Gooseneck

Gooseneck trailers are the way to go, especially if you've got a big load to haul. I put this bad boy together back in my Helena Montana days. Since then, she's served the ranch well.

From the ground up she is homemade. I picked her up from a buddy outside of town. She was longer and all sorts of bent up. She was also set up for a fifth wheel which meant she was probably pulled by a semi, hence the over loading. After straightening, reenforcing, and shortening the trailer, we then put a gooseneck on her for pulling with a pickup. 

My main objective back then was to haul my little bulldozer around. The trailer actually hauled it well, but that is just a heck of a load for a pickup. 

With tandem duals, she is rated for 20k gvw. The problem with that is keeping the tires aired up and ready for work. Since Dad mainly just uses her around the place to haul hay anymore, the eight tires are not necessary. So we set out to just put singles on her. 

She is old school. The axles were once drivers off a military truck of sorts. The guys before us rigged them up to just be dollies. They have the old mac nuts which require their own tire iron. 

Underneath her defines contraption. When I first took off with a load years ago, the axles would shift side to side when you turned and rub the tires on the frame. It took a lot of sunflower seeds to come up with this cross-chain idea. Not sure it'd pass a DOT inspection, but it sure solved the problem. 

There she be. The mac set up allows you to run singles too. So we put together some solid 14 ply tires and flipped the inside rims around. Less rubber on the ground means less friction to drag. It also means four less tires to try to maintain. 

Ranch ready. 

Every ranch needs a good gooseneck around to haul whatever whenever. This 26' homemade beast serves that purpose well. I like character. What fun would it be to have a manufactured trailer that never needs maintenance? This black beauty keeps us on our toes. It's never too early to be thinking about spring.