Trailer Ramps / Leg height

LD1 · Jun 13, 2013

Quick question for those of you with heavier equipment trailers.

The support legs on the ramps, with the trailer unloaded and level hooked to the truck, how much gap do you have between the leg and the ground???

This 12 ton GN trailer I got and am working on, the legs just seem too short and wouldnt do any good short of loading a tank on there.

I know they arent supposed to touch the ground (I dont think) otherwise when loaded, you wouldnt be able to fold them up. And I know this is a stout trailer, but loading my ~5000lb kubota on there and the trailer hardly squated.

Currently, on level ground and ramps down, I have ~6-7" of daylight under the feet. I am considering adding a 3" spacer to the bottom but just wanted to know what was "normal"??

Diamondpilot · Jun 13, 2013

I think 3" is fine. Worse case is carry some 4x4 scraps to put under them. I would leave a gap though. I have loaded and been bound up on my old GN.

Chris

LD1 · Jun 13, 2013

Yea, I dont want to be bound up. And I realize 24k is WAY than the 5k load I had on it the other day. but 6-7" seems a bit much...

RedNeckRacin · Jun 14, 2013

My first question would be is the truck and trailer sitting on Level ground. My next question would be is the trailer hooked up level? I dont know of any trailers that would squat 6-7" when loaded. My suspicision is that your GN is set to short and it is bringing your tail up in the air. My second suspicion is that you may have gotten your tires on the trailer on a high spot or your truck wheels in a low spot. On my GN the support legs are usually fairly close to the ground (less than 2") sometimes a little more or alot less depending on how the rig is sitting.

Hollow · Jun 14, 2013

If you get in an area to where they go down but are still under pressure when loaded and can't get them back up. You can always pull your rig forward and trip the weight off of them. I think mine on level terrain are 4" off the ground.

crazyal · Jun 14, 2013

I would say the legs are only needed if you're rear tires on your truck are getting lifted off the ground when you load your trailer (or are being unweighted enough so the parking brake isn't holding).

LD1 · Jun 14, 2013

Yes truck and trailer are sitting level. Heres some shots. You can see the peice of 3" tubing is what I added. So you can see how far off it was before. With the tube, they are 3-4" off the ground.

Also had to modify the assist springs. The doubles that were on it were broke. So I ordered new ones, but the peice that connects the two halves together was too short to touch anything, AND they were about 1/2" too wide to fit. So I cut them in half, and straightened what was left. Basically making two single assist springs per ramp. They work great now. You can see where I heated and bent it, that is where they were connected to eachother, and just too short to touch anything...

Now I just gotta apply a coat of paint to the ramps and deck. I am debating wether to use the asphalt paint that was talked about in the other thread for the top of the boards (the undersides are already done) or using decking stain. I still have 3 gallons of that left over from just doing a deck and kids play house.

Hollow · Jun 16, 2013

crazyal said:
I would say the legs are only needed if you're rear tires on your truck are getting lifted off the ground when you load your trailer (or are being unweighted enough so the parking brake isn't holding).

Over time you can do a lot of damage to a trailer by not bracing the rear when loading. I've seen some pretty heavy trailers damaged beyond repair because they didn't have support. They usually don't give in one place, that could be fixed. They usually slowly bend ever so slightly in different places until one day you look at it and the whole thing is warped.

mikehaugen · Jun 16, 2013

wow! those things were way off the ground before. I would guess someone put bigger tires on it at some point, at the rear of the deck seems pretty high off the ground as well. Can you see any evidence of "lower" the axles to clear the bigger tires? Nice truck and trailer btw.

mikehaugen · Jun 16, 2013

Hollow said:
Over time you can do a lot of damage to a trailer by not bracing the rear when loading. I've seen some pretty heavy trailers damaged beyond repair because they didn't have support. They usually don't give in one place, that could be fixed. They usually slowly bend ever so slightly in different places until one day you look at it and the whole thing is warped.

Definitely! I know a guy that purposely cuts the legs off because they are sometimes a pain. Many of his trailers have the frame gently "curved" down starting right behind the axles. I bought one off of him one time, didn't notice the curve at first but always seemed like the tail was awfully close to the ground so I put a string on it and sure enough... It was cheap enough that I am not too bothered by it but have now been trying to come up with a way to straighten it.

LD1 · Jun 16, 2013

mikehaugen said:
wow! those things were way off the ground before. I would guess someone put bigger tires on it at some point, at the rear of the deck seems pretty high off the ground as well. Can you see any evidence of "lower" the axles to clear the bigger tires? Nice truck and trailer btw.

Nope. I believe the tire size is original

Diamondpilot · Jun 16, 2013

LD1 said:
Nope. I believe the tire size is original

What about a axle flip?

Chris

LD1 · Jun 16, 2013

Springs are already under the axle.

I dont think anything has been modified, except maybe the ramps were added from another trailer??

I couldnt lower the trailer even if I wanted. As it currently sits, the GN is in its highest position. So if I lowered the axles, the trailer would have a downhill slope toward the back and look funny.

I dont know how it compairs, but with the trailer hooked up and level, from ground to center of the ramp pivot pin is 24"-24.5". The ramp legs were 17.5"-18"

andrehoude123 · Jun 16, 2013

Our 14k trailer ramps legs touch the ground when trailer un loaded if I can I put the
backhoe all the way up front to lift the back end and close up the ramps if we have a 4 wheeler and the back hoe and I can't go forward enough to lift up the back end I get in the truck and go forward a couple feet and it kicks the back end of the ramps up and then I just folded the rest by hand same thing for unloading it unfold them and back up and the ramps just drop right into place

cockeyedMFer · Jun 25, 2013

LD1 said:
Yes truck and trailer are sitting level. Heres some shots. You can see the peice of 3" tubing is what I added. So you can see how far off it was before. With the tube, they are 3-4" off the ground. View attachment 322742 View attachment 322743

Also had to modify the assist springs. The doubles that were on it were broke. So I ordered new ones, but the peice that connects the two halves together was too short to touch anything, AND they were about 1/2" too wide to fit. So I cut them in half, and straightened what was left. Basically making two single assist springs per ramp. They work great now. You can see where I heated and bent it, that is where they were connected to eachother, and just too short to touch anything...

View attachment 322744

I need to replace one spring on my equipment trailer and its the same setup as yours, but with a wider ramp and hinge bar. Where did you get your springs, and do you have any tricks for installing them?

My ramps won't fold all the way flat against the deck to take tension off the springs so I'd have to compress the spring and support the ramp while inserting the hinge bar. How many hands does that take?

mikehaugen · Jun 25, 2013

cockeyedMFer said:
I need to replace one spring on my equipment trailer and its the same setup as yours, but with a wider ramp and hinge bar. Where did you get your springs, and do you have any tricks for installing them?

My ramps won't fold all the way flat against the deck to take tension off the springs so I'd have to compress the spring and support the ramp while inserting the hinge bar. How many hands does that take?

If it were me I would put one end in a vise and compress the other end with some kind of bar and tie the ends together with multiple wraps of bailing wire or something, then install them and cut the wire. It would have to be some thick wire obviously, and a lot of wraps to help insure that it doesn't come apart on you. In fact if you do it right maybe you could have it take the tension off the wire when you lower the ramps.

LD1 · Jun 25, 2013

Mine dont start applying tension until they are vertical (or slightly on the downhill side of vertical). So If you have a way to support the ramp in the vertical position while lined up, there should be no tension.

I got the springs the same place I got the bolts. But I dont remember what website that was.

cockeyedMFer · Jun 25, 2013

LD1 said:
Mine dont start applying tension until they are vertical (or slightly on the downhill side of vertical). So If you have a way to support the ramp in the vertical position while lined up, there should be no tension.

I got the springs the same place I got the bolts. But I dont remember what website that was.

Just did a quick search and found some here. Ramps & Ramp Springs

Will have to look at mine more closely to see where the tension eases off.

To get back on your original topic, mine is a 12k equipment trailer with fenders, and the ramp legs are usually about 4" off the ground. Rarely do they touch ground when loading unless I manually tilt the trailer deck with the jack. The trailer doesn't seem to stress it though.