Need Trailer Advice

   / Need Trailer Advice #1  

ddivinia

Elite Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
3,204
Location
Red Oak, Texas
Tractor
JD 5525 and 5093e Kubota SVL75
I have my new JD 4720, 400x loader, MX-6, and a 6' box blade. Now I need to take it places. I thought my current was going to be big enough, but it is not long enough (didn't look at all the numbers). Oh well, so I need a trailer. I have a Dodger 3500 quad cab, short bed with single rear wheel.

I have never had a goose neck trailer before, but it seems to be calling my name. Anything to be concerned with having a short bed and a goose neck?

How long of a trailer should I consider without getting too stupid?

Thanks,
D.
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #2  
With an equipment trailer you'll be OK, with a goosneck or fifth wheel you need a sliding hitch to keep the cab from hitting the cab area of the trailer in a tight turn while backing. Since an equipment trailer doesn't have all that sticking out from the tongue you should be OK. I hope that's clear. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #3  
Consider a trailer capacity to match the truck. It always seems the load has a magical tendency to mysteriously increase.

Get the longest that fits your weight limits. It may sound overkill but in the long run will be the best choice.

I have been told the low boys pull easier.

I have a 20 foot lowboy bumper hitch 10K trailer pulled by a 96 dodge diesel. It's original jobs involed three trips from Alberta to Nova Scotia moving our possessions to a retirement location.

Egon
 
   / Need Trailer Advice
  • Thread Starter
#4  
OK - I am looking at a big tex 12gp-24. 24' gooseneck.

http://www.bigtextrailers.com/pdf/12gp.pdf

12,000 GVWR

My truck is rated at 9,900 gvwr (Dodge 3500 srw Cummins)

They have heavier trailers but i think this will do it.

I plan on hauling:

JD 4720
with 400X and bucket
MX6
6' frontier box blade.

I am trying to figure out the weights of my stuff.

JD 4720 -> 3700
MX6 > 1050
400X - ?
box blade - ?

trailer is 3440

I think it is a go 24' should do it. If I have it all flat on the deck (bucket not up on the goosebeck, the MX6 wheel will hangoff a tad.

Price:
$3995 for the trailer with heavy duty ramps.
$110 for a spare tire/wheel
$450 to put in a gooseneck setup

Thanks,
D.
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #5  
You are really limiting yourself with a gooseneck trailer. I haul a 4520 and about the same implements with a bumper hitch 22 ft, 14,000 lb capacity, flat-bed trailer. Also, it's about half the price of what you're contemplating. I tow with a 3/4-ton Suburban with an 8.1 liter engine
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #6  
The trucks legal towing limit may be greatly increased with a gooseneck as compared to a bumper hitch.

Egon
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #7  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You are really limiting yourself with a gooseneck trailer. )</font>

Can you explain this better?
Most trucks (if not all) can tow much more with a GN trailer compared to a bumper pull.
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #8  
"You are really limiting yourself with a gooseneck trailer"

I'm guessing since he has a suburban, a gooseneck was out of the question. With a gooseneck you need a pickup with a gooseneck hitch. A gooseneck is the way to go if you have a pickup to pull it. Besides, most of your friends probably won't have a gooseneck hitch and couldn't use the trailer when they needed to borrow a trailer. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #9  
Don't limit yourself to Big TEx. I just went through shopping for a trailer myself, and wound up buying from Performance. They have either gooseneck or bumper pull and seem to run a quality shop. I bought one to pull around my 4310, so I couldn't justify twice the price for the gooseneck. Check them out at Performance Trailer . I drove out to Mount Pleasant and picked it up direct from where they manufacture them. Great people to deal with.
 
   / Need Trailer Advice #10  
When I said "you are really limiting yourself...", I meant the lack of versatility of a gn vs. a flatbed. The latter can be towed by vehicles without a "pickup bed diminishing gn hitch". I own a Chevrolet 3500 p/u as well as a K2500 Suburban and can pull the flatbed equally well with either vehicle. I merely recommended the fb primarily because of the additional costs involved with the gn. Don't forget, however, that vehicle towing limitations are also based on Combined Weight, i.e., weight of tow vehicle plus towed trailer, regardless of how the trailer is connected to the tow vehicle.

Note: The term "bumper hitch" doesn't imply a hitch connected to a bumper; in the vernacular of the RV industry, it means a towed trailer connected to a tow vehicle's weight-distributing receiver hitch versus a fifth-wheel hitch. It is a rarity to see a trailer (unless it's a very light duty unit) being towed directly from a ball on a bumper.
 
 
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