Why a Gooseneck Trailer?

There are several fundamentally different types of hitch connections for utility, flatbed, and equipment trailers. These include ball coupler, pintle ring, king pin, and gooseneck ball attaching mechanisms.

Gooseneck trailers are made specifically to hook to a ball in the center of a pickup truck bed. There are two significant advantages to this type of hitch. First – the truck can carry much more weight with the load centered over the truck axle than it can with the load attached to the back of the truck. Second – a gooseneck hitch provides more stability and safety due to the fact that the weight of the hitch is carried from the middle of the truck bed. This increased tongue load carried in the bed allows the trailer to be towed with an increased safety and stability factor compared to a bumper pull trailer. The likelihood of the trailer ever “whipping” is greatly reduced with a gooseneck hitch.

Kaufman brand gooseneck trailers are offered in a wide variety of styles. Basically, almost any Kaufman trailer that is offered in a bumper pull or pintle ring version can also be purchased in a gooseneck trailer version. This includes our landscape utility trailers, car trailers, and our fender equipment trailer line.

However, by far our most popular gooseneck trailer line is the flatbed trailer lineup. This product line starts with our lighter duty model that is equipped with two 7,000 lb. axles and an 8 in. I-beam frame. This trailer has the 8’ wide deck over the wheels with a 20’ flatbed and 4’ dovetail. Stake pockets with rub rail down the outside of the bed bring the overall width to just under 102”. Progressive capacity ratings add larger frames along with increased axle capacities. Three 7,000 lb. axles, two 10,000 lb. dual wheel axles, or three 10,000 lb. dual wheel axles are some of the available running gear combinations.

About the Frame – There are two types of frame construction utilized to build a flatbed deck-over gooseneck trailer. First is stacked frame construction. In this configuration, the cross members are welded to the top of the mainframe beams with outer rails, then stake pockets, then the rub rail on the very outside stake pockets. Second is pieced beam construction. This is the favored and superior way to build a heavy-duty flatbed gooseneck trailer. We use this method on many of our heavy-duty Deluxe flatbed goosenecks. In this method of building the trailer, the mainframe beams are “pierced” or cut to the shape of the channel crossmembers. The cross members slide through the piercings in the main beams and the entire structure is welded back together into one unit. This makes a super strong and durable frame. You can easily identify a pierced beam frame by looking at the top of the floor – you will see the tops of the mainframe beams running the full length of the floor.

About the Truck Hitch – There are several different types of hitch kits on the market to outfit your pickup to pull a gooseneck trailer. Some of today’s 1-ton pickups can also be ordered from the factory with the gooseneck mount already installed to the frame under the bed. You simply purchase the slide-in ball kit from the dealers parts department. We use several 1-ton trucks to deliver trailers and have B & W gooseneck hitches installed in these trucks. This is a great set up. You can pull a rod under the bed and slip the ball out of it’s housing, turn it over, and drop it back in the housing. The ball is still with the truck but there is nothing sticking up from the bed. We often send customers to Hitch Crafter (hitchcrafter.com), which is only a couple miles from our North Carolina plant, to have this setup installed on their truck. There are many other fine setups available from other companies that you can find on the web.

Need more questions answered about a gooseneck trailer? Want our expert advice? Our customer service is always available to give you the quality direction you need! Give us a call today at 866-455-744 or visit us at KaufmanTrailers.com.