Gooseneck trailer repair project

[LD1]

Wow....good work.

How much weight do you figure you are adding to the trailer?

I'm still on the hunt for a very similar trailer. Drop-deck gooseneck 14k....just a little shorter. 24'-26' is what I want.

I thought loadtrail was one of the "better" brands.

They certainly have name recognition. Like gator, iron bull, suretrac, pj, diamond c, etc. But not sure that equates to quality?

Quite a handful of trailers made all over the country that some consider second-tier...and don't letter their names all over them.

Hard to tell what's good and what's not when internet shopping.....but it seems nobody builds any heavier than they have to. That's the issue with trailers... The heavier you build them....the less they can legally haul. The lighter you build them, the more they can haul but might not last.

Seems it's a fine line....but the general "design", size of frame, size and spacing of crossmembers, neck and risers....all pretty much the same.

I guess in my case....looking at trailers, one has to decide if the pretty fit/finish and paint job/pin striping, etc is worth ~20% more than a no-name brand.

The load trails (on the internet) look real nice. But if it's gonna look like that on the underside in 6 years I'd be really disappointed. Makes me wonder if anyone makes a trailer that isn't gonna look like that in 5-10 years?

Anyway....repairs are looking good and I am looking forward to seeing the finished trailer when you are done

 

[fried1765]

Wow
I’m impressed
I would have cut it up for a loss! Nice work

I have never bought a used trailer, and never will.
Costly repair issues on every used trailer I have ever seen.

 

[Rustyiron]

My hat's off to you Cord.
Good job.

 

[Cord]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Those torque tubes are heavy. I’d guess a 10’ length weighs 100lb, the tubes are 30’ long and there are two of them. I looked them up and both tubes weigh 720lbs. The torque arms don’t weigh much. I’d guess there is another 300lbs.

Yea, this definitely reduces the load capacity, but having a stable, solid trailer will boost my confidence which is worth more.

I can’t say which brands are better worse than another. I will say that I towed a Gator Made equipment trailer with a tube frame and was impressed with how solid it felt behind the truck. Never realized how flexible my 20’ channel frame 12k trailer was. I’ve been researching dump trailers lately and from what I’m seeing Lamar and Diamond C seem to be on the better end. Sure would like to hear the opinions of others as to which brands are on the low, vs high end.

 

[Rustyiron]

From a few friends and forum's, Diamond trailers seem to be on the top of the "favorite" lists currently.
From what I've seen from my Kaufman 25.5k g/n, there certainly is room for improvement but at what cost.
One thing that does appeal to me about Diamond is there "engineered" (fabricated) main framework, stronger but lighter than simple structural lengths that are basically intended for buildings. There's really nothing wrong with that and frame members can be added to fight torsional loads but all that adds weight.
I have never seen or laid under a Diamond either so this is typical internet advice

 

[LD1]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Those torque tubes are heavy. I’d guess a 10’ length weighs 100lb, the tubes are 30’ long and there are two of them. I looked them up and both tubes weigh 720lbs. The torque arms don’t weigh much. I’d guess there is another 300lbs.

Yea, this definitely reduces the load capacity, but having a stable, solid trailer will boost my confidence which is worth more.

I can’t say which brands are better worse than another. I will say that I towed a Gator Made equipment trailer with a tube frame and was impressed with how solid it felt behind the truck. Never realized how flexible my 20’ channel frame 12k trailer was. I’ve been researching dump trailers lately and from what I’m seeing Lamar and Diamond C seem to be on the better end. Sure would like to hear the opinions of others as to which brands are on the low, vs high end.

I have a suretrac dump. 7x12. No issues at all. Its tube frame....like 2x6 or something

 

[Weld.man]

Nice work, more than I would of had bought into as from experience with fixer up projects. Have a 40' PJ I bought used here and it doesn't dog walk but sure eats tires up on one axle and some on the other axle. New bearings and bushings so I know it's going to need alignment one day. Had a Peterbilt dropped on it 5ft up in the air on the opposite side, it was enough to bust the oil pan on the rig, I think new axles are in order.

 

[Cord]

Put the existing head in the band saw so I could cut through the weld. Found some nice pockets of porosity.

 

[Cord]

Of course, I screwed up the head beam size for some reason I bought a 12” beam when the existing one was a 10”. When I checked the manufactures website they clearly listed a 12” beam. When I compared the image to a heavier trailer I could see a difference in beam sizes. Their website lists the wrong size.

 

[Cord]

It’s interesting how so many manufacturers have an identical head design. One thing they all is a 3/16” gusset applied to the underside of the elbow joint. That gusset just happened to align with the bottom flange of the beam. I cut a piece of metal from the old beam and used it to replace the gusset. The portaband saw was indespensible on this project.