Advice on bad truck and trailer turning radius

[RobertN]

Depends... I worked a freind who does construction for a bit. Some times it really was a bear bring a trailer in to a site; other folks had no patience for you blocking them in or blocking access. Many times it was in and out as fast as we could. And, when we tried to move out of the way, we'd wind up parking away from the site.

Patience and a little more back and forth may do wonders.:thumbsup:

 

[56FordGuy]

The flatbed is a little wider than the duallies, I have been tempted to cut the corners off of the flatbed so they are at an angle, but the lights are on the corner so it would be difficult.

That's how my flatbed is, the corners at the back are angled inward a bit. Wouldn't be hard to move the lights if you have a solid metal plate across the back, which it sounds like you do. Just cut some 4" round holes and install the round lights like you see on semi trailers. I put the round LEDs on mine, and have been very happy with them.

That said, I'd love to see some pictures of what your setup, because something sounds a bit off. Even if you trim the bed, you may just smack the trailer into a spot higher up on the bed of the truck. I can jack knife my flatbed and a bumper pull trailer to an almost 90* angle before anything hits.

I was just wondering, is this a usual thing to do, attaching the receiver to the truck body and not directly to the truck frame? Most F-350 type flatbeds and stakes I have seen have the receiver bolted and/or welded to the truck frame not to the body.

Depends a lot on who built the bed. Mine had a receiver hitch built into it, but I had to replace it with a frame mounted hitch. Both seem pretty common around here. The hitch built into my bed was too weak for me to really tow with, so I had to switch to a heavier frame mounted hitch.

 

[corey9212]

Here are some pics of the truck, hope this helps. So far the best idea that I like is to cut the corners but I still have to figure out where to put the new lights and best way to do it but I am open to other suggestions

 

[dodge man]

Looking at the pics, it doesn't look any worse than a regular pick up truck. My guess is its a little wider than a regular pickup and that is whats killing you. I wonder if that reciever was just a little longer if that would help a lot?

 

[corey9212]

Looking at the pics, it doesn't look any worse than a regular pick up truck. My guess is its a little wider than a regular pickup and that is whats killing you. I wonder if that reciever was just a little longer if that would help a lot?

A regular pickup's width is only as wide as single wheels, normally duallies are the same and at the wheels it bumps out to cover the duallies then goes back in. The extra width at the tires is the reason they need the extra lights there so others know that the truck is wider than normal. My dodge's box is 64" (5' 4")wide, the deck on the ford is 93" (7' 9") that's 2.5' difference that could be used for turning tighter.

A longer receiver would make a difference I put a 2' extender onto my receiver and I could put the truck and trailer so they looked jack knifed but still had clearance to keep going, but with it being further out the rear end would drop a lot more causing loss of traction on the front wheels.

 

[RobertN]

Search on Wroughtn_Harv threads; he has posted pics of his welding projects, including modification of flatbeds. Or PM him. Sure he would have great idea's.

 

[slowzuki]

Looks like a typical flatbed. Backing short trailers with long trucks is always a challenge as they cut so fast. You really do need a longer tongue or you can chop the flatbed up and add a frame mounted receiver hitch or a hitch on the step/cow catcher thing on the other style of flatbed so your tongue can tuck under the corners.

 

[corey9212]

Search on Wroughtn_Harv threads; he has posted pics of his welding projects, including modification of flatbeds. Or PM him. Sure he would have great idea's.

I will take a look and see what he has. I've seen his posts and am totally amazed at his abilities. I bet he would be able to do what I've been contemplating and that is to build an adapter to conver a ball pull trailer to either fifth wheel or goose neck.

Looks like a typical flatbed. Backing short trailers with long trucks is always a challenge as they cut so fast. You really do need a longer tongue or you can chop the flatbed up and add a frame mounted receiver hitch or a hitch on the step/cow catcher thing on the other style of flatbed so your tongue can tuck under the corners.

Backing trailers isn't an issue, I can back long trailers and short trailers and even doubles with little effort. Is it possible to extend trailer tongues? Does it affect the trailers weight capacity or durability? The tongue can tuck under the corners but it's when the trailer hits the corner of the deck.

 

[jeffsw6]

Is there anything I can do to make it so I can make tighter turns with the truck and trailer?

I am just throwing this out there because maybe someone will know how to make it apply to your problem in a sane way. Those cars you see at big car shows, with the air systems that can raise and lower the suspension, it made me think what if you could simply raise your rear axle in that manner when you need to back the trailer?

Now that is maybe a silly idea, but what about if you could easily make the trailer go lower? There are adjustable tag receiver/ball setups that can go from like 1" drop to 10" drop or something silly. You obviously can't adjust a thing like that without lowering the trailer jack and taking weight off it, and it may not lower the trailer A-frame enough to clear the obstructions on the truck.

It just popped into my head, I thought I would share in case it gave you a helpful idea.

 

[corey9212]

I am just throwing this out there because maybe someone will know how to make it apply to your problem in a sane way. Those cars you see at big car shows, with the air systems that can raise and lower the suspension, it made me think what if you could simply raise your rear axle in that manner when you need to back the trailer?

Now that is maybe a silly idea, but what about if you could easily make the trailer go lower? There are adjustable tag receiver/ball setups that can go from like 1" drop to 10" drop or something silly. You obviously can't adjust a thing like that without lowering the trailer jack and taking weight off it, and it may not lower the trailer A-frame enough to clear the obstructions on the truck.

It just popped into my head, I thought I would share in case it gave you a helpful idea.

The problem is the trailer hitting the corner of the deck, if the trailer has walls the wall will hit the deck corner, so no matter how much I raise or lower either the tow vehicle or trailer it will still hit the trucks deck.

But I do know what you are talking about, it's the same as a semi dumping it's air on the rear axle to hook up a trailer. Dump the air and back under to scoop up the trailer then air it back up and it will lift the trailer up off of its landing gear making it easier to crank them up.