Trailer Ramps / Leg height

[LD1]

Quick question for those of you with heavier equipment trailers.

The support legs on the ramps, with the trailer unloaded and level hooked to the truck, how much gap do you have between the leg and the ground???

This 12 ton GN trailer I got and am working on, the legs just seem too short and wouldnt do any good short of loading a tank on there.

I know they arent supposed to touch the ground (I dont think) otherwise when loaded, you wouldnt be able to fold them up. And I know this is a stout trailer, but loading my ~5000lb kubota on there and the trailer hardly squated.

Currently, on level ground and ramps down, I have ~6-7" of daylight under the feet. I am considering adding a 3" spacer to the bottom but just wanted to know what was "normal"??

 

[Diamondpilot]

I think 3" is fine. Worse case is carry some 4x4 scraps to put under them. I would leave a gap though. I have loaded and been bound up on my old GN.

Chris

 

[LD1]

Yea, I dont want to be bound up. And I realize 24k is WAY than the 5k load I had on it the other day. but 6-7" seems a bit much...

 

[RedNeckRacin]

My first question would be is the truck and trailer sitting on Level ground. My next question would be is the trailer hooked up level? I dont know of any trailers that would squat 6-7" when loaded. My suspicision is that your GN is set to short and it is bringing your tail up in the air. My second suspicion is that you may have gotten your tires on the trailer on a high spot or your truck wheels in a low spot. On my GN the support legs are usually fairly close to the ground (less than 2") sometimes a little more or alot less depending on how the rig is sitting.

 

[Hollow]

If you get in an area to where they go down but are still under pressure when loaded and can't get them back up. You can always pull your rig forward and trip the weight off of them. I think mine on level terrain are 4" off the ground.

 

[crazyal]

I would say the legs are only needed if you're rear tires on your truck are getting lifted off the ground when you load your trailer (or are being unweighted enough so the parking brake isn't holding).

 

[LD1]

Yes truck and trailer are sitting level. Heres some shots. You can see the peice of 3" tubing is what I added. So you can see how far off it was before. With the tube, they are 3-4" off the ground.

Also had to modify the assist springs. The doubles that were on it were broke. So I ordered new ones, but the peice that connects the two halves together was too short to touch anything, AND they were about 1/2" too wide to fit. So I cut them in half, and straightened what was left. Basically making two single assist springs per ramp. They work great now. You can see where I heated and bent it, that is where they were connected to eachother, and just too short to touch anything...



Now I just gotta apply a coat of paint to the ramps and deck. I am debating wether to use the asphalt paint that was talked about in the other thread for the top of the boards (the undersides are already done) or using decking stain. I still have 3 gallons of that left over from just doing a deck and kids play house.

 

[Hollow]

I would say the legs are only needed if you're rear tires on your truck are getting lifted off the ground when you load your trailer (or are being unweighted enough so the parking brake isn't holding).

Over time you can do a lot of damage to a trailer by not bracing the rear when loading. I've seen some pretty heavy trailers damaged beyond repair because they didn't have support. They usually don't give in one place, that could be fixed. They usually slowly bend ever so slightly in different places until one day you look at it and the whole thing is warped.

 

[mikehaugen]

wow! those things were way off the ground before. I would guess someone put bigger tires on it at some point, at the rear of the deck seems pretty high off the ground as well. Can you see any evidence of "lower" the axles to clear the bigger tires? Nice truck and trailer btw.

 

[mikehaugen]

Over time you can do a lot of damage to a trailer by not bracing the rear when loading. I've seen some pretty heavy trailers damaged beyond repair because they didn't have support. They usually don't give in one place, that could be fixed. They usually slowly bend ever so slightly in different places until one day you look at it and the whole thing is warped.

Definitely! I know a guy that purposely cuts the legs off because they are sometimes a pain. Many of his trailers have the frame gently "curved" down starting right behind the axles. I bought one off of him one time, didn't notice the curve at first but always seemed like the tail was awfully close to the ground so I put a string on it and sure enough... It was cheap enough that I am not too bothered by it but have now been trying to come up with a way to straighten it.