Gooseneck hitch on a flatbed dump body

[slowzuki]

Be careful, a dump eats up a lot of your rear axle weight rating in a hurry! Going from simple flatdeck to dump bed is more than 1000 lb extra if built to handle it.

 

[toxic]

Do you have to remove the side boards when you hook up trailer? I'm buying a GMC 4x4 dually Dmax and it is a chassis. My plan was a dumping platform with low profile tool boxes on sides and hitch mounted to frame over axle. Can't decide how high boxes can be without damage if I tow my a 15K trailer fully loaded. That's my M-7040 and my attachments, fuel cell, etc.
They make a really cool "western" style utility bed with boxes, but it doesn't dump. I really don't have to have the dump, but it makes the truck more versatile & easier to unload.

Well my bedsides are only 19" high so they can stay in place, but they just sit in the stake pockets so I usually remove them just because. I guess that it would also depend on a few different things. The height of the truck and the trailer. A higher truck would need the tongue of the trailer raised up in order to keep the trailer level. Also it would depend on the terrain your driving on. Highway driving means very little side to side movement. But if driving on extreme angles, a gooseneck hitch allows alot of movement and may come in contact with the side boxes.

 

[LD1]

If you like pics I'll give you a link to a thread from last year when I built the dump bed on the old 85 dodge, which I sold

And I disagree about it adding 1000lbs of weight to the truck. Mine was a standard flat bed to start with. With all the reinforcement and hyd. cylinders, etc I bet I didn't add more than 250lbs to the bed, if that. But I wast worried about overloading it, it is just an old farm truck.

The few times I did go 6 miles down the road after a load of stone, I came home with 6500lbs of stone. Truck tare weight was 6200lbs. 12,700lbs on a 8600GVW:confused2: But that is what it was built for. No trouble at all dumping it either. Boy I am going to miss that truck

Anyway, here's the link

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/158521-turning-1985-dodge-into-real.html

 

[QRTRHRS]

Do you have to remove the side boards when you hook up trailer? I'm buying a GMC 4x4 dually Dmax and it is a chassis. My plan was a dumping platform with low profile tool boxes on sides and hitch mounted to frame over axle. Can't decide how high boxes can be without damage if I tow my a 15K trailer fully loaded. That's my M-7040 and my attachments, fuel cell, etc.
They make a really cool "western" style utility bed with boxes, but it doesn't dump. I really don't have to have the dump, but it makes the truck more versatile & easier to unload.

I don't know about other makes but the Eby flat I had relied on the truck frame for strength. They used a piece of ~1/4 or 3/8 flat stock and laid the cross members over that. Very low profile. For their dumps, they added six inch on up I beam sub frames.

GMC 4x4'x sit a lot lower than Ford and Dodge so you gain some clearence there. I would think you could at least go with the standard boxes unless you have a really low gooseneck?

That brings up another point. I know that davygp38 already has his trailer as do you. I know that PJ for one will build a higher neck if need be for anyone out there thinking about this and not already having a trailer. The tandem dually trailers often come with a higher neck to accomadate the higher two ton trucks, etc.

For what it's worth, I had my Dodge dually flat for about ten-eleven years. I always wished I had the capability to dump even while owning a dump trailer. I also think a dumping flat with stake pockets for sideboards would be the most versitile set up over a dump with fixed sides for a gooseneck application.

 

[Builder]

I don't know about other makes but the Eby flat I had relied on the truck frame for strength. They used a piece of ~1/4 or 3/8 flat stock and laid the cross members over that. Very low profile. For their dumps, they added six inch on up I beam sub frames.

GMC 4x4'x sit a lot lower than Ford and Dodge so you gain some clearence there. I would think you could at least go with the standard boxes unless you have a really low gooseneck?.

Eby is like 20 miles from me. They really build a nice truck body. I found that the goosenecks I looked at wouldn't clear a utility body, they weren't even close.
That's what I like about GM trucks-they sit lower. It makes sence for mid-40's ergonomics. :thumbsup:

 

[davygp38]

I don't know about other makes but the Eby flat I had relied on the truck frame for strength. They used a piece of ~1/4 or 3/8 flat stock and laid the cross members over that. Very low profile. For their dumps, they added six inch on up I beam sub frames.

GMC 4x4'x sit a lot lower than Ford and Dodge so you gain some clearance there. I would think you could at least go with the standard boxes unless you have a really low gooseneck?

That brings up another point. I know that davygp38 already has his trailer as do you. I know that PJ for one will build a higher neck if need be for anyone out there thinking about this and not already having a trailer. The tandem dually trailers often come with a higher neck to accommodate the higher two ton trucks, etc.

For what it's worth, I had my Dodge dually flat for about ten-eleven years. I always wished I had the capability to dump even while owning a dump trailer. I also think a dumping flat with stake pockets for sideboards would be the most versatile set up over a dump with fixed sides for a gooseneck application.

My gooseneck fits over the top of the side boards on my truck. I'll post some pic's tomorrow. A guy I work with made mention of how high the clearance was on the neck, he could not believe the neck cleared my racks, until he saw me going down the road.

 

[QRTRHRS]

My gooseneck fits over the top of the side boards on my truck. I'll post some pic's tomorrow. A guy I work with made mention of how high the clearance was on the neck, he could not believe the neck cleared my racks, until he saw me going down the road.

Yeah that's what I was talking about with the tandem dually's. Nice to be able to walk under the neck without banging your head.

Horse trailers are the worst. Never enough clearence. When I still had my Dodge dually, I had about two inches of drop tube showing on my hitch. My tandem dually had about nine. Would not want much more extended out unless I found a longer drop tube.

 

[slowzuki]

A light deck not meant to dump vs a dump deck and cylinder is close to 1000 lb. Your flat bed must have been pretty heavy to start with. The dump cylinder alone and pump are almost 250 lbs! A good hinge isn't light either.

And I disagree about it adding 1000lbs of weight to the truck. Mine was a standard flat bed to start with. With all the reinforcement and hyd. cylinders, etc I bet I didn't add more than 250lbs to the bed, if that. But I wast worried about overloading it, it is just an old farm truck.

 

[LD1]

A light deck not meant to dump vs a dump deck and cylinder is close to 1000 lb. Your flat bed must have been pretty heavy to start with. The dump cylinder alone and pump are almost 250 lbs! A good hinge isn't light either.

I guess it depends on the type of setup.

In my case the pump is belt driven off of the motor and the 2.5gal resivoir is under the hood. Total weight is maybe 50lbs even with fluid.

The cylinders were I think 70lbs each x 2 that is 140lbs

The bed was already made of 3" channel frame and 4" c-purlin style cross webs with an 11ga deck. With it only being 3" channel frame, it is clear it was only intended for being a flat bed. I made the frame a total of 6" by adding 3" channel iron under the existing 3". That is 5lb per foot for a total of 17ft. That is another 85lbs.

No complicated scissor lift or hinges. The rear hinges are two 1/4" plates sandwiching the frame on each side and a 1" pin. Those along with other miscellaneous cylinder hangers, gussets, hoses, etc is NOT more than 100lbs total.
So 50+140+85+100= a total of about 375lbs total weight added to the truck.

So I am maybe a little off of 250lbs but still no where near 1000lbs.

But if you had to do more reiforcing than I did, and use a scissor lift, and a 12v power unit, I guess it is possible to get close to 1000lbs. Weight was not something I was worried about on the conversion for an old farm truck. And even with hugh tires 17 srpings rear and 11 front, D60 axles, double t-case, etc I was still only at 6200lbs curb weight on the old 8600gvw dodge. Which gave me a legal capicity of 2400lbs. (even though I have hauled 6200+lbs on it). But even if I had to give up an additional 800-1000lbs of capicity, not having to unload sand/gravel/firewood by hand would still be more than worth it.

 

[Builder]

If installing the 5th wheel is a must, it's a little one ton, and weight must be kept to a minimum, might be a good place to <gulp> use an electric instead of PTO hoist to save precious pounds:ashamed:

I will probably do this on the dually 4WD because I'm only going to dump it sparingly.

I really want to be able to gooseneck up to 16K if possible.