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At what point is having a gooseneck raised to much?
The wonderful R&R folks decided to redo the train crossing. Now as you can see, I have roughly 1/2” of clearance before the trailer frame slams into the top of the tailgate when I cross over. The horse trailer is empty at this point. Yes, I can go around and take a 5 mile detour, but still…
On level ground the truck and trailer are fairly level to each other and I have about 6” or so between the trailer frame and top of the tailgate.
Would it be a bad thing to lower the gooseneck sleeve about 4-5” or even more ?
See video below.
Pictures are from google and show the incline.
There is plenty of those videos on YouTube including explosions.
As far as the OP, I was always told 7 inches when level is absolute minimal clearance.
I lifted my last trailer a little so I had around 1ft clear. Next one I will probably raise the neck misc instead but you can’t do that with your enclosed trailer.
How much you should raise the front of the trailer also depends on the trailer axle type. I had to raise mine 4" to get into a few spots. Aside from looking a bit odd with the front of the trailer high, I have triple torsion axles and it was putting too much pressure on the rear axle to run fully loaded. Spring suspension trailer axles can usually articulate and balance the load a little better.
If you catch a box corner on a turn in one of these situations, you'll be real sad. I got both of mine and the tailgate corners not paying attention in a place I thought I had plenty of clearance. $10K+ estimates for two new box sides and the tailgate. I also had 6-1/2" of clearance on the flat to that particular trailer. I finally went to a flatbed to get away from the clearance issues of these tall new trucks to the lower goosenecks of the older trailers.
I 2nd that the coupler height is really dictated by the trailer axles. As the trailer becomes unlevel you are putting unequal pressures on the axles/tires which will cause issues. The front axle becomes lighter then the rear axle/s thus locking up the front axle wheels becomes easier then locking the rears. And as the rear axles has more pressure on it you could overload the axle/bearings/tires. It is a delicate balancing act.
How much you should raise the front of the trailer also depends on the trailer axle type. I had to raise mine 4" to get into a few spots. Aside from looking a bit odd with the front of the trailer high, I have triple torsion axles and it was putting too much pressure on the rear axle to run fully loaded. Spring suspension trailer axles can usually articulate and balance the load a little better.
If you catch a box corner on a turn in one of these situations, you'll be real sad. I got both of mine and the tailgate corners not paying attention in a place I thought I had plenty of clearance. $10K+ estimates for two new box sides and the tailgate. I also had 6-1/2" of clearance on the flat to that particular trailer. I finally went to a flatbed to get away from the clearance issues of these tall new trucks to the lower goosenecks of the older trailers.
Here’s a pic of the truck and trailer. It’s a used trailer We just picked up a few weeks ago. I don’t remember if it has torsion axles or leaf springs.
I 2nd that the coupler height is really dictated by the trailer axles. As the trailer becomes unlevel you are putting unequal pressures on the axles/tires which will cause issues. The front axle becomes lighter then the rear axle/s thus locking up the front axle wheels becomes easier then locking the rears. And as the rear axles has more pressure on it you could overload the axle/bearings/tires. It is a delicate balancing act.
I knew the coupler height does have to do with how the trailer tows, but I didn’t know it went into such great detail.
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