Leveling a trailer

I hated the gooseneck hitch. My truck (Ford F-350) is tall enough that it required me climbing into the truck box every time I hooked or unhooked. 

I had a fifth wheel pin from a stock trailer I had several years ago, so I decided to change the gooseneck hitch to the fifth wheel pin hitch. The fifth wheel arrangement is a little higher than the gooseneck was. I just measured the deck height at the center of the axles, which is 32.5 inches. At the very front of the trailer, the deck height is 34.75 inches for a difference of 2.25 inches. Both of these measurements were with the trailer empty.

I am thinking that loaded (2 or 3 tractors), the back of the truck will drop a couple inches. It doesn't look like the front is too high. Do you think the front being a little high will be a problem?

re: Ok, Mr perfect, have you ever laid out and formed and poured and the result is verified better than 1 inch in 25 feet?

yes, 3 times, 3+ decades ago. it's not hard to do IF you spend the time..

I've also made 25-28 trailers  and all are within 1/8" of square and true. Again NOT hard to do,

The problem I see, is guys ,with a 'good enough' attitude,no pride in their work,  in a rush to get to the next job.

1/8'???!!!  Holy crap, that's a MILE off in my world.  Cutting and fitting steel though quite a different world than forming and pouring concrete.

Forming.....I guess it has a lot to do with what you formed it with.  Steel pinned forms, gives you a decent chance.  Wood forms, you can't by a piece of wood that's straight to that ratio.  So while a corner to corner check dimension could be "perfect" (doubt it), you'll still have error.

When I helped on my sister's, there was an old basement in the ground, too shallow for a house but good and solid, poured walls.  We were going to add 3 course of block on it.  The builder checked it all over with a transit, told me what ever inch and a half here, 1 there type results, which I was 20 years old, didn't mean anything to me, so I asked, is that good?  GOOD?  It's amazing!  Been sitting here open since god knows when and poured 50 years ago.  We'll be lucky to end up that good when we're done.

You said it yourself, making my point, yeah you can do it given enough time, and in some cases, that perfection has no function.

I haul for a living and just turned 150K miles on a new 30' flat deck PJ gooseneck that went on the road early July of last year.

I sometimes return from checking in on a load pickup to find someone has already placed the load on my trailer and 99% of the time it has to be moved for the reasons you mention. I am very specific on what/where weight is placed as it not only affects the handling of the truck (steer axle light for handling) but also having "enough" just forward of center on my trailer axles. Rule of thumb for me is getting enough on rear of truck without overloading truck axle, plus trying to keep both trailer axles in play to do their job. (I also have to scale at weigh stations so watch each axle weight)

Newer gooseneck trailers are now being made with holes for a good size pin through the telescoping hitch sleeve, and the old style jam nuts are still included.

My 4WD Ram "Highboy" sits pretty high on stock rims with TransForce tires and believe me, having oil changes done on the road with an Easy Turn pan valve makes it where I do not even drop my trailer most times as they can slide right under the truck to drop my oil. Good for me as I also hate climbing up into the bed to hitch/unhook.

Factory coil springs lasted about 90 days so I installed a Firestone Air Ride System and have never run over 45# in it as it get's down to how the trailer is loaded as mentioned.

My loads vary, sometimes all of my 30' deck is used and sometimes I will have a 10K load that is only 8' in length so it can get critical when my trips are sometimes 2-3 days long.

Empty, my trailer sits higher in the front by about 2  to 2-1/2" so I estimate the position of the load as above, then adjust the air bags after loading to "level up".

I have hauled tractors, hay, etc. for years with the 21' PJ farm trailer and just used a tape measure at the bottom of the truck bumper before loading and believe me, a tractor being moved forward or backwards on the trailer just 4" can make all the difference in the world.

You will be fine with front of trailer slightly higher, just adjust how far forward the weight is loaded. If filling the trailer, you can always adjust the trailer neck for that heavy load, tape measure will tell the tale. And don't forget the tires . . . . .

WF, curious am I...

what are the square headed bolts, and nuts on the  'king post ?) for ??