Fontaine 50ton NGB

[chandler starling]

Good evening gentlemen,

I just recently purchased a lowboy trailer. 1999 50 ton NGB Fontaine. I was excited to get it and put it to work. I received the trailer and put new shoes on it and redid the plumbing for the wet line kit.

Sooo, today we moved a 650j LGP and it did great. Then we loaded up the Deere 300g. I know that’s a heavy machine but I had very little ground clearance after reattaching. I’m talking about maybe one inch. It was so slow that we couldn’t move it unless we left the pressure on the cylinders.

The truck is a 2006 Freightliner, 14L Detroit with air ride. The trailer is air ride as well. All air bags are inflated and seem to look proper.

We tried all the differnt ride settings on the trailer and none worked. Can someone point me in the right direction to fix my ground clearance problems?

I wish I could buy a new trailer but that is not a option, I had to save for months to buy this one.

 

[chandler starling]

 

[CaseFan13]

If the trailer was at its max height setting and it was still only an inch or two off the ground, your next step is to put bigger tires and the truck and possibly regear. Depending on what’s on the truck now you could probably gain an inch or two by going from 22.5s to 24.5s. Or possibly put slightly bigger tires on the trailer.

 

[DMiller]

Before getting too panicked and buying all new skins. Get online to the Trailer Builder, find out the Ride Height specs and HOW under their direction/Instructions to adjust the ride height on that air ride. It is JUST a Maybe Could be someone wanted or needed Lower so set it down lower. Then check Freightliner as to their recommended ride height and how to adjust. Are also taller fifth wheel Tables/Pivots that can be bought to replace the Highway Height Trailer set up(LOW) and get the nose up on that trailer. More inconvenience than excess expense and could reinvent the wheel you are driving as well net more truck wheel to neck clearance when making turns in rough country.

 

[DMiller]

Reviewed the Photo, looks to be a old Local Delivery likely a Van Dragger with a Holland on it, definitely for High Profile Trailers as looks less than 6" off the Deck. For that Drop nose would be better with at least 6-8" height.

https://trasa.com.mx/cms/uploads/quintarueda.pdf

 

[Junkyard]

First things first.....

What is your 5th wheel height? Most lowboys are built for 50” or so.

Second, how much air bag bell is showing when you’re aired up? Should see a few inches of it but not so far to stretch the bags.

Fontaine doesn’t use a pin and paddle so we shouldn’t have an issue with wear or fatigue. Is the trailer flat when loaded or cambered out, like swaybacked?

Another thought, once the large pin that runs across the bottom of the neck makes contact with the stirrup in the main beam how much of a gap is at the heel of the neck? Like between it and the top of the main beam. If it’s rather large you can cut some angle iron shims for that. A small gap there makes a big difference in ride height up front.

I’m focused on the neck because 99% of the time that’s where you’ll have issues and there isn’t much gain in the air bags or tires. Even if you are running 255’s and it was designed to run 295’s that’s not much out back, 1-1.5” change in height.

Fontaine makes different size ears for the height adjustment lever, a good fabricator can make them. I would only use T-1. That’s where I’d make the correction assuming the trailer is structurally sound and this is just an equipment mismatch and accounting for wear. 99 model has seen its share of loads.

Hope that helps. There are so many trailer and truck combos that they can’t catch em all with one setup.

What do the bottom flanges of the main beams look like? Hopefully it wasn’t run low like that a lot out of ignorance and they’ve shaved the flange down for ya. Seen it happen!

One other thing you can do....not necessarily super permanent but will help you decide how much longer to make the adjustment ears. Take some 1/8” or 3/16” flat bar and make some shims to go between the notch and ear. You’ll have to form them somewhat, you could heat them and with a loaded trailer stick them in there and let it act as a press.

Let us know what you find.

 

[Truck Shop]

That's a low pro fifth wheel on that tractor, I would guess 48" high, Plus the top of the frame rails normally are pretty close to even with top of tires. And what JY said about the neck,
The old Hysters needed shims to jack the neck.