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Pintle to gooseneck swap possible

danielm ยท 2007-12-19 16:28

I have a 10 ton pintle trailer that I would like to be able to tow with the 1 ton dually. Tongue weight is too much for a pintle on the 1 ton. If it could be converted to a gooseneck I'd get a lot more use from it. Is this possible? The current axle position is about 80% to the rear I believe.

Replies25
  1. #1DirtHauler2007-12-19 20:19

    Personally if you are putting that much weight on the tounge I think you might wanna buy a bigger trailer. I am sure you could manage a modifacation, but when it comes to towing something on public roads I am not willing to risk hurting someone with homemade trailers.

  2. #2danielm2007-12-19 20:44

    Bigger trailer. This one has a 12" I beam frame, pretty stout. The problem is the axle location and tongue weight. Not a problem if we use the pintle on the big truck and not a problem if it had a gooseneck for the 1 ton. But using a pintle on the 1 ton is out of the question. I'd get a lot more use out of the trailer if I could pull it with the 1 ton so I got to thinking... One possibility I discussed with a trailer mfr was to install a gooseneck on the trailer for the small 1 ton truck. A large piece of square tubing could be installed between the frame rails with a pintle hook on the end. It would slide out beyond the GN. The gooseneck would have a long tube drop down to meet a ball on the top of this square tube. Then it could be towed with the larger trucks pintle hitch. Double duty. I need to rebuild the beaver tail and make some flip up ramps like this one. I could use the flat to haul hay.

  3. #3DirtHauler2007-12-19 20:52

    Ahhh, I misread what you were after. I had a vision of some of the insane negligent stuff I have seen over the years. So is it a problem of getting the weight over the rear axel of the truck or just having a meaty enough place on the truck to hook up? So you have a ball in the bed of the 1 ton, or like an RV hitch?

  4. #4danielm2007-12-19 21:02

    Trying to keep the front wheels on the ground. The ball over the axle of the 1 ton is plenty meaty.

  5. #5Chaz Murray2007-12-19 21:39

    please excuse my crude MS Paint skills but lookin at the side in this picture the black line would be your current trailer...the red would be an "extention" built to the same width of the trailer. were the pintle lands you would have to put a cross member there to hook up your trailer to it and the top of the extention would be on the front part of the deck, say 3 feet back...might have to have a place to run a bolt though it or some other way of pining it so it dose not turn or lift up when you hit a bump when empty. If you do it this way then the trailer can be converted back and forth with little effort so if you would like to have it back to a reg style pintle hitch. if you look at the 2nd pic you can see the extention we build for our trailers using the same concept

  6. #6Kgmz2007-12-19 22:36

    By the time you get someone to engineer and take liability for it, you could probably buy another trailer cheaper. And if you are ready getting too much tongue weight, imagine the stress on a square tube that is extended out 8 feet. Edit: The trailer in the pic you posted is only around $5000, I would not take the liability of some home engineered detachable setup for this price. You can see that trailer here. http://www.johnsontrailerco.com/7_ton_gooseneck_pintle.php The title of this web page says Gooseneck & Pintle, but that is one or the other not both.

  7. #7danielm2007-12-19 22:44

    A 'napkin' sketch of what I had in mind.

  8. #8danielm2007-12-19 22:46

    The trailer pictured is not a 10 ton trailer. Home engineered???

  9. #9Kgmz2007-12-20 17:06

    http://www.johnsontrailerco.com/10_ton_gooseneck_pintle.php Went by the pic you posted and figures everyone was smart enough to click on the 10 ton model on the menu bar. The only real difference structurally between the 7 and 10 ton is they added another axle, same frames. Now by the drawing you posted, that may work if the draw tube is also supported by the goosneck. That would eliminate that vertical stress from so long of a tube. But to get the goose neck to attach to the bar there would have to be some vertical slop in where the bar slides out so that it could be raised to lock to the goose neck.

  10. #10DirtHauler2007-12-20 18:36

    Almost looks like you might be better off to start with a trailer that is already set up for gooseneck and make some type of situation that would let you hook it to a pentle when you needed. Any chance we can get some photos of the two trucks (one with pintle and one with ball in bed) and one of the actual trailer?

  11. #11danielm2007-12-20 21:23

    You may be right. I'm just tossing around ideas at this point. Thsi stuff is just used around the ranch mostly but I figure I'd get more use out of the trailer if I could pull it with the 1 ton. The 10 ton trailer just sits there 99% of the time. Could have used it today to haul a backhoe to the ranch. Nothing in the works yet... just ideas scribbled on napkins.

  12. #12danielm2007-12-30 10:37

    Anyone familiar with the "Brute"? I may just get rid of the pintle trailer and get this. Might be easier to mod the 2 ton truck bed with a ball. Looks like a decent trailer for the price. Although, I hate ebay, don't think they have a website. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320199489390&indexURL=0#ebayphotohosting

  13. #13danielm2007-12-30 10:40

    never mind... wrong button.

  14. #14DirtHauler2007-12-30 11:24

    looks good, is that the manufacturer itself selling them on ebay or just a dealer? might ask them if they have anything suited to your needs or if they will consider adding something to there line that meets the needs of people who want to be more versitle. I can not imagine that you are the only one that has ever wanted a dual hitch trailer.

  15. #15GaryKelley2008-02-20 13:06

    i bought a gooseneck trailer 2 years ago, wanted to buy a Brute, but couldn't wait the 6 weeks it was going to take to build it. I first saw Brute trailers on Ebay, and contacted them directly. It is the manufacturer selling them, small family business, I wish I would have bought a Brute. I ended up with a Hefty, and after making several modifications, I have what I want..

  16. #16J_Anderson2008-02-20 20:54

    I have a nice 12 ton gooseneck for sale. It's only got about a 150 miles on it. I'm just not sure if you would want to come to Eastern Iowa to get it.

  17. #17Countryboy2008-02-20 21:06

    Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums J Anderson! :drinkup

  18. #18thejdman042008-02-20 23:07

    Sure it can be done shouldnt be more then 5-700 dollars

  19. #19VjjR2008-02-29 03:57

    this guy did it on another forum im on. i also thought of doing it. but thats what i love to do. and i have all the proper metal working equipment. and also cant afford any gooseneck equipment trailer. especially one that will hold the capacity i want. http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/c...abrication/48428-gooseneck-adapter-build.html

  20. #20danielm2008-02-29 08:50

    We should start the swap in a few weeks. I hope to be able to retain the pintle hook option if possible so I can pull it with the 2 ton. I'll try to get some pics of the progress.

  21. #21Midwestern4x42009-10-10 10:31

    Updates?

  22. #22danielm2009-10-10 11:44

    No progress due to health issues. I'm going downhill fast, looks like I'll end up selling it as is to lighten the load.

  23. #23tsteel2009-10-13 07:28

    You can do this with ease if you by cuttin the tongue off and building a entire new tongue. We have done it many times!

  24. #24carogator2009-10-13 13:09

    how about forming a trailer pool, local co-op, club, neighborhood association, with other trailer owners. you could then use whatever trailer you need as each member has.

  25. #25adv.wastewater2009-11-07 15:06

    i am getting ready to have this done... have a 10ton pintle trailer and i am buying the gooseneck part from a trailer manufacturer and having it converted... not going to be switching back and forth, just gooseneck hookup...