I need some advice...My living quarters trailer is not level while sitting on the truck..the nose is down, way down. We have tried to adjust the neck height on the trailer to level it out...It fell 3 times before we could even get out of the yard...Tried one more time, this time tightening with the extra force of a sledge hammer. One bolt at a time, tighten this one, tighten the other and back an forth. This seemed to do the trick...Until 60 miles down the road and the thing slammed down so hard it broke a saddle rack in the back, and thank goodness nothing else in the LQ's and the horses were ok...any advice on how to keep the neck up without having to weld the dang thing???????
Posted 2008-07-27 3:28 PM (#88365 - in reply to #88362) Subject: RE: gooseneck slipping...helppppp
Expert
Posts: 2953 Location: North Carolina
Yikes !!.. You have some sort of problem with the coupler tube. Those set screws have a holding power of thousands of pounds. You loosened the lock nuts before trying to tighten the set screws... Right?
Take the tube apart and look for cracks or deformation. Second, inspect the set screws points and threads. They should have a clean cup point. Putting oil on the threads will increase the pressure applied to the tube for the torque.
Last resort before welding. Make a spacer of pipe the same size as the outer tube. Then cut it length-wise in half. Hold it on the lower tube with clamps.
Posted 2008-07-28 1:57 PM (#88410 - in reply to #88362) Subject: RE: gooseneck slipping...helppppp
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399 Location: Ottawa, Illinois 61350
You can also measure the space between the base of the coupler tube and where it slides into the trailer at. Cut a piece of pipe that same measurement, and large enough to slip over your coupler. In now can no longer slip, due to the sleeve that you sliiped over your coupler. Probably the best idea though is to drill holes in both the coupler insert and the coupler itself, and insert a pin or bolt. Most manufacturers of neck couplers have gone to this system of couplers today.
Posted 2008-07-28 2:01 PM (#88411 - in reply to #88362) Subject: RE: gooseneck slipping...helppppp
Elite Veteran
Posts: 795 Location: Tenn/Ala.
Do check the tube & stem for cracks or splits. New bolts with a fresh cup shape in them will help also. But in the days before the new couplers with the safety pin, it was not unusual for us to slip a piece of tubing the same size as the upper pipe of the coupler, to act as insurance if the tube slipped. In fact, on larger trailers some manufacturers were shipping them out from the factory like that. Yes- you'll want one for insurance to keep from crushing the truck bed, but keep checking because unless it is a monster trailer, it should stay on its own. The sleeve should just be insurance, not the main weight bearing member.
RTSmith
www.SelectTrailer.com
gooseneck slipping...helppppp
