Where can I get the best deal on a gooseneck

[davygp38]

The time is right, and I need a bigger trailer to haul around My toys. I am leaning to-wards a 20+5 18,000#goose neck. The problem I have, Is that I live close enough to NYC (90 miles,) that everybody thinks I'm made of money. These guy around here,Are way out of touch with the rest of the country on prices.......I want to know where I can get the best deal on a trailer within 500 miles from 12771zip? any dealers out there feel free to jump in. I will take any advice on these goose necks, since this will be my first one.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Not sure about your area but one word of advise is make sure you know what the trailer weighs empty whatever you buy. It can really cut into your payload. Around here most GN that size are 25,000# like the one I had. It weighed about 6,000# empty so it had just about 19,000# of payload.

A 18,000# trailer in that size you will be lucky to get 12,500# payload.

Chris

 

[davygp38]

I did not think a gooseneck weighed that much. You know, I was trying to avoid having to get a trailer with dual tires. It seems like, if I go to a higher gvw on the trailer, then I get into a heavier trailer, which weighs more empty, which in turn reduces the ratio of payload to GVW. Not to mention, that dual tires mean dual maintenance,and we can never forget the additional cost of the trailer. On the other hand, I already made the mistake of not getting a bigger trailer than I thought I needed, the first time. I run a Ford Super-duty, with the v10. Do you think a 20,000 gvw trailer, matched up with my truck, will handle a full size back hoe? I 'm thinking a case 580, or smaller.

 

[Diamondpilot]

You will be right at the ragged edge on the trailer. Most full size BH are around 15,000#. The guy across the street has a Case 580 Construction King and he has told me it weighs 14,800#. He pulls it with a Ford Super Duty and a tri axle GN trailer with 3 7K axles.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

This is from another thread. This guy just bought this 28' PJ. It has a GVWR of 15,680# and weighs 5,840# empty leaving 9,840# for payload.

GN trailers are heavy. They weigh about 1,500# more on average than a comp BP trailer.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/trailers-transportation/165959-new-trailer-show-tell.html

Chris

 

[medicshawn]

Try these guys in North Carolina

Equipment Trailers, Gooseneck Trailers, Car Hauler Trailers, Kaufman Trailers for Sale

I have a 20+5 14K and mine weighs 4K empty.

 

[Dargo]

This is from another thread. This guy just bought this 28' PJ. It has a GVWR of 15,680# and weighs 5,840# empty leaving 9,840# for payload.

GN trailers are heavy. They weigh about 1,500# more on average than a comp BP trailer.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/trailers-transportation/165959-new-trailer-show-tell.html

Chris

And, after a lot of comparison, PJ trailers are very light built. They are more of a price leader than a heavy built trailer. After a close inspection, I cannot recommend a PJ trailer. My trailer is quite a bit shorter and weighs nearly a thousand pounds more!

 

[QRTRHRS]

Some of the single axle tandems rate higher than 14k but I don't know that you can find one up to 18k? You need to be looking at a triple axle or a tandem dually. The triple as you may know may be cheaper to buy but the tandem would be much easier to "live" with.

I know your area. Pretty much the best bargains are going to be at the farm shows. I have bought trailers at Harrisburg already but that is past. Next would be Ag Progress Days. Never been to any of the shows in the empire state.

You may want to suscribe to Lancaster Farming. It is a weekly newspaper style publication with some good ads in. They have a website.

These folks have been good to me too. Not to bad of a drive for you. If you would take the time to drive a bit further than 500 miles, there are a lot of direct from the manufacturer choices. Most are in the south and midwest.

In the best of trailer buying worlds, it is really a plus to be able to hook up and take a test drive. Some times, the way your truck and a trailer work together will buck the"daylights" out of you. If you have a stock pickup bed, you need to be looking at your clearence though that is not usually and issue with a gooseneck flatbed so much as a horse or enclosed trailer. IMHO, a stock bed and a gooseneck are a royal pain anyway. I would sooner have a bumper pull.

Don't be afraid to kick some names around, some of these brands are not all that great.

 

[firefighter jim]

Used Medium Duty Commercial Trucks & Trailers Dealer West Virginia: Work, Dump & Service Trucks Sure-trac trailer dealer. Very nice people. Fairmount, W.Va.

 

[Double6]

I know this place is too far to drive for you, its in Oklahoma but I'm sending this link where you can get some good ideas on what to look for in a quality gooseneck trailer, check out the YouTube video it has good information in it also.

Red Rhino - Flatbed Gooseneck Trailers by GoBob Pipe & Steel Sales, LLC - Trailers, Flatbed Trailers, Goosneck Trailers, Red Rhino, GoBob

From my past expierence, buy a quality trailer, the cheaper made trailers just don't hold up, and you will be cussing at it when welds crack or things break.

 

[davygp38]

This is why I spend a lot of time, on TBN. Thanks for all the good info. I really like the Red Rhino tailer. I also forgot all about the Lancaster Farming news. I am subscribing to that as soon as I get off this site. Here is the trailer I am looking into right now. Gator Made Trailers. The 20+5 20,000# looks good, and they have a dealer within my driving radius. Give me some feedback. BTW they're talking $7980, for the 20+5 20,000#

 

[Diamondpilot]

Gator made is a good run of the mill trailer. Not the best and not the worst. Make sure if you sing a contract to buy one you get to inspect it fully before delivery. When the economy got tough they started cutting corners like not painting underneath and doing shotty wiring.

Chris

 

[davygp38]

I won't buy a tool box, without opening every drawer, and rolling it around, I will be all over the trailer. I have a little time before I really need to get the new trailer, I want to take my time.

 

[QRTRHRS]

There was a thread awhile back from a Gator Made owner that was not too happy. But then you can find that with just about any brand. While fueling up one day, the driver next to me had a BP tandem dually Gator Made. He told me he had a few issues, wiring being one of them but overall he was okay with the trailer.

I live about 30 minutes away from the factory. Guess one of these days I should stop by and check them out myself.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have bought and sold quite a few Gator Made Trailers. All in all I was very happy but have not had any dealings in about 2 years now so I can not say what direction they are heading.

Chris

 

[Newblue]

There was a thread awhile back from a Gator Made owner that was not too happy. But then you can find that with just about any brand. While fueling up one day, the driver next to me had a BP tandem dually Gator Made. He told me he had a few issues, wiring being one of them but overall he was okay with the trailer.

I live about 30 minutes away from the factory. Guess one of these days I should stop by and check them out myself.

I am the Gator Made owner. The trailer I bought has an excelent design and excelent welds. The main problems I had were the trailer wasn't painted on the underside and Scotch Locks used on the wiring. A few other minor things too that I ended up fixing myself. The warranty department was terrible but one of the salesman there (Zyndall Haste) bent over backwards to help me even though I didn't buy the trailer from him. I would say inspect the trailer before purchasing and be prepared to walk away if you don't like what you see.

Mike

 

[davygp38]

I am the Gator Made owner. The trailer I bought has an excellent design and excellent welds. The main problems I had were the trailer wasn't painted on the underside and Scotch Locks used on the wiring. A few other minor things too that I ended up fixing myself. The warranty department was terrible but one of the salesman there (Zyndall Haste) bent over backwards to help me even though I didn't buy the trailer from him. I would say inspect the trailer before purchasing and be prepared to walk away if you don't like what you see.

Mike

I read that whole thread, about your experience. I hate to say it, but I learned a lot from it. I am waiting on a subscription for a farming paper, that always has fairly local (100-200 mile) trailer deals. After that, I might just call The guys out in OK, about prices on Red Rhino trailers. In any case, I know what to look for now. I am now more concerned about size, (GVR). After looking at all the threads, I will go a little longer, than I thought, 25+5. The weight, I am still stuck on. I was trying to avoid the higher GVW. Remember, I live in NY State, they give California a run for the "money." I do have a class A CDL,so me driving it is not a problem, but those registration fees will kill me.

 

[aczlan]

Remember, I live in NY State, they give California a run for the "money." I do have a class A CDL,so me driving it is not a problem, but those registration fees will kill me.

Gotta love the NYS DMV, they charged me almost $400 to register/title a car near the end of Nov and I just got the title in Feb.
And then there are the trailer registration fees... My car has a curb weight of close to 4000#, drives over 10,000 miles/year on the roads of NYS and the registration for it is cheaper than the registration for a single axle 2999# trailer that gets run less than 200 miles/year.

Aaron Z

 

[Dargo]

I am the Gator Made owner. The trailer I bought has an excelent design and excelent welds. The main problems I had were the trailer wasn't painted on the underside and Scotch Locks used on the wiring. A few other minor things too that I ended up fixing myself. The warranty department was terrible but one of the salesman there (Zyndall Haste) bent over backwards to help me even though I didn't buy the trailer from him. I would say inspect the trailer before purchasing and be prepared to walk away if you don't like what you see.

Mike

I've owned a Gator Made trailer and was satisfied with it. Since all my trailers have the luxury of sitting inside except when in use, I don't get a lot of the problems most trailer owners get. Another company that has really impressed me for their quality and price is Elite Trailers Gooseneck and Pintle Hitch Trailers - Elite Trailer, Inc. - Spiro Oklahoma I currently have one of their 25+5 14k GN trailers and, unfortunately, need to sell it and move up in weight. My only other larger (so to speak) trailer is a 35' Big Tex trailer. It's okay, but not nearly as heavy built as the Elite. The only problem I have with my Elite is that I need to go with the same size but with tandem duals and 10k axles rather than 7k axles. Elite's 14k trailers have 12" I beam construction the entire length, even in the GN portion and are far, far heavier built than most in their class. Unfortunately for me, most of my equipment that I find I'm moving around now weighs between 10k and 14k. Believe it or not, the 14k Elite handles it no problem, but even the 10 ply tires at their max weight are stressed. I have a spare and break-away brake, but I'd rather not have to use them.

 

[davygp38]

I just checked out Elite, Via that link you supplied, and I was impressed with the list of options. In particular I liked the idea of a third Axel. My first trailer was a 9 ton 16' Hudson triaxel. It was very easy to level the load. It was also very heavy 5000#,and too short. I feel like the tri Axel will distribute the weight more evenly, and avoid having to go with duallys. I don't go far, maybe 5 miles each way, 6 times a year, with the TLB. I do occasionally move a few cars. I will admit, that some of those miles are on some terrible roads.