Trailers behild Goosenecks / 5th Wheels

[Mopar_Mudder]

I have been searching and looking at 38-40 foot gooseneck trailers that I can put 2 trucks on to haul. Well I just happen to be thinking tonight, scarry I know, that you can put a trailer behind a gooseneck if I recal. Well that said what would happen if you say had a 26' gooseneck with a truck on it and then hook a tow dolly behind that with another vehicle on it? Or even better yet, as weird as it my sound, what if you had the front wheels of the secound vehicle up on the dove tail of the gooseneck and chained down? I know it sounds strange, the DOT would probably stop you just so they could try and figure out what to ticket you for. So what do you think, just thinking out loud looking for comments

 

[Ray Torresdal]

double bottom

How would that be different than those towing a boat behind their travel trailer, 5th wheel or bumper hitch? I've seen many of those combinations over the years. If towing for hire, you will probably need the doubles endorsement for your CDL to pull such an arrangement.



Ray

 

[roadranger]

Remember that the Federal doubles towing laws are good for Interstate Highways only...



once you get off the Interstate,it's the individual State laws that govern double towing- and MANY of them DON'T allow it!



That idea of having the steering axle of the second tow up on the dovetail sounds like a good idea to cut down on your overall length, and it'll be one less hinge point in the combination. Be interesting to see what the DOT thinks about it in real world situations...

 

[David Muench]

I used to have a trailer designed for carrying one vehicle and it had a dolly in the beavertail to carry the front wheels of a second vehicle. It was a 22' Load Trail, made by some guys in Iowa.



It was a great trailer, but I could never get the second car to tow properly. I think the problem was that since the dolly was in the beavertail, that means it was sitting at an angle. Therefore when you went around a corner and the dolly tried to pivot with the second vehicle, the outside of the curve side of the dolly was actually trying to get lower to the ground, and the inside of the corner was trying to raise up higher. So the vehicle's suspension was fighting it the whole way. My results were always having the second jeep twist it's way out of the wheel-over straps holding it down. Thank goodness for those safety chains. .



I think if I were going to try that sorta thing again, I'd get a gooseneck with a receiver hitch on the back (like one from HH Trailers) so I could either put the second vehicle on a good towbar, or maybe try the dolly thing. Though I'm not too fond of the whole idea having gone through watching a Jeep almost fall off the back of my trailer.



FWIW, I also tried leaving the steering wheel on the "dollied" vehicle unlocked so it could steer behind the trailer. . That worked even worse. But leaving it locked put so much stress on the steering gearbox that it puked fluid out the seals.



I sold the trailer.

 

[Mopar_Mudder]

Strange, I just figured strap the front tires tight to the dove tailer, no dolly of any try and leave the steering un locked, would think it would work. But who knows.

 

[Barry]

I have a 40' Take 3 slant deck transport. I can haul 2 bigguns or 3 littleuns. It has a 14,000# rating and I plated my dually for 10,500#. At 24,500 I am below the CDL requirement.



I have a 9,000# Ramsey winch in the nose and I installed a 4" channel rail up the middle in case I need to load 2 boats on trailers or 3 pop-up tent trailers for transport.



I would recommend buying something that you can use safely.

 

[David Muench]

Originally posted by Mopar_Mudder

Strange, I just figured strap the front tires tight to the dove tailer, no dolly of any try and leave the steering un locked, would think it would work. But who knows.

That might work. My problems with leaving the steering unlocked was the dolly would twist one way, jam the steering that way, and then stay stuck there till the straps fell off.



If you're going to try this, you may want to get some tall angle iron or something to make some braces on both sides of the tires to keep them from twisting at all. .



Dunno, next time we build off-road trucks (we're busy trying to build a house now, sold our off-road Jeeps). . We're either building 1 truck to share, or getting a flatbed big enough to haul both entirely.

 

[dan_gilson]

In CA you have a 60' or 65' limit on the length of the vehicle including all trailers. You also have to have a non-commercial class 1 drivers license. You would probably do better to start thinking about a medium duty (30K#+ tractor).



It is not the starting but the stopping...

 

[Mopar_Mudder]

Well I just may have come up with something now. I have a chance to buy a 40' Gooseneck rated for 24,000# for just under $7000, what do ya think, it will be a heavy pull I know.