Ridecamp: Re: [RC] [Guest] Hauling a gooseneck with a shortbox truck

On Sun, 22 Sep 2002 12:13:37 -0700, "Ridecamp Guest"
<ridecamp-moderator@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Sue Mullen dmullen@xxxxxx

>Does anyone have experience hauling a gooseneck trailer with a short box
>(6ft 7") truck?  Ever any problem with interfernce if you turn extremely
>sharp?  Thanks.

I researched this thoroughly before I bought my truck last year, as I
wanted a shortbed if it would do the job (for one thing, it fits in my
garage and a full-size bed would not).  

The people that have problems are, for the most part, people pulling
large camper trailers.  They are as much as eight feet wide, and when
turning with a short bed the trailer can interfere with the truck,
breaking the truck's rear window or worse.  There are (expensive)
special hitches made to deal with this problem, that slide back for
low-speed (parking) manuevers and slide forward for highway towing.

As long as your horse trailer is no more than seven and a half feet
wide, though, you will have no interference with a short bed (as long
as the hitch is properly installed, over the axle).  It is even better
if the part over the gooseneck is tapered some, but at seven feet
width that isn't necessary.  Most slant-load gooseneck trailers, even
with living quarters, are not over seven feet in width.  My
Featherlite is seven feet wide, only a slight taper, and I have plenty
of clearance even when backed up a full ninety degrees.

Some people feel a full-size bed truck pulls better on the highway,
but a longer wheelbase makes for more difficult manuevering in camp.
My Ford F250 short-bed club-cab pulls just fine at all speeds and
conditions.  The only thing I gave up with the short bed was some
carrying capacity (I can't get as many hay bales on the truck), but
for me that was a minor consideration.

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxxx
http://www.rnbw.com


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