Hello, I have been wondering why gooseneck trailers seem to have much higher pin weights than bp. I have an older 4 horse stock steel bumper pull trailer that I pull with a diesel ram dually, and I also pull a 4 horse slant gn silverlite. I have read that the gns generally put 25-30% pin weight, while bp around 10%. When loaded with 2 up front my bp seems to sag the shocks a bit more then the gooseneck, and it seems that the horses stand more in front of the rear axles than on the gn. But this would mean I only have about 1,000 lbs tongue weight on the bp with 9-10k, with the gooseneck I would be at about 3,400 lbs pin weight, and with 4-5 people hay, water and tack I could be close to or over trucks payload. But it seems that the overload springs don't get as close with the gn as they do with my bp with 2 in front. The truck handles both with a breeze but it's got me curious. My question is is it the actual gooseneck part of the trailers that contributes to higher pin weights, or are they designed to have more pin weight by axle placement? Just always kind of wondered
Posted 2014-06-30 3:13 PM (#159677 - in reply to #159676) Subject: RE: Gooseneck pin weights
Veteran
Posts: 175 Location: Florida
In a simplistic view for the trailer, if you use the center of your two axles as the pivot point, then look at the distance from there to your hitch on either trailer as a lever, you are creating a torque about the axle centerline. Depending on the center of the total trailer weight in front of the axle center, you have weight applied to the hitch. If you were to center the weight exactly at the center of the axles, you would have zero tongue load - no sag of the tow vehicle - but as soon as the load center moved behind the axle center you would cause a lift at the back of the tow vehicle - which is not good, as is can reduce the traction of the rear tires on the ground. Have a friend have this happen with a BP trailer loaded with a tractor - he balanced the load on the trailer, but when he applied the brakes the heavier rear end of the tractor dropped and caused a negative tongue weight and lifted the back axle of the truck off the road - and all h&ll broke loose. With a BP trailer your tongue weight is applied behind the rear axle of the truck, so it has a bigger impact on the squat of the truck. It can also cause a lift or a reduction of weight carried by the front axle, affecting steering control. On a GN the tongue weight is applied slightly in front of the rear axle, so the load is shared by the front axle of the truck, so there is not as extreme of a sag at the rear axle. However the longer lever of the GN trailer shares a higher portion of the total trailer load. But having it applied in front of the rear axle, makes it a more stable load. Hope this makes sense. A simple drawing of the two trailers with dimensions from the center of the two axles to the hitch explains a lot. The pin weight percentages BP vs GN are also based on a properly loaded/balanced trailer. Both can be overloaded if all of the weight is in front of the axle(s) centerline. I prefer GN trailers (4 of them) as I pull some rather heavy loads, however BP trailers loaded properly can be just as efficient depending on what you're pulling. MY explaination - I'm sure others have have additional input.
Posted 2014-07-01 1:29 AM (#159680 - in reply to #159677) Subject: RE: Gooseneck pin weights
New User
Posts: 2
Thanks for your reply, That makes a lot of sense. My bp trailer with just 2 horses up front both legs of the horses are completely in front of the trailer axles, plus the water and saddles and stuff in the tack storage section. compared with the dressing room and shorter 2 horse bp trailers this is probly why it puts so much weight. And that makes sense that the hitch location of the bp kind of is like a lever compared to being over the axle. I really love the way the gooseneck pulls compared with the bp, the way it responds slower seems to make it much safer and less likey to sway. But the bp pulls straight as an arrow and gets the job done as well. The truck doesn't sag bad at all with either trailer, and I would imagine it's safer having a heavier tongue load as opposed to like you said with your friends tractor, don't want that to happen! But I was always kind of curious how the tongue weights worked with these
Gooseneck pin weights
