Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing

   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing #1  

flusher

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Getting old. Sold the ranch. Sold the tractors. Moved back to the city.
In a previous thread

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...205-need-advice-f250-gooseneck-trailer-3.html

I got lotsa good advice about truck-trailer options for towing my show tractors which run in the 4000-5000 lb range. My focus was on a 3/4 ton truck--namely an F250 pickup set up to handle an 18-20 ft deck over 14K gooseneck trailer.

I've thought about it further and now think my best bet is a one ton flatbed with that GN trailer. There seem to be plenty of 1T flatbeds of the 1990-99 vintage to choose from locally at the dealers, via craigslist, and in the local classified ads.

I notice that some of these 1T flatbeds trucks sit somewhat higher than the bed of a 1T pickup. Are the standard hitches on GN trailers adjustable so the trailer bed can be leveled regardless of the height of the mating hitch on the tow vehicle? Or is this a special option I need to get?
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing #2  
Flusher, the hitches are adjustable to a point but sometimes you have to block the axles up on the trailer to level with truck. I've never had to block one but I saw a post somewhere on here where they were talking about it. Good luck.

Jay
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing #3  
Yea, make sure you measure out some trailers you are intrested in before you buy. If you go raising a trailer you will quickly run into cent of gravity issues and clearance problems. You can get pretty tall quickly with something like a John Deer A on a 5' tall GN trailer.

Chris
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thanks for the feedback.

I'm looking at a 20-ft classic dual axle 15K gooseneck from PJ Trailers--there's a nearby dealer who handles the PJ line

http://www.pjtrailers.com/brochures/web_flatdecks.pdf

The hitch on the trailer adjusts vertically from 32-13/16 to 40-13/16 inches above grade.

I checked the specs on several F350 DRW flatbeds. Bed height above grade is 39" which I guess is Ford's standard number. Looks like PJ Trailers designed their gooseneck trailer hitch with flatbeds in mind.

I also noticed that gooseneck hitch balls on flatbeds generally are recessed in a box over the axle with the box cover flush with the flatbed. So this gives a few more inches of adjustment on the GN hitch.

Looks like I'm good to go.
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing #5  
Yes sir Flusher, on mine the top of the ball is right at the bottom of the bed. When you close the compartment plate it's right under it. You might figure on that unless you get a differently designed bed. Mine is your standard flat bed, no hydraulics just tool boxes. I've added a pic below. BTW, mine came without any side rails and flat beds are notorious for loosing round objects that are put on top of them. I fab'd these out of some cee purlin I had laying around. Welded them together to basically form a rectangular tubing shape. Made an end gate as well but don't need it much.

Jay
 

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   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Yes sir Flusher, on mine the top of the ball is right at the bottom of the bed. When you close the compartment plate it's right under it. You might figure on that unless you get a differently designed bed. Mine is your standard flat bed, no hydraulics just tool boxes. I've added a pic below. BTW, mine came without any side rails and flat beds are notorious for loosing round objects that are put on top of them. I fab'd these out of some cee purlin I had laying around. Welded them together to basically form a rectangular tubing shape. Made an end gate as well but don't need it much.

Jay


Great looking rig.

That's pretty much what I'm looking for. As long as the bed has stake pockets, I figure I'll do what you did and weld up side rails. Metal C-purlin is a good idea. I may go with that or with 1x2" channel since I have some of that stuff lying around from a previous job and can get more from my steel supplier. I haven't been able to find a convenient local souce of C-purlin so far.
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing #7  
Great looking rig.

That's pretty much what I'm looking for. As long as the bed has stake pockets, I figure I'll do what you did and weld up side rails. Metal C-purlin is a good idea. I may go with that or with 1x2" channel since I have some of that stuff lying around from a previous job and can get more from my steel supplier. I haven't been able to find a convenient local souce of C-purlin so far.

Thanks Flusher. Had I had some 1x2 laying around I would have done the same thing. More welding with the c-purlin but it was just laying there begging me to use it.:D

Jay
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing #8  
*I've thought about it further and now think my best bet is a one ton flatbed . There seem to be plenty of 1T flatbeds of the 1990-99 vintage to choose from locally at the dealers, via craigslist, and in the local classified ads.
2*I notice that some of these 1T flatbeds trucks sit somewhat higher than the bed of a 1T pickup.
1*I'm wanting a 1 ton
2*I'm considering a 1 ton SRW pick up and replacing the pick up bed with a flat bed dump.

I checked the specs on several F350 DRW flatbeds. Bed height above grade is 39" which I guess is Ford's standard number. Looks like PJ Trailers designed their gooseneck trailer hitch with flatbeds in mind.
I can't use a gooseneck trailer because I want /need to be able to use the bed to haul and dump with at the same time I'm pulling the trailer.

Yes sir Flusher, on mine the top of the ball is right at the bottom of the bed. When you close the compartment plate it's right under it. You might figure on that unless you get a differently designed bed. Mine is your standard flat bed, no hydraulics just tool boxes. I've added a pic below. BTW, mine came without any side rails and flat beds are notorious for loosing round objects that are put on top of them. I fab'd these out of some cee purlin I had laying around. Welded them together to basically form a rectangular tubing shape. Made an end gate as well but don't need it much.

Jay
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing #9  
Great looking rig.

That's pretty much what I'm looking for. As long as the bed has stake pockets, I figure I'll do what you did and weld up side rails. Metal C-purlin is a good idea. I may go with that or with 1x2" channel since I have some of that stuff lying around from a previous job and can get more from my steel supplier. I haven't been able to find a convenient local souce of C-purlin so far.
I recommend making the stake pockets large enough to get any kind of hold down device through should you want to strap or chain something down.

With no sides to interfere, a flatbed is usually pretty user friendly for gooseneck pulling. FWIW, the post on my horse trailer is only dropped about two inches from fully retracted while my dump is set at about eight inches to achieve level while loaded. Never an overall clearence issue though.
 
   / Decided to go for broke--one ton flatbed truck for tractor towing
  • Thread Starter
#10  
I recommend making the stake pockets large enough to get any kind of hold down device through should you want to strap or chain something down.

With no sides to interfere, a flatbed is usually pretty user friendly for gooseneck pulling. FWIW, the post on my horse trailer is only dropped about two inches from fully retracted while my dump is set at about eight inches to achieve level while loaded. Never an overall clearence issue though.

Thanks for the info and suggestion.
 
 
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