Posted 2008-03-24 7:37 AM (#80241) Subject: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
New User
Posts: 2
Location: Great Mills, MD
Hello all,
Attached are the pictures of my truck under my new horse trailer. I have 4" of clearance from the top of the sides to the lower surface of the trailer. As you can see from the pictures, there's not much room behind either. I plan on getting a hitch called the popup CC4 hitch that uses Timbren absorbers and also sets the trailer 9" further behind the coupler. This should solve the bumper clearance problems but what about the height? Is this enough space for safe towing? I don't have any experience towing a goosneck and I'm really trying to avoid buying a lower profile service body. Anyone else out there ever towed one with this type of bed?
Posted 2008-03-24 8:35 AM (#80246 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Expert
Posts: 3802 Location: Rocky Mount N.C.
I'm no expert, but....That's bad!! Those truck beds are a bit taller than a regular pickup bed. That hitch extension will keep the bumper out of the front of the trailer, maybe..... But how close is that extender going to put the trailer tongue to the inside of the truck bed boxes when you turn?I don't think you'll ever get the front of the trailer up enough to clear that bed without most of the trailer's weight resting on the rear trailer axle. The trailer will be all jacked up in the front. Right now you're good for straight line level driving, other than that you will have trouble. You got another truck? I know I got about 4 times more room than that between my bumper and the front of the trailer (I can roll my wheelchair with me in it between the trailer and rear bumper, with room to spare, when parked straight). And, there's about 10" between the bed rails and the trailer. Even with that amount of room I still come mighty close to pinching the truck bed sometimes. The longer the trailer wheelbase (distance from the coupler to the axles) the worse it will be.
Posted 2008-03-24 9:09 AM (#80250 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Expert
Posts: 2954 Location: North Carolina
You didn't want to hear this... 4 inches is not enough clearance... Not even for regular on pavement driving. The first RR crossing, you come to, will be the first crunch. From the picture, crossing a road with a significant crown will introduce the service body to the trailer. Any off road driving like into the camp ground will be the next crunch... wait, the RR crossing will have modified the service body already.
Posted 2008-03-24 10:26 AM (#80253 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Veteran
Posts: 296 Location: Tennessee
Looks too close for comfort. Can't see from the pictures...is the trailer sitting level? Maybe you could fudge and extend the hitch tube a couple of inches if it would not put too much weight on the rear axle. Not sure what kind of trailer you have, but sometimes the axles can be "flipped" or dropped to let the trailer ride higher. Might be a problem for the horses if it's a step-up, though.
Posted 2008-03-24 10:49 AM (#80254 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 406 Location: Minneapolis, MN
I don't know that a 9" set back of the hitch will solve the bumper clearance issus either.You need to measure from the pin on the truck to the outside edge of the bumper corner. The measure,on the trailer, from the pin to the sliding door area on the trailer. This measurement needs to be greater than the truck measurement.But your real concern is the height of the service body.....that will be harder to solve.
Posted 2008-03-24 11:31 AM (#80256 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Veteran
Posts: 182
Does the trailer have bolt on it's hitch pole where you are able to lengthen it? There is a bolt on alot of trailers that can lengthen/drop the coupler down some.
Posted 2008-03-24 1:03 PM (#80261 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
New User
Posts: 2
Location: Great Mills, MD
Thank you everyone for the input. My plan is to modify the torsion axle mounts on the trailer. Being a fabricator/builder I'm pretty sure I can modify the torsion axle mounts on the trailer and get an additional 4" lift height back there. It might look a bit different in the wheel area but to save $5k on a new servce body it's worth it. The trailer is ramp load so that won't be an issue. In fact with the waste plumbing hanging down below the frame I wouldn't mind a bit of extra room underneath anyway. Especially having to pull the trailer around less than perfect campsites. I basically need to measure the vertical clearance between bed & trailer on other gooseneck rigs to see in fact how much clearance is standard. I do know that my service body sides are 4" taller than a standard bed so I am counting on that fact. If any of you know that vertical measurement on your rigs I would sure like to have the extra data.
Posted 2008-03-24 1:17 PM (#80262 - in reply to #80261) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Veteran
Posts: 296 Location: Tennessee
The height of the bed rail on my F250 is around 54 inches at the axle unloaded. With the trailer hitched up it drops about an inch or two, and there is about 8-9 inches clearance between the bed and the trailer. I'll try to attach a picture of it (if there's nothin below I couldn't figure it out!!).
Posted 2008-03-24 3:42 PM (#80269 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489 Location: CA
Do a search on this site for truck bed heighth. This topic gets alot of press here since lots of us run into the same problem...You're not alone! What I ended up doing: 1) raised the trailer by adding blocks to the axle 2) lowered the truck by removing blocks. I suspect the truck had the extra heighth because it's a 4X4. If you raise only the goosemeck attachment, the trailer gets an upward slant...not comfortable for the horses, and it puts all or most of the load on the back axle. By the way, my truck was a new Dodge, and we got it lowered with a "kit" that was free from them, labor, parts, and all.Good luck!
Posted 2008-03-24 5:52 PM (#80279 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Expert
Posts: 3802 Location: Rocky Mount N.C.
My truck bed height is 53" measured at the axle, that's with the trailer hooked up. It must be around 55" empty. There's about 9.5" between the bed rail and trailer gooseneck. The truck will drop another 1" when loaded and the trailer will be almost level. Bubble in the level will be leaning toward the front by just a hair.
Posted 2008-03-24 6:08 PM (#80282 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Member
Posts: 9
Location: Arizona, USA
I have a Dodge RAM 3500 4x4 that didn't give me very much bed rail clearance with my Exiss. I had a trailer service shop add 3" block spacers over my torsion axles. He did mention that 3" was the MAXIMUM that the manufacturers would allow him to raise trailers. Yes your horses have to step up a little more. Mine are used to jumping into our lifted stock trailers. It might be a problem with a miniature horse, but not a "real" horse. (just MHO (my humble opinion)
Dean
Posted 2008-03-24 10:52 PM (#80314 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Expert
Posts: 2954 Location: North Carolina
9.5 inches measured between the tailgate and the bottom of the trailer avoided a lot of damage in this situation. Trailer has been blocked 3 inches at the axles to ride level.
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Posted 2008-03-25 1:49 AM (#80323 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by rbelden on 2008-03-24 8:37 AM
Hello all,
Attached are the pictures of my truck under my new horse trailer. I have 4" of clearance from the top of the sides to the lower surface of the trailer. As you can see from the pictures, there's not much room behind either. I plan on getting a hitch called the popup CC4 hitch that uses Timbren absorbers and also sets the trailer 9" further behind the coupler. This should solve the bumper clearance problems but what about the height? Is this enough space for safe towing? I don't have any experience towing a goosneck and I'm really trying to avoid buying a lower profile service body. Anyone else out there ever towed one with this type of bed?
Thanks in advance.
THIS IS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN...
Your service bed is on your business vehicle that you are trying to do double duty with???
If so, Just an FYI: You will find the IRS will penalize you severely...if you are trying to depreciate you business vehicle and you are using it for more private activities than just driving home from jobs...
Posted 2008-03-25 3:24 AM (#80328 - in reply to #80323) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Veteran
Posts: 296 Location: Tennessee
Originally written by PaulChristenson on 2008-03-25 1:49 AM
Your service bed is on your business vehicle that you are trying to do double duty with???
If so, Just an FYI: You will find the IRS will penalize you severely...if you are trying to depreciate you business vehicle and you are using it for more private activities than just driving home from jobs...
Not really. Just like with standard mileage rate, deducting actual expenses on vehicles (which includes depreciation) is based on the percentage of business/personal miles in your mileage log.
Besides, driving home from a job is business mileage.
Posted 2008-03-26 10:26 PM (#80421 - in reply to #80328) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by Towfoo on 2008-03-25 4:24 AM
Originally written by PaulChristenson on 2008-03-25 1:49 AM
Your service bed is on your business vehicle that you are trying to do double duty with???
If so, Just an FYI: You will find the IRS will penalize you severely...if you are trying to depreciate you business vehicle and you are using it for more private activities than just driving home from jobs...
Not really. Just like with standard mileage rate, deducting actual expenses on vehicles (which includes depreciation) is based on the percentage of business/personal miles in your mileage log. Besides, driving home from a job is business mileage.
If you reread my message it did not refer to driving home...it referred to more private activities...such as towing a horse trailer...
Having sat in the IRS's presence for multiple audits...I can tell you that partial use vehicles are a red flag in audits...That is why I now have vehicles dedicated to the job and vehicles that are defined personal...and here is an even BIGGER REASON...
Good news for small-business owners: If your total equipment purchases didn't exceed $500,000 in 2007, you can take a full tax deduction of up to $125,000. (Last year's amounts were capped at $400,000 and $108,000, respectively.) "That's extra stuff that a small-business owner can buy and just deduct immediately," says Jim Smith, accountant and chairman of the Texas Society of CPAs. Just make sure that all the equipment is for business purposes and not personal use. Section 179 was passed in May 2007 and will be in effect through 2010.
Posted 2008-03-27 8:07 AM (#80429 - in reply to #80241) Subject: RE: Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
Veteran
Posts: 296 Location: Tennessee
Guess I'm just lucky. Been self employed for 25 years and never claim 100% business on any of my vehicles (usually 70-90%). No audits yet. Even if I did get audited, I've got my mileage logs to show I'm in compliance.
Gooseneck w/ service body pictures! Advice needed!
What I ended up doing: 1) raised the trailer by adding blocks to the axle 2) lowered the truck by removing blocks. I suspect the truck had the extra heighth because it's a 4X4. If you raise only the goosemeck attachment, the trailer gets an upward slant...not comfortable for the horses, and it puts all or most of the load on the back axle. By the way, my truck was a new Dodge, and we got it lowered with a "kit" that was free from them, labor, parts, and all.
Good luck!
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