Detachable trailer mechanism question

[Dirtmaster]

Trying to resurrect a 1968 Page and Page 50 ton lowboy. The detach method is to lower the bed to the ground with two huge rams, and then lower the gooseneck a few inches more by the use of a second pair of relatively small rams that push a bar down on the tail of the tractor, or something like that. Anyway, there is a pair of rams up on the gooseneck that dangle straight down. I assume they push on a horizontal bar that in turn, presses on the tail of the truck, thereby raising the gooseneck as necessary to mate properly with the trailer. Each ram is individually adjustable to account for uneven ground.

My question is this: What do the bars look like? There is probably one horizontal bar that presses on the tail of the truck, but there appears to also be a missing pair that go forward to pivot points, so that the horizontal bar won't slip off the back of the truck. These bars or whatever, are missing.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Several pictures are posted in another thread inside this forum. Thanks. Dirtmaster.

[Dirtmaster]

Here is a picture of the mechanism for lifting the gooseneck while it is detached from the trailer. Reportedly, there is a horizontal bar that the rams press down with, onto the tail of the tractor, behind the 5th wheel. Looks like there also should be bars going forward to the other pivot points to prevent the bar from slipping back or forward while it is lifting up the gooseneck. Anyone have a picture of what this lashup should look like? :beatsme Thanks. Dirtmaster.

[Will Musser]

Those small cylinders ar eonly for holding up the gooseneck while it is detached. They don't help lift the load or trailer.

[Dirtmaster]

I agree. I have it re-plumbed now. I need to construct the bars that press down onto the back of my trailer for lifting the gooseneck by itself. Looking for pictures or a description of what I need to make. Some trucks are flat back there and some have guid ramps for the 5th wheel. If I press down on a ramp, it will slip back, so the forward bars are necessary. Maybe they should be adjustable in length to accomodate different tractors and maybe there is enough similarity to negate the need for that. Dirtmaster

[rigandig]

You need to use square tubing for the 2 pcs that attach to the cyls, and square tubing will also work for the horizontal pc that contacts the rear of the tractor. Mine has one cyl to do tha job. There is a hinge made on the trl that has one pc of square tubing coming to the back that attaches to tha cyl. With that you need a plate going across from frame rail to frame rail on the tractor to support the neck. I'll get a couple of pics after bit that will show you what I have.
With the set-up you have, you will need to make sure that the horizontal pc that contacts the tractor frame is not so long as to get into your tires when it is engaged.
I'll try to get a couple of pics and post them up. Kinda cold outside right now (19F) , so give me a little time to work on this.

[rigandig]

The first 4 are of different angles and the last one is of the plate on the rear end of the jeep to support the neck. This unit will actually pic the trailer up, without a load on it, although it's probably not intended to. I'm sure that with to many repetitons of that the packing will fail in the cyl. I'll give ya one guess as to how I know that. Anyway, hope this helps, man it's cold outside.:D
One more thing. This is on a 65T set-up.

[Dirtmaster]

Neat! I see a strap around the bar. Is that to secure it while traveling so it doesn't accidentally drain down and interfere with the tractor? Since I have two rams, I'm guessing they are that way so that you can mate up the gooseneck to the trailer on somewhat uneven ground by individually adjusting each side? If I run a horizontal bar between those two rams, I'll have to make sloppy junctions or run the risk of bending something bad, in case I screw up and lower one without the other being at roughly the same extension. That would mess something up, and I'll just bet that is what happened to the last guy. Look at one of the rams (I think the pictures show it) and one of the yokes on the bottom is broken off. I'll bet someone lowered one without the other and busted it.

[rigandig]

The strap is for exactly that. With this set-up being as stout as it is, the damage would/has been to a tire, and would or could do serious damage to tha frame on the tractor. I call it my "just in case" strap. The idea behind tha 2 cyls may have been for leveling the neck on uneven ground, but I'd think it would be a bad idea, for the obvious reasons you pointed out. It you manifold the 2 lines together, that should avoid the same problem hapening again. One problem there would be if one side was inhibited from raising in some manner, it could cause ya grief again, as with the 2 lines together, the flow wil be to tha cyl with tha least resistance. If the 2 lines were run thru a flow divider, that would be an added fail safe.
Hope this helps

[Dirtmaster]

Very helpful, thanks! What is a flow divider? I assume it's more than just a T connector? I might consider using a telescoping cross bar so that in the event that both sides don't move the same, the bar can expand a bit. Of course, I plan on being on very flat, level ground anyway, so all of this may academic. Maybe I should just move them closer to the middle, spacing a foot or so, and manifold them together. Wish I could find some info from the manufacturer, but they went thattaway in 1974 :-( Dirtmaster

[rigandig]

A flow divider will meter tha fluid equally to both hyd cylinders. If ya have 1 lever for each cyl, it would allow you to just use one lever and do away with the other one.
Using just a "T" fitting will send the hyd fluid to the point of least resistance. Technically, not a real good way to hook this up.