Thinking about converting a ground bearing trailer to nonground bearing

bam1968

Member
Has anyone ever done this? I currently have a 2000 Witzco ground bearing trailer. Awhile back I had a vision of how I could possibly convert it to a nonground bearing trailer. Basically, I thought I could remove the one big cylinder and install two smaller cylinders that moved a hinged plate that was mounted towards the bottom of the gooseneck. It would take some modifying and fabrication of course but I don't think it would be too bad. The other day I was searching the internet and ran across some pics of a Rogers lowboy that was very similar to my idea. I think they called it a 'No Foot' Removable gooseneck trailer and it was a fairly new trailer like @ 2015. Anyway, like I said, that design is basically what I was imagining. My problem is that I can't seem to come up with any very good pictures of it and in my neck of the woods Rogers trailers are basically non existent as far as I know. Any and all ideas and comments will be greatly appreciated. P.S. I know the logical solution would be to just buy a non groundbearing trailer. I just thought maybe I could convert mine a lot cheaper. And I kinda enjoy projects like this.
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
I have a friend that has a home built non ground bearing lowboy. Very stout good unit. I will go get some photos right now and post them for you.

Truck Shop
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
These pics may or may not help you. But it is one way of doing it that works well. My friend Steve has moved 85 ton loads with this lowboy. The main frames are
24" deep. He liked it for his work which was logging.

Truck Shop

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bam1968

Member
Thanks for the pics Truck Shop. That is basically what I had in mind. My trailer has hooks formed in the furthest lower back part of the gooseneck frame rails. I was thinking about mounting a hinged plate between the frame rails just above the hooks. Then mounting the bottom of the cylinders to the back part of that hinged plate and the top of the cylinders to some sort of a heavy beam up higher between the frame rails. Basically that hinged plate would just be to keep the bottoms of the cylinders in place. It looks to me like your friends cylinders need to be (for lack of better words) place by hand when he is reattaching the trailer. Thanks again for the pics. That sure helps confirm that that design can actually work as I was having a hard time convincing myself to start cutting on my gooseneck on a whim of an idea. LOL
 

Longhood

Well-known member
If you are going to the work of refitting you RGN, you might want to consider the Aspen style of neck , it seems that most Canadian manufacturers have gone to a close copy, 081.jpg080.jpg
Landoll also has a pretty good system this video shows the system starting at about 2:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BQ4Zlne988

In my opinion one of the things you really want to consider is how much misalignment will the coupling design allow,
my old Peerless ('85) is a factory retrofit of their mechanical neck which can also be used as a mechanical if you really want. But you have to be exactly lined up or it binds.

If you







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bam1968

Member
Thanks for the pics Longhood. That is the basic theory I am going for. I hadn't planned on the bottom plate being quite that heavy-duty but maybe it needs to be...... better safe than sorry. As far as alignment goes, currently I have to be pretty much nuts-on as far as my sideways tolerances go. As long as I am on fairly even ground it works pretty well for the most part. One little thing i'm having trouble figuring out is how I'm going to keep the gooseneck from nose-diving when I unhook the truck from the trailer without using a chain and binder to keep it in place.
 

Longhood

Well-known member
the Aspen base is pretty overbuilt, because of the lock pin being in the rear center of the base.
If you go to https://www.rbauction.com/ and make an account, you can search auction results for 2 years, their account is easy, just an E mail and password. they have a great search system, I use the top search box, just like I would to search upcoming auctions.
There is a converted neck the same style as the witzco (edmonton Feb 24 " 89 Trail ) but the pictures in the results aren't that good
basicly if you build a cylinder locator plate on the same idea as Aspens, except it could be way less bulky, that would accept your current load blocks and made some kind of a wedge at the rear to hold the neck from diving.
While the witzco neck is not my favorite, it is probably one of the easier to convert
 

bam1968

Member
Thanks Longhood. Your train of thought is exactly what I have in mind. I just need to figure out what I need to come up with as far as hyd. cylinders to get heavy enough cylinders with the correct amount of stroke.
 
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