Gooseneck Features Totally New Design

Gooseneck Features Totally New Design WAGONS/TRAILERS Miscellaneous 19-5-9 "My brother wanted a trailer that would haul a lot of wood or other cargo. I came up with a design that's completely different from any other trailer I've ever seen," says Jim Mitchell about his high- lift goose-neck dump trailer. The 8 by 12 by 3 ft. box is fitted with with tandem 12,000-lb. axles. It weighs 4,000 lbs. but has carried payloads of up to 8 tons without difficulty. What's unusual about the trailer is the way it's dumped. Instead of just dumping the box, the entire rig is lifted by a cylinder on the gooseneck. Key to success is the two-piece design of the 8-ft. long gooseneck the Potsdam, N.Y., farmer made for the rig. The top bar of the gooseneck is made out of 6 by 8-in. tubing. It pivots at the top of the center post. A second horizontal bar, made out of 3 by 4-in. steel tubing, mounts just below the main bar. It runs from a pivoting hinge point on the center post to a sliding shuttle mechanism mounted on a framework at front of the trailer. A hydraulic cylinder mounts vertically inside the framework. When activated the cylinder pushes down on the front of the trailer, pushing upward on the gooseneck. As the gooseneck lifts, the shuttle slides in front, leveraging itself against the smaller 3 by 4-in. bar that runs back to the center post. "The trick is to keep the center post vertical when dumping," Mitchell notes. The trailer raises up to a maximum of 60? for dumping. The hydraulic system is powered by a pump driven off the crankshaft pulley on the pickup. Total investment in the trailer, including plywood sides and manually operated rear doors, was $5,000. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jim Mitchell, 7896 U.S. Hwy. 11, Potsdam, N.Y. 13676 (ph 315-265-7647).

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