Gooseneck Adapter Build

The 2nd problem I couldn’t get the A-frame on line with just welding in the proper places. Ran out of oxygen & acetylene, so I had to run to town. That number 12 rosebud really eats the O/A! The 3rd picture show where I had to heat the beam to force the Bull Dog receiver into line. The 4th picture doesn’t really show it, (hard to hold the level and take a picture at the same time) but it’s with in 1/16 of an inch. The other pictures are of some welds I made today. I sure butchered the vertical 7018 weld. When I was at the welding supply I pickup up a different brand of 7018! I know I’m running out of excuses! Oh I know the sun was in my eyes! :o)

Not too shabby for not pre-tieing it down before welding...lol I just had to get one more dig in:)

Are you in love with GN hitching? I'm switching all my hitching over too 5th wheel as I like the easy of hitching. All I did was buy a king pin plate and cut off the GN stem pipe and used that. So I now have my choice of hitching.

On my 40ft'r I'm also going with electric jacks as I'm getting tired of cranking that trailer up/down. I can get the 3000lb electric jacks for $189 eh from CW. I also bought a 8000lb winch last year so I gotta have the battery's any way.

T_Bone

“Are you in love with GN hitching?”
Well I don’t know, this will be my first! Remember you live in an area that is as flat as the top of my head! Now where do I live? LOL

“On my 40ft'r I'm also going with electric jacks as I'm getting tired of cranking that trailer up/down. I can get the 3000lb electric jacks for $189 eh from CW.”
Lets hear more on these electric jacks! Sounds like a very good idea! Who is CW? Jack just talked me into moving the Bull Dog jack on this PJ trailer from it’s original position to right behind the bumper pull ball hitch. It is now at the very front of the deck, with all the weight of the adapter, it will be tuff to raise the trailer, little thing called leverage! Jack was also saying with all this uneven ground here a single jack in the center of the trailer is better than two jacks on each side! Your thoughts?

“I also bought a 8000lb winch last year so I gotta have the battery's any way.”
I have a 5-ton Bee Bee Brother hand crank winch I’d like to incorporate into this adapter some how! But if I went with an electric jack then I just might justify an electric winch. I was thinking about welding a plate to the bottom of that 8-inch pipe for the winch, what do you think? I want to take my time on this project, and get it right before I take the adapter in for powder coating!

You sound just like me when we were moving to AZ. I told the wife that once we get passed Las Vegas, "it's all down hill and flat". Wow did I ever get the shock of my life. AZ is much like WA or Co but the mountains are not as long nor steep. My fish'n hole has a 14% grade into it...lol AZ is anything but flat in 80% of the areas.

GN hitching is just like bumper pull hitching. You have to practice backing up to the ball and then adjust for forward/aft ball location.

With a 5th hitching then you get close side to side then back up until the king pin slams home and your done. You can be off 2" side to side. When the pin latchs tells you to stop backing. A simple one person hitching without getting out of the cab until your ready to finsih final hitching duty's (raising the landing gear, electric connection, etc).

Most new 5th designs are self king pin locking, rotate side to side so they work well in ruff terrian but are slightly more side to side stable while pulling than a GN.

I'm going to modifiy my 5th bolster plate to be a 4-pin removal so my bed is clean other than a 1" high connection rail so it would have the benefits of GN hitching has.

CW= Camping World

"Jack was also saying with all this uneven ground here a single jack in the center of the trailer is better than two jacks on each side! Your thoughts?"

To me that depends on if your ever going to leave your trailer loaded when unhitched. A dual landing gear will work much better as it's more stable as there's more support. The second consideration is the 5th/GN design puts more ground pressure on the pad from the "lever" design and even dual pads will sink after setting for awhile. I just like the dual jacks much better overall even on a empty GN/5th trailer.

In any event I would use a large foot pad, 8"x8", on the jack pad, then have seperate 14"x14" wood? pad for soft ground support. If the ground support pad is handy and there, you'll use it often. If the pad is stored away from the jack area then you most likey won't use it too often. The pad "slip in" tilted flat bar hanger design works well for pad storage.

Most all the newer jack designs use a spring loaded bottom extension. This works well as then you first let out the extension then lower the jack. This keeps the jack pad raised high so you don't hit it on ruff terrain use.

For no more than I use a winch, I would have bought a manual winch if I could have found one for a reasonable price. I caught Costco on sale for $350 delivered for a 8k winch so that made the decision easy :). I also added a couple $5 4-ton rated snatch blocks from Harbor Frieght.

Your next mod will probably be "forward" self-adjustable electric brakes with a single 10k DRW axle w/oil bath bearings, about $400 from Dexter. Wow what a stable pulling trailer design :)

T_Bone

I’ve thought about your post over night, and like you, as much as I’ll ever use this trailer, I can’t justify spending the money for electric jacks. And probably have to use a winch even less. I just need to figure out how to mount this old BEE BEE Brothers 5-ton winch. I thought about mounting it to the passenger side of the trailer on the beam that the bumper pull hitch is mounted to, make a longer flange to web gusset and weld it inside the vertical beam on the other side of the trailer, install a snatch block there. Make another padeye and weld it to the center of the 8-inch pipe, install a snatch block there, run the wire rope out to the back of the trailer, can always use another snatch block in the bite of the wire rope, and dead end the eye back up at the front of the trailer. But my C-channel cross braces are going there. From just under the flange to web gusset under the 8-inch pipe to right at the bumper pull hitch. So now I’m thinking of a pedestal mount right over the bumper pull hitch. As always any ideas are welcome!

The guy located the axles far enough back that I get a very nice pulling trailer when empty, no road rocking nor bouncing. Pin weight is running right at maximum with a fully loaded rolling load weight.

On a fixed load weight I might have a F350DRW rear axle issue and may have to add air springs. As it is I can adjust rolling load weight position to compensate my excessive pin weight.

I just wouldn't short change the landing gear as your only going to get older, not younger. This is my only complaint on my 40ft'r and too the point I keep refusing to sell my tri-axle pintel trailer that I really don't need.

I haven't done the math just yet, but in my mind I keep seeing a center electric jack pushing on two landing gear levers that move dual landing pads with spring loaded extensions, 3000x4=12000lbs of force at the pad rams.

Then again I've also been thinking of adding two hydraulic cylinders for landing gear with a snowplow motor, $85, using a PS pump(I have). This could also be used to run a hydraulic loading hoist (my original want) or a removable hydraulic dump bed(I can use that).

So many projects and so little time and I even tried to hire help this past year without results. $10/$20 hour part time. No takers

When you install the winch, then your trailer should be fully loaded???... LMFAO I even crack my self up sometimes. :o)

On a hand winch I sure would not plan on using snatch blocks as your line speed will be 1/2 for each snatch block added. Then again you add one of those $85 snowplow motors and have a electric winch? Relay is $20, 20ft cord with a dual push buttons, $20 and 6v battery's, $90eh. OR skip the electric motor and just have the wife with you...:o)

I know you want you use what you have on hand but lets face it, sell the hand winch for $200 and add a electric winch for $400 and be done with it. We deserve that at our young age, don't we???

T_Bone

How about using a temporary kicker (pipe,angle,tubing) from the top of the GN coupler to frame point to each side of the bottom of the beam connection point on the trailer?

Then also use some "X" bracing from the top of the GNframe up rights to the channel on the trailer.

This would add some ridigity in the entire GN frame until after it was welded then cooled.

Have you ever tried Chemtron 7018? That's gots to be the finest 7018 ever made. I've also used Hobart 7018 with good results.

I sure was disappointed in Lincoln's 7018 tho. Of course that was many years ago and now Lincoln spec's alot of different 7018 electrodes. I can't believe there would be that much difference between same brand 7018 rods to warrant such. Maybe the new machine technology makes up for that.

What brand of 7018 did you use and what brand did you switch too? The welds look dandy from here and there sure not going to break out.

I really like the torque tube idea on the upper frame. I'm wondering if that'll remove some road rocking vs using a channel or I-beam ?

T_Bone

“Then also use some "X" bracing from the top of the GNframe up rights to the channel on the trailer.”
That’s a good idea, Thanks! Man I missed you; you always kept me on the right path!

“Have you ever tried Chemtron 7018? That's gots to be the finest 7018 ever made. I've also used Hobart 7018 with good results.”
I haven’t seen any Chemtron in years! I forgot all about that stuff, I use to just love to run that. Nothing wrong with your memory is there?

“What brand of 7018 did you use and what brand did you switch too? The welds look dandy from here and there sure not going to break out.” I was using Lincoln’s Excalibur, I hate that junk, last time I ever buy any of that. But I still don’t have that “dig” option down all that well. Did you see my new Tig machine? That puppy is cool! I just bought 50-pounds of Hobart “418” I’ve heard good thinks about it, so we’ll see.

“I really like the torque tube idea on the upper frame. I'm wondering if that'll remove some road rocking vs using a channel or I-beam ?”
I have just enough 12-inch X 15-pound W-shape if I spliced it together, I was going to use it at that location, but with all the rain here, I just couldn’t get my mind into that, never did like to see an S or W-shape laying on there side, my luck it would have a slight bow to it, about a month after the gooseneck was powder coated I’d have my fill of it then arc it all out an start over. I found the pipe in a scrap yard, I thing it looks much better than a beam too! If you remember on Jack’s trailer we ran 4-inch C-channel as bracing in that area. Jack was here yesterday to help me set the horizontal beams. Now he’s kicking himself in the behind for not going with heavier shapes. That cheap SOB got all those 6-inc x 12.5 S-shapes from me for free, that’s why he went that way! LOL!

From the steel yard;
20-feet of 8-inch x 15-pound wide flange
20-feet of 4-inch x 1/4-inch flatbar
20-feet of 3-inch x 1/2-inch flatbar
20-feet of 2-inch x 1/4-inch flatbar
20-feet of 4-inch x 6.5-pound C-channel 4-foot x 8-foot x 1/4-inch plate Including tax $632.00
I try never to have the steel yard cut anything, I just soon buy long, I’ll use it sooner or later! Sand blasting and powder coating was around $500.00 for my buddies.
If my estimate is correct, when it’s all said and done, (including the original cost of the used flatbed trailer) I’ll save about $2,000.00 over buying a new 16,000-pound PJ gooseneck trailer, now that’s not counting my labor! If I counted my labor, I’m in the hole about $4,000.00! (Insert fall on face icon here) :o)

Yes that Dynasty is hands down the best Tig machine I’ve ever run. I’m a structural weldor at heart, with hardly any Tig experience. When using this machine on SMAW it has an arc very close to the old SA-200 it won’t stack 6010 like an SA, or SAE will but for a Miller it is close. I love the dig option for doing open root pipe. Set it at 100%, and you can’t hardly stick the rod, I mean you have to try to do it. Set it at 75% for capping with 71018. Now far as GTAW, I bought this machine to teach myself how to Tig weld aluminum. The High Frequency in the Gold Star was costing too much money to keep working.
I don’t think there is anything you can’t do with the arc with this Dynasty when welding aluminum. Set the AC balance to 250, and the pulse to 85% background, 80% peak time, and 200-PPS and you have massive penetration on fillets. Or drop the AC balance down to 20%, and dial the pulse in and you can weld sheet metal! Far as tungstens, I like the Lanthanated, (blue) for aluminum, if you want a lot of penetration sharpen it to a point, and no matter how many amps you run it will stay sharp! I also like the Ceriated, (orange) for mild steel. I have yet to weld any stainless steel with this welder.

Before starting this gooseneck project I was playing with some open root pipe welding. It’s been almost 30-years since I’ve done any real open root pipe welding. Can’t remember doing much, if any 5-G. I was somewhat impressed with the Dynasty’s SMAW ability, really like the dig option. That’s what I used for these two pictures. My buddy came today to help set the horizontal beams for the gooseneck. He brought his Lincoln Ranger 300-G; it has that “chopper technology”. Not near as nice as an old SA-200, or even as nice as an SAE- just doesn’t stack 6010 as well as the old school machines! I would say it is just a tad bit better than my Dynasty! Never understand why Lincoln got away from the true DC machines!

The trailer in the 1st picture has been on the road for 3 or 4-years, if I remember correctly.