I recently bought a gooseneck 4-horse stock trailer. When I hitched it up to my truck, it became apparent that this trailer wasn't built with a 2005 Dodge 3500 DRW in mind. I just barely have 5-6" between the tailgate/bed corners and the goosneck frame rails. The trailer sits way high in front and way low in back. Nice for loading horses, but lousy for hauling them.

Anyway, in an effort to reduce the chance of getting gooseneck rash all over the bed of my truck, I started looking for ways to either raise the trailer or lower my truck suspension, or both. I found that the rear leaf springs on my truck have two 1/2" pads between the spring packs and the spring seats (see photo). My truck also has a 2" leveling kit in front. I think that if I removed the two pads, and got larger diameter trailer tires, I might level the trailer out enough to be ok and reduce the chances of gooseneck rash on my truck.

I found one thread that talked about removing the pads, but instead of really discussing the process, they linked to another thread. The link is now dead and I couldn't find the thread.

I found another thread that discussed removing the pads and a couple leafs and adding air bags. I like that idea, but there was no discussion of how it is properly done, or cost, or name brands, etc.

I am considering removing the front leveling lift (although I love the look) as well as the pads in the rear. Any thoughts as to the effect this will have on my truck, fuel mileage, hauling, etc, would be appreciated.

I am also considering lifting the suspension on the trailer, either by blocks or a spring-over conversion, but that's for another forum.

 

The neck on your trailer has no adjustment to it?

 

Give me a little credit here. The trailer rides too high in front, but it's too close to my bed for comfort. Think about it.

Sorry. Sarcasm aside. The trailer hitch is adjusted all the way to the lower stop. It can't go any lower, which is why it sits so close the bed. If I raise it to gain more clearance for the bed, it raises the front of the trailer even higher, also lowering the rear and causing ground clearance problems and making it uncomfortable, or even dangerous for hauling horses. I guess I should go hitch up and take a pic, but it's been raining and messy here in VA.

I found some more threads on air bags. Sounds like that's the way to go. Just wish it weren't so expensive. I may have to piece a system together.

I think I'm going to remove the 2" leveling lift up front and remove the 1/2" spacer pads and the overload spring in the rear and install bags. That will lower the rear of the truck about 2". That, in addition to getting larger diameter trailer tires should make the trailer ride only slightly front-high and give me plenty of bed clearance. I'll try this and report back later with pictures.

 

We did a custom job for a local 06 2wd. Without getting crazy, there is really no way to lower these trucks much. You can remove the little blocks/pads below the springs and the lower overload, and then you can buy lowering shackles. I think with the shackles, you can lose another inch. You should be able to go about 3" total. The customer's truck ended up getting custom spring hangers up front and the frame C-notched to keep the axle from contacting the frame. Overall, I think it came down 8-9".

 

I'm not wanting to get too radical, just gain a few inches.

I can see it now. Me hauling into horse camp with my gooseneck stock trailer and a low-rider truck.

 

Sorry man, I guess I wasn't really thinking when I replied......lack of sleep will do that to a person. Now that I re-read the post, it makes sense. Just put a lift kit on the trailer and call it good . Yeah, lowering the rear of the truck really isn't an option unless you really want to lower the truck!!!!! which most folks are definitely against. You can however, add some length to the spring hangers on the trailer if you are so inclined. My dad and I had to do that on his haul trailer and he hauls a 35k lb loader on it and it works just fine. Adding some length to the hangars actually lowers the springs thus giving you extra height......the trailer does have leaf springs???

 

Well, I figure I have three options, really. Cheapest to most radical:

1) Do a spring-over conversion on the trailer. Cheap, easy. Just needs new U bolts. Downside is that it would raise the trailer about 6-7", which would pretty much level things out, but would also make the back end of the trailer a bit high (about 15") for loading and unloading horses, unless I convert the trailer to a ramp-load from a gate. But then it starts to get expensive again. Being that high would give extra ground clearance on backroads and off road for the trailer, but would also raise the center of gravity a lot, making it a bit less stable on the road. Might also cost some in fuel mileage. Another consideration, though, is that this option can be undone easily and might make resale of the trailer easier.
2) Have a shop cut off the suspension hangers and weld in 3" rectangular pipes under the frame on each side and weld the hangers back to the bottom of that, giving the trailer 3" of lift. Since it is a tandem-axle trailer, I think that's a better option than extending the hangers themselves. I'm figuring a couple hundred bucks for that work. Wouldn't quite level out the trailer, but would make it a lot better for hauling horses.
3) Lower the truck by removing the 1/2" pads and the overload leaves and installing bags for leveling, then buy taller trailer tires, like 700-15LTs. That would also give me about 3" or so and more clearance at the bed. Those tires will run me about $145 each X 5 (spare) and then the air bags, compressor, tank, etc. for the truck. I'm looking at over a grand there. Hehe, I only paid a grand for the trailer. Still wouldn't quite level out the trailer, but would be ok for hauling and all of it can be undone.

I think I'm going to hitch it up next week, when I have some time, get on some level ground, and put some jacks under it in the rear to see how each option would affect things. Then just make a choice and do it.

 

I thought I had a great idea of removing the bottom OLs on my 03 to improve the ride but I had to put them back in cuz the bag were getting hammered hard - smashed. I cut the ends off the OLs before putting them back in. Maybe the 05 is built different but my 03 needed all the travel it had so the axle didn't bottom out on the bags. Craig

 

Thanks for that info. That's the kind of thing I started this thread for.

 

I moved those blocks to the top of the spring pack on my 03 and it gained about 1 1/2 at the tailgate, might be different from on an '05. Not difficult to do, but suspension parts tend to be rusty and beat up, need a good impact with lots of air pressure...

 

I'm thinking that if I do that and just leave the front leveling lift, I might gain more at the tailgate than if I remove the front lift. Just looking at the truck now, I don't think that would make it low in the rear.

 

Any idea on wheel and tire size?