24ft flat bed tail dragging

[banditman]

I was wondering if any one had any ideas on how to make a 24ft gooseneck flat bed with a 4ft dove tail stop its tail from dragging all the time. It just destroys the back bumper and wiring every time it happens and I'm getting really sick of fixing it all the time. Some ideas I've had are adding a 3rd axel making it a normal triple axle. Adding an idler axel and bolting it directly to the I beams and putting some small tires on it so it just catches the trailer when i go over bumps. Adding a torsion axel behind the existing double axle so I wouldn't have to mess with the suspension on the existing setup. The trailer is used to hall hay and equipment off road and I realize that a dove tail trailer was a bad choice for this but its all I could afford. Any other ideas on how to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tags]

Can you shorten the beaver tail a foot or two? That would require some cutting and welding and you would probably have to extend your ramps, but sounds way better than trying to add a third axel.

 

[redneckracin]

Can you drop the coupler down a bit? that would help some and its cheap!? It might get the neck really close to the bed rails of the truck though. I know mine has about 5 or 6 holes of adjustment once the set screws are loosened on the coupler. One other option, Corn Pro and Moritz have an adjustable tail that you could take a look at. The entire tail not just the deck, comes up level with the rest of the trailer!

 

[Spud_Monkey]

Adding axles or cutting the tail end off won't solve your problem, sounds like you need to drop the tongue down more somehow someway. Pulling a trailer uneven puts wear on one axle more than others causing premature wear.

 

[banditman]

Adding axles or cutting the tail end off won't solve your problem, sounds like you need to drop the tongue down more somehow someway. Pulling a trailer uneven puts wear on one axle more than others causing premature wear.

The tongue is as low as it can be adjusted. Maybe i could shorten the tube the coupler slides into to make to go farther up.

 

[DMiller]

Is the Trailer sitting roughly Level to a slight elevation angle when Empty? Needs a little Nose elevation to allow the towing vehicle to take weight and compress down some as load. If severe enough as I have seen with GN trailers on Oversized Rubber Lift Kit equipped trucks nothing is going to help. Photo will aid in this debate.

 

[banditman]

Is the Trailer sitting roughly Level to a slight elevation angle when Empty? Needs a little Nose elevation to allow the towing vehicle to take weight and compress down some as load. If severe enough as I have seen with GN trailers on Oversized Rubber Lift Kit equipped trucks nothing is going to help. Photo will aid in this debate.

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Is the Trailer sitting roughly Level to a slight elevation angle when Empty? Needs a little Nose elevation to allow the towing vehicle to take weight and compress down some as load. If severe enough as I have seen with GN trailers on Oversized Rubber Lift Kit equipped trucks nothing is going to help. Photo will aid in this debate.

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It sits level when empty. Its gonna take some kind of major mod to fix

 

[suladas]

What about moving wiring or adding a heavy piece of steel underneath to take the beating?

 

[DMiller]

If sits level when empty you have a issue underneath unresolved, again photos with measurements will tell more.
I have a GN, single wheel deck over, 13,000 weight capacity I have seriously overloaded and not had that issue.
Is your trailer a deck over or a between the wheels deck? My own has a beavertail drop yet I have in nearly 12 years of ownership not ever high centered the rear. And not been bashful where used.

 

[banditman]

If sits level when empty you have a issue underneath unresolved, again photos with measurements will tell more.
I have a GN, single wheel deck over, 13,000 weight capacity I have seriously overloaded and not had that issue.
Is your trailer a deck over or a between the wheels deck? My own has a beavertail drop yet I have in nearly 12 years of ownership not ever high centered the rear. And not been bashful where used.
View attachment 248619 View attachment 248620

yes its a deck over with fold down ramps.

 

[DMiller]

I would be inspecting equalizer bushings and assemblies, spring saddles and springs for sagging or collapsed. Lose 2-3 inches in height there and the tail will be on the grade. Weight carrying on average? Should not be setting 13k On the trailer, with trailer base weight and then reducing the GVWR by that should be no more than 9k for a load unless dual wheel., then can bump 15-16k

 

[JLarson]

What are you doing when you're bottoming out? I have a few people with trailers similar to millers and yeah they've tail dragged a few times in less then nice places and done a bit of damage but it's not a daily occurrence.

 

[banditman]

I took the trailer over to a buddy's house today that has a similar trailer but a different brand to see what the difference is and it is huge. My bumper sits way lower because the angle on the i beam is cut steeper. The back bumper is way wider because i have 4 inch round lights and his are 2 inch rectangle lights. The c channel that his bumper is made from faces the channel backwards while mine faces forwards which is why when i drag the back it bends it and breaks it so bad. I guess there is nothing really wrong with the trailer just not built for what I'm using it for. I had no idea when i bought that trailer that there would be that big of a build difference in trailers but there is a huge difference. So guess i got to either cut off and rebuild a narrow rear bumper or figure something else out.