did hear it clank when going from forward to reverse.

I don't get much bouncing or squating of the truck when I hit bumps. That feels good. My biggest complaint is the "jerking" for and aft.

 

[wmonroe]

Any time I have had a for/aft jerking feeling it has been because I didn't have the load set up quite right.
The clanking would concern me if your hitch is set up like a B&W. I have a B&W and have no clanking. Check and make sure everything is bolted up tight.

 

[jayste]

I would definately check out the "clanking" noise. I've had numerous gooseneck hitches and never had a clanking noise. As others have said, jerking motion may be the weight position on the trailer. Let us know how it goes. Again, find out what's clanking for sure.:thumbsup:

 

[Diamondpilot]

Check the clanking. A big complaint I have from lots of my customers is the low GVWR of the 2500 series GM trucks. It is only 8,800# which is light. Your truck weighs about 7,000# plus whatever you have in it, (tool box/tools/chains/ect), and the people riding may only leave 1,200# or less for available pin weight. I hate doing this because its a band aid in my eyes but a set of Rear Air Bags or Over Load Springs may be in order.

That Load Max is probably in the 5,200# range empty plus the 8,000# truck and chains its at the max for a 2500 GM. The simple fact is the engine and tranny are way more capable than the chassis. That is why I always advise my customers to skip a 3/4 ton and go strait to a 1 ton SRW. I know your pain. I bought a new 3/4 ton Diesel 4x4 F-250 with 10,000# GVWR in 2004. Less than 6 months later we got a new boat and it was too much for it. I limped by for a year then got a Diesel 4x4 F-350 with 11,500# GVWR and it was a world of difference.


Chris

 

[tractorboy5500]

Some good advice. I will check into the front being higher than the rear. I have a BOSS flip ball gooseneck hitch and mounted it where the directions said for the short bed I have. I can't remember the exact number, but I can believe it's close to the 4-6" ahead of the rear axle. The trailer is pretty close to my toolbox when hooked up. The BOSS hitch is appears to be exactly like the B&W flip ball. I compared mine to a buddy with a B&W and I'd say it's an exact copy. Only difference is I can't store my ball upside down in the holder, I can only remove it completely. Maybe next time I will try putting the truck farther ahead on the trailer. It is squating the truck pretty good, so I figured that was far enough. I also think maybe I should shim the ball in the socket. I did hear it clank when going from forward to reverse.

I don't get much bouncing or squating of the truck when I hit bumps. That feels good. My biggest complaint is the "jerking" for and aft.

A normal messurement is 3" to 4" in front of the rear axle, mind is about 3", i had it installed when i had the bed liner spayed in. This also helps with putting weight on the front axle some.

 

[medicshawn]

Are the tires Loaded on the tractor? Could it be the fluid sloshing around. Put a different load on it and try it.

 

[Chris611]

Thanks for all the tips guys. Kepp em coming. I went home and looked and the ball is ahead of the rear axle by 4-6". Everything is tight. The clank that I am hearing is the actual removable ball. It's a ball on a square shaft that sticks in the bed. I grab the ball and move it for and aft and it moves about .015" and you can hear it clank. I will try and get the trailer hooked up tomorrow and check the rake from front to back and make sure I have 2". If all that checks out, I will just assume I need air bags or something to help the ride. We are driving 2-300 miles per weekend truck pulling and the wife isn't going to handle that much jarring every weekend. She's already complaining about it. And as the saying goes, "If momma ain't happy, ain't noone happy..." .

Thanks
Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have tightened up a ball mount like yours by laying down small beads of weld on all 4 sides then slowly dress it out with a aggressive file and then using a flap wheel sanding disc on the angle grinder to finish it out.

Chris

 

[wmonroe]

Just throwing ideas out there but could the jerking feeling be axle wrap?

 

[radman1]

It maybe the jerking sensation is due to a combination of heavier weight of trailer, 14K stiff axles/springs, the GN hitch and road surface. My 30' 25k GN will shake my truck good on certain cement highways. Much more than my 24', 14K bumper pull on the same road. My lighter bumper pull trailers on the same road are not very noticeable. GN's seem to transmit the feel of a rough road more than my bumper pull trailers. Some cement roads have an inherent rough surface due to heavy truck traffic. The OP may just be noticing all the above effects compared to his bumper pull. The jerking sensation is much less on asphalt highways.

 

[voltar0675]

Have a 25 foot gooseneck Pro-Track trailer and pull it with 3/4 short bed cummins. Pulled my 5500 4wd Mahindra tractor with front end loader and Rhino rotary cutter and yeah it bucks pretty good on rough roads, not so much on smooth hwy. I bagged it and that appeared to help quite a bit.

 

[Chris611]

Update: Well I have been messing around with the placement of the pullnig truck on the trailer. I tried running it all the way forward and that didn't help any. So then I tried placing it farther back on the trailer and presto, the truck quit jerking. It was a night and day difference. I was looking at some of the other trailers in the pits and noticed that some have the axles farther ahead than mine. My axles are way back towards the dovetail section of the trailer. I don't have an actual number of what the pin weight is now, but the truck still feels stable with the load. The only down side is that I now have to drive the truck onto the trailer, flip the ramps and then back up a foot. The ramps won't clear the rear of the truck when it's back.

Thanks
Chris

 

[wmonroe]

Thats good you got it cleared up. Load placement can be difficult but very important to how will the rig handles.