Gooseneck ball position

[RLDSL]

I got to calculating weight distribution on my truck tonight and noticed that with the trailer on and loaded, I'm running toward the limit on the steer axle, but have about 1600 pounds to play with on the drive axle.

My gooseneck ball is sitting about 4" forward of the center of the drive axle.

Any thoughts on either moving the ball back, and how much, or extending the trailer to get the weight moved back a bit?
Or should I just say the heck with it and go grab a cold one

It would be nice to lighten up the steer axle a bit and cut some of the bucking down.

Thanks--------Robert

 

[towcat]

My gooseneck ball is sitting about 4" forward of the center of the drive axle.

Or should I just say the heck with it and go grab a cold one

It would be nice to lighten up the steer axle a bit and cut some of the bucking down.

Thanks--------Robert

you're worrying too much on the wrong part. go grab a cold one. If being able to shift the load rearwards on the GN trailer is possible....look there. If not, learn to live with it. Your bucking isn't going to be solved by moving the ball. Most of the wieght a CC sees happens to be in the cab area.

 

[tonkadoctor]

Grab a cold one. The position of the GN is fine.

Bucking is caused by the trailer and how it's loaded. The best way to eliminate it is by putting Air Ride on the trailer...That's true Air Ride, not those helper air bags, those will make it worse.

Anybody that's driven Big trucks for a while can tell you how big of a difference it makes to have air ride vs spring ride on the wagon.

 

[RLDSL]

It's a 28' 5th wheel type camper on a gooseneck setup, so I can't really shift the weight internally much aside from extending the pin box setup out a few inches.

I spent a lot of years pushing a big truck and I always used to slide the 5th wheel back either between the drive axels on a twin screw or dead over the rear on a single to get the front end bounce out of them. Don't know how much difference it would make with this setup though. Doesn't sound like much.

There's not many more ways I can think of to shift any weight short of removing my bed tank and welding up a couple of smaller tanks to mount in the rear corners under the bed

Air ride would be nice on the trailer, but I only paid $500 for the thing ( mark that stole the thing Lady wanted it out of her yard. I've got a grand total of $1500 in it after fixing everything I don't want to go nuts with a couple of grand on a suspension system, although I am planning on rigging an air seat on the drivers spot in the truck.

------Robert

 

[DirtFarmer]

My gneck ball is maybe an inch in front of the rear axle and it works well for me. As the others have said, adjusting the weight on the trailer is often the most important thing...

 

[PackRat]

WOW! 1", and 4".
My Dad always ran the ball 6" ahead of center, on all his pickups. He never owned a 1-ton. Pulled gooseneck stock trailers all over the place. I never had any complaints on how they pulled.

 

[crazybandb]

every truck has a manufacture a spact where the ball should be mounted , most are 4 in in front of the axel i do this for a living

 

[rip van sparky]

I have always heard 2" in front, that's where mine is and I don't have any trouble.

 

[KingRanch]

Yes, 1-4" in front of the axle is correct. Mine is 2" in front. Double-check your load......even the tanks. If you have a 100 gal. tank, @ 8lb.s per gal, that's 800lb.s in front of your GN hook up. You could move the existing tank back, prior to buying two new smaller ones - - - and see how shifting that weight feels. I drive an 18-wheeler, and without sliding tandems, or a moveable 5th wheel, you are "S.O.L." (Sorta Outa Luck)

 

[RLDSL]

My bed tank is 50 gal, so about 400 lb behind the cab right now, couldn't really move it without clearance problems on the trailer. Luckily, when I welded the bracket in I planned on possible having to take it out , so I didn't zap it on there too good and I have some nice empty space under the bed behind the wheels to weld up a couple of small tanks in there, Won't be able to get 50 gal down there though. I pretty much need to yank the bed tank anyway though, the nose swing on the trailer get a bit close for comfort going up driveways at an angle.

--------Robert

 

[Captain Morgan]

put it where you like it, I had two gn ball mounts on my last 1ton one dead center of the axle and one about 30" behind it.(yes I did say behind it) My truck also weighed 21k BEFORE the trailer was hooked up. I moved the ball to the back to pull my fifth wheel travel trailer. Not legal and not very fun to drive, way over loaded truck to begin with +11k trailer = DOT was happy to see me comming. My point is if you can distribute the weight everywhere it needs to be you can pull anything within reason as comfortably as possible. If you cantmove the load on the trailer move the ball untill you get it right.

 

[KingRanch]

Yeah, .....Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.