I have a 2012 super duty 6.2 gas with 3.73 gears. I purchased this truck to move my tractor which is a new Holland work master 70 with FEL. It looks like all I can pull is 12,500 with my truck. I can’t find anything that says I can pull more with a gooseneck than bumper pull. A gooseneck is going run a good 1,000 lbs more than a bumper pull.
if I purchase a 20’ deck over bumper pull trailer most of my weight will be up on front of trailer when I load my tractor and bush hog up. The bush hog actually will hang off trailer by three feet. So tractor has to go on first.
If I purchase a gooseneck than I more than likely will exceed my towing capacity of truck. Most 20’ goosenecks are 4800 lbs. looks like I either need to get a bigger truck or smaller tractor. No way I can afford an aluminum gooseneck.
My tractor weighs 5050lbs, the fel weighs 1600 lbs and bushhog weighs 1556. That’s 8206lbs and leaves me roughly 4300 for a trailer. Hard to find a gooseneck 20’ at 4300lbs.
Am I missing something here.
Ricky,
I have had the exact same truck since '12 (mine's an extended cab).
A gooseneck (or 5th wheel) will transfer the hitch weight directly over the rear axle, where a receiver hitch (some folks still call these "bumper pull", no idea why) will add this weight at the very tail end of the truck. The receiver hitch style will act more as a lever, pushing down at the very back of the truck. So they are rated differently per truck because the weight is added differently to the truck's chassis.
Generally speaking, the gooseneck (or 5th wheel) will feel more stable with the same amount of trailer weight then a receiver hitch, even if all weights are well within the truck's rated spec.
I also agree your trailer length is too short. This is what an 18' trailer looks like with a similar sized tractor:
I have had this car trailer since long before I bought this tractor (or even the truck). I bought it to haul cars on, not tractors. As you can see, it will "work", but it's not ideal for several reasons. That is an 18' bed, and it could really use 4 more feet, just to get the whole mower on the deck. The trailer is also overloaded for weight on the trailer axles. I have put higher rated tires on than the original tires, but they are on the original rims. As it sits in the picture, the trailer weighs just over 9000 pounds. It has a 6000 lb carry capacity, and my tractor as pictured, is 7100 lbs (the trailer itself weighs 1900 lbs). It's not a permanent solution, my "next" trailer will be a 30' deckover gooseneck, and probably looking for a 14K rating. The main reason for wanting 30' is so I can bring extra attachments with me on the same trip.
The truck as it sits in that picture is well within all specs for trailer weights and truck capacity. I do have air bags on the rear, and in this picture the bags are empty. Adding 30-40 psi to the rear bags levels up the truck nicely and eliminates excessive spring travel as I tow this over rough ground or rough roads.
I haul my tractor very infrequently so far, but I'm expecting those hauling trips to increase, so I'm pushing my CFO for the gooseneck. As it sits in the picture is how I normally load it and haul it. I'm sure there's a bit more tongue weight on it than absolutely necessary, but still well within truck's ratings, and a little "extra" tongue weight is better than not enough. It will pull very stable how I have it sitting in the picture. My specific tractor has filled rear tires, and my entire tractor's power train is all cast iron. So with the rear (filled) tires sitting just slightly behind the back trailer axle, and the cast iron engine sitting in front of the front trailer axle, it's just about "perfect" for trailer stability.
Figuring out where to place the load on the trailer deck will vary depending on tractor weight (the load), the length of the trailer deck, the position of the trailer axles under the deck, and the length that the front hitch sticks out from the front of the deck. When I upgrade trailers, I will have to sort all this out again for that specific deck and axle configuration.
For your specific setup, just keep in mind, the more weight percentage that sits behind the axles, will take weight OFF the hitch. And the more weight you place in front of the axles will add weight TO the hitch. The weight that sits directly ON the axles is just bulk trailer weight (load), neither adding OR taking much weight on or off the hitch.
