Crappy ride
 

I just bought a 38 fountain Sc on a gooseneck Magnum trailer and it rides seriously worse than my 38 Excalibur on a bumper pull setup....my question is, could my Biggass truck be the problem? Have a 2000 7.3 F350 with a 6" lift on 37's, could it be causing the trailer to not ride correctly, putting too much load on the truck and not spreading if out equally on the axels?

Thanks in advance

Post a picture of it hooked up, I would think most gooseneck trailers are not meant to be hooked up to lifted trucks.

Does it sit level?

Air bags on my Avalanche really helped the towing ride. The lift is not helping especially 6 inch.

Wannabe

You are probably getting bucking from the arch of the gooseneck , I have a 24ft flat deckover goose and I get beat up w in my dually when that thing is loaded . The truck also has airbags .

I bet the combination of the lift and the gooseneck is what's doing it.

I have the exact same truck, no lift, running 19.5" commercial wheels/tires.
Ride unloaded is worse than stock.
Ride loaded/towing is better than stock.

I bet you need to shorten your gooseneck setup, but I am not an expert on these.
You might also look into a cushioned setup:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cush...ed=0CAcQ_AUoAg

The airbag in the back of the truck types scare me, but the ones with cushion built into the trailer pin look sound designs for the most part.

You could look into converting to Fifth Wheel which gives you even more options.

Gooseneck/fifth wheels are tricky. ANY slop in the hitch or flexing of the trailer frame will make you crazy! My 2012 F-350 stock hitch ball has 10 thousandths of a inch clearance as a drop in ball. Awful setup. Its constantly bucking until I . JB welded it into the socket. Problem disappeared.
Any clearance will be accelerated when cycling. Check for slop and remove it where you can. Good Luck

I think the lift is killing you...center of gravity is now off as well as angle of the 5th wheel I'm betting

All lift kits are not equal... you have some that are purely cosmetic, some designed with really heavy spring rates, some with lighter soring rates and/or designed for more travel/articulation and then there are some that just arent designed worth a damn to begin with. If you just have 6" blocks stuffed in there you could be having problems with the springs twisting and axle occilation, locator arms from the frame to the axle can help but the geomtry needs to me right. If its a big mongo heavily arched spring you may be running out of shackle If its a long travel type lift its going to wallow all over. you may just have shocks that arent capable of controlling the spring rate

Geometry, spring rate and dampening all have to be correct and in harmony. What exactly do you mean by "rides like crap" what specifically is it doing?? Is it a compression problem? rebound problem? to stiff or does it wallow around like a drunk pig??

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps196fdd39.jpg
http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/r...pscb57ef74.jpg
http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/r...psc42aa889.jpg
It's a 6" procomp all spring lift, it drives straight as an arrow but it does buck off ever little bump and feel ever damn bump or snail in the road

NICE looking setup. Folks 'dream' about gooseneck boat trailers here on OSO all the time.

You definitely need to get the trailer level. It looks like you have a fair bit of room to do so without worrying about contact. Worst case, when cresting steep ramps, you might need to drop the tailgate. Going to a notched-gooseneck tailgate might be the ticket as well.

If you are considering wheels/tires for the trailer, you would want to do that before you do any modifying on the trailer. You might be able to get an inch or two of height on the trailer by going to bigger wheels/tires.


Last, looking at the front of the trailer, I feel as though the boat should be resting on the bow stop. Is the boat bucking on the trailer at all, or is it rock solid? It looks like you have a couple straps going forward, but nothing up and down. I think you would have a much better trailer setup if you had the V-block setup like Myco, Manning, or Loadmaster, and the boat was securely planted on the bow stop. (Ditch that roller.)

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...p-trailer.html
http://www.loadmastertrailerco.com/options2/#bowstop

[ATTACH=CONFIG]528811[/ATTACH]

I was planning on going to different wheels and tires this winter, so I'll definitely do that first! And it's a solid 18 inches+ of clearance on the tail gate, as you can see the drop hitch is a 8" I went to for my bumper pull to be level, the gooseneck was used on a stock F350 so I may need to adjust it the same, just figured I'd ask y'all first!

For lack of being able to tryand exlain it, stick your gopro under the trucksomewhere so it can record the spring and axle and drive over some speedbumps or similiar. Does the suspension even move or does it move too much and "bounce" over the bump??

I'm def changing out to a catch, that roller does suck! Was also going to add keel rollers to the trailer, as it sits now it only has bunks on it....and not sure if you can see it but there's yellow marks on the bow from the roller...hate that thing!

Yeah the boat rides solid on the trailer. Just feels like the truck is carrying too much of the load, like it's not shared equally across the axels, and wasn't sure if goosenecks were supposed to ride that way with more load on the truck, rather than only a small percent of the load like a bumper pull.

I absolutely prefer goosneck or fifth wheel over any bumber pull. There's a reason 99% of ALL commercial trucks use that setup.

It almost looks like your rig needs MORE tongue weight.

The trailer needs to be leveled so start with wheels and tires F or G load range on the trailer would be worth it.

Lower the gooseneck accordingly

Air bag the rear of the truck with airbag lift spacers

The trucks tires need to be at least load range E but look for a brand with an even higher load weight rating then others. One E might be 3195lbs while another brand 3850lbs per tire. Really makes a difference when towing.

Sydwayz is correct the boat needs to be secured tighter and further forward.

Worst case try something like the "shocker" air ride gooseneck hitch. I think what you might be feeling is the front to back surge goosenecks sometimes have.

Front to Back surge almost defines it the best, given this is my first gooseneck i'm not sure how they are supposed to or not supposed to act. I've only had it on and off the trailer twice now so still trying to figure out where it needs to be at on the trailer in the water vs on the trailer out the water...but def agree with the hard up on the front roller......I'll get the new wheels and tires on it and her leveled out before i do any more whining about the ride lol

Yeah i'm running a 127Q toyo tire, But honestly never checked the tires on the trailer, but def agree on going to a F or G rated on them since they take more abuse from the load especially while turning..

The neck is flexing. The neck is a little light for what you're towing. Should be a minimum of 10" Channel iron. Looks like you have 8". Getting the boat on the bow stop will help but won't fix it completely. I'd try running a ladderwork brace underneath the tongue/neck where it makes it's downward turn, about 4' long and about 6" from the deepest point. I build trailers for a living btw.

Put hash marks on your winch cable or strap with a sharpie or paint. You can then use these to count and adjust placement each time you load back on the trailer.

When you get it settled, put one big stripe on the cable/strap, right across the top of the spool. This distance will not change, and it's easy to put the boat back in the same spot each time.

I used to run a 450 with 8" kit on 37's with a manning gooseneck and it pulled like a dream. I miss that trailer and wish I wouldn't have gotten rid of it.

Nice looking rig! Your trailer def looks like it's sitting more level than mine. Gonna get it the boat nosed up, then try swapping the the wheels and tires then leveling it and go from there!

Nice Shop ^^^ Where's the pic w 3 boats in it lol

3 Boats??

Sorry for Carter-

love that 90's scheme job, but I must have broken some form of rule by copying it on my Scarab[ATTACH=CONFIG]528835[/ATTACH]

Vastly improved OEM suspension on whatever year that 6.4L is; 2008-2010. Keep that in mind compared to the OP's 2000 with leaf springs on all 4 corners.
'

Lol but I love my 7.3L and Rig roads in south Texas are pretty unforgiving on the newer suspension setups, I know it rides like a log wagon, but my only comparison was my bumper pull

I also think that the neck of the trailer looks a little flimsy for that size and weight of trailer. I would want to add some bracing to it at a minimum there is a lot of flex that can happen there.

I know. I love my 7.3L dually too. It may get air-ride one day.
It rides better than my Dodge 2500 with factory Dana 60 axles, slight lift, and 33" tires. THAT rides like a brick truck. Hopefully, it will be sold by lunchtime today.

when the lift was installled did they move the 1 helper spring down or install it it at the top of the blocks.. ?

This "front to back" statement makes me ask about the trailer axles. Are they torsion? Depending on the drop or ride angle of the torsion arms a front to back surge or buck can be felt running torsion axles. I get this on my smaller double axle trailer with torsions. My triple axle trailer is less noticeable with the bucking from the radius arms.

Huge Issue. I looked through you photobucket pics. The bow stop MUST carry weight !! It actually makes the flexing in the trailer stop.....

You're in luck...you can have that trailer back. Just have to buy the boat thats on it. haha

Found the culprit! Yes got the boat on the stop after breaking a winch strap...but even then it still rode like chit!! Long story short...bad break booster...go figure!

Thank yall for all the help!