Truck Camper on Gooseneck?

[kblackav8or]

Anyone put their truck camper on a gooseneck and not have it look like the Beverly Hillbillies? I am thinking about maybe a 3 axle 36-40 footer, put the camper on the front. Room to haul my car or dirt bikes, nice patio, if done right it won't look bad and will be reversable. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[highest_vision]

Maybe it is time for custom. You would have to secure the camper to the trailer anyway, and tiedowns, while functional, would look Beverly Hillbillies Just build a front portion. It would look like a custom trailer, and if you build a good subframe, you could potentially lift it right off once unbolted
James

 

[kblackav8or]

I was thinking about a sort of saddle that the camper would sit on then tied down. Enclose the wheel openings with some smooth fiberglass, maybe with doors for storage. If I get a white painted trailer that isn't too wide I could potentially just back the trailer under it. I am all about function. My wife worries too much about the redneck factor and what the neighbors will think. I am thinking about a 36 foot triple single wheel trailer. Should be a piece of cake for my truck to tow it. Anyone have any pictures of something like this that turned out good?
Kevin

 

[PackRat]

Not exactly a camper thing, but...

The guys down at Hardman Lumber had a 20' van body, that tied down on the front of a 48' flatbed, with four 2" ratchets. A similar thing could be done, on your gooseneck.

A box from a 1-ton would be about right, and could be converted to whatever you need, inside.

 

[kblackav8or]

I want this to look clean. Think of a totorhome setup. I don't want bungi cords and tie downs all over. Anyone have links to quality goosenecks? Thinking 3 axle, 34-38 foot deck, single wheel per hub, low deck with appropriate ramps to load a race car. Used or New. I think I can find that for about 5k or less. Enclosed are only 6k for shorter trailer mind you but with all the stuff for an enclosed setup. Figure 4-5k for the camper and stuff plus a car, 2 dirt bikes and a quad. That would be the ultimate load. About 10 load plus the trailer I figure. Well under what my powerstroke can safely tow. Makes it easier someday to switch to a tractor and then move to the real race trailer...see where I am going with this. Open to ideas and links.
Kevin
Concept added on edit

You must be registered for see images

http://home.earthlink.net/~kblackav8or/images/camper gooseneck concept.JPG
The green indicates something like a flat fairing that would block off the underside of the camper while low enough to still access all outside compartments. Not to scale. I am not building something new from scratch. I want to make use of what I have and move up from there. Something like this would work nicely for a couple years. If it wasn't too hard to load/unload the camper, I could still load it up for things like hunting trips where they shine.

 

[highest_vision]

I really don't know enough about how slide-ins are mounted, but to do it securely you would either have to do a good strap job (hillbilly :Sly ) or bolt it. Could use some good sized angle iron or similar. That would hide easily behind your well designed flaring. Kind of reminds me of the horse trailers with sleepers up front I've seen. Nice deals.
Still gonna look like a truck camper on a trailer
James

 

[MudHog]

You could easily mount a slide in on the front of the trailer. Your main concern would be trailer width. Since your wanting to haul a car or race car as well, then you'd need a std. width trailer. This could impair you on the slide in camper but easily fixed with extended jacks. This would allow you to have the jacks away from the camper and back the trailer under it. You'd need something on the trailer to stop the slide in camper from sliding side to side. Tie downs will help, but something bolted to the floor would help better. The tie downs can be used just like a truck. You'd only have some d-rings or eyebolts in the trailer deck to bring the tie-downs to. Also keep overall height in the back of your mind. Max. height is 13'-6". So camper height and trailer deck height will be important.

 

[kblackav8or]

They are much more common in certain areas of the country then others. The Northwest has them all over. In Texas most folks had never seen one until they saw mine. I think that it can be camoflaged on there to where it looks decent and is functional. For a intermediate alternative I think it will work. Just a matter of finding the right trailer. I need a good one that isn't too wide but is long enough.

28 pages of campers and counting.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/14122053.cfm

Here is mine on my truck before I converted it to a dually.

http://home.earthlink.net/~kblackav8or/images/our alpenlite.jpg

 

[kblackav8or]

Trailer height is a good point. I would prefer a low deck trailer anyway for the car loading issues. It would probably end up lower then in the truck so I don't expect that to be a problem. I was thinking of building a sort of saddle for it to sit on. Bolted to the floor of the trailer and set up so the tie downs do the same work as when it is loaded in a truck. The side skirts would be open under the tongue of the trailer or would slide in the stake pockets after the camper would be tied down. Extending the jacks out wouldn't be very hard or this saddle idea could also be arranged so it is mounted on the camper and includes fork slots for a forklift if I need to unload it. I don't imagine it would be going on and off much but at some point it would get sold probably separate from the trailer.
Kevin

 

[WILLD]

I think it's a lot harder to make it look professional than it sounds. I too, have the problem of not caring about looks. I wish I could take a pic for you of my setup but it's dark right now. I was thinking about doing something just like what you are talking about, but my girlfriend said "Hell No" to that idea. So for now I'm looking at doing something a little different.

My idea is to put a tag axle under the rear of my flatbed truck to support the weight of an 11.5' camper and to help stability when pulling my 20' enclosed shop trailer. I'm planning on running air bag suspension and a modified Y-link for the tag axle and mounting it from the original drop hitch and the frame between the existing rear springs. Right now it's still in the planning stages so I am accumulating parts and thinking about how I'm going to do the install. I don't want it to be permanent since I use the truck for other things too. Not too sure where I'm going with this idea, but I've been told that it has been done before, so maybe I can find a good example and copy from someone elses research.

Good luck with your rig, I think you are on the right track.

 

[2500cummins]

Picture Here

 

[2500cummins]

Ya got me looking now
More Here
A few more Here

 

[MudHog]

Note the camper steps they added to the gooseneck to get up on the deck, neat idea. Being your looking at a new trailer, look at a similarly new camper. Putting a old raggy thing on there would be the worst thing, but a newer (don't have to be brand new) camper would look better.

Only concern on the one from Pirate is the wind drag that little air gap above the neck would cause. You could make a rubber piece to deflect the air from passing right there and that would probably help some.

 

[kblackav8or]

So who makes a good gooseneck? This one looks alright but is about 10 feet longer then I am looking for:
http://adcache.equipmenttraderonline.com/9/6/5/81528265.htm
Anyone know who builds this brand?
Kevin

 

[WD40]

If you are going to put the camper on the trailer that you have in your pictures, that would look great and not look like the B/Hillbillies. You could mount some holding tanks under the trailer that would give you longer staying time.
Also how about building a supports under the outside edge of the camper that would serve as the top of a truck bed for it to rest on, and enclose the side for store age.
If you are buying a new trailer for this I would get one with the rubber mounted axes instead of springs. Lots of luck and post some pictures when you are done.

A Stroke Is The End of A Heartbeat! Power Stroke Ford, that is.