What Do You Think of This Gooseneck Trailer? (PICS)

Here is a Gooseneck trailer that I have stumbled across and am interested in. It is a 2003 Trailerman Trailer with Duel Tandem axles rated at 10,000 each. It has two jacks and is 20 foot long with a 5 foot dovetail and 102 inches wide. There are ramps on it. The wood on it is still good as well.

They are asking $3000 for it.

When I spoke with the owners, they said that it will need new brakes and tires. The tires that are on it are 1/2 ton truck tires and not the correct tires. They had looked into the brakes and they said that it would cost about $1000 for the brakes to be redone.

What do you think of the trailer?

Any comments would be great!

Thanks!
From Denton, Nebraska.
Andrew Kean

Trailer looks decent from the pictures.
Between tires and brakes though it is going to be costly. I would imagine it has 9.50 x 16.5 tires on it like my 20,000 gvw trailer. I had 800.00 in tires recently on it. Plus the 1000.00 in brakes. If you could get it for 2000.00 wouldn't be bad with the work it needs.

Seems a little high considering the work that needs done. Three years ago I bought a 22 foot on deck w/dovetail 3 8000# axles w/good rubber and brakes at auction for $2500.00. For what it's worth. Central NE.

if it had the right tires and the brakes were good, it a good price, but if you have to soak another grand to make it better, you might as well as find one done for a few hundred more...

You are getting close to new price one. You put brakes, & tires on it. Tires are probably going to add at least $600 minimum to the price. That totals $4600. I saw one for sale set up the same way for under $6,695 brand new + a 2 year warranty the used one wont have. It was 24' with dual 10K axles with ramps.

How much weight do You need to pull? Some manufactures make a 14,000 lbs trailer with an option for 2 8K lbs axles. The gooseneck version is rated at about 17,500. But because the trailer is lighter it will haul just a little less cargo than the 20K pounder. Might be only a 1000lbs difference. But cost the same as the used trailer You have your eyes on. Look at PJ Trailers, & Corn Pro for examples!

Trailer looks decent enough but tell the seller to put the proper wheels, tires and brakes on it and then give you an asking price. If it needs brakes, it probably needs all new bearings and who knows what else. What shape are the axles themselfs in? If you could get it with everything done for under $5000 would be an OK deal. I don't think you'd find a good new tandem dually for less than about $10,000. You could check if that trailer company is still in business and compare the cost of a new one.

Any trailer i pull I want a real trailer tire, multi ply steel belted, point is, tires are a maintenance item and you will pay for premium tires one way or the other, whether they come with the trailer or you have them put on so I would not let the tire situation scare me off because it is a wash. I would price the tires I wanted to use and the brake repairs and then make an offer on the trailer, they want $3,000 but very few takers for anything that ''needs work'' these days, you can probably buy it for $2,000. Remember, all you are buying in its current condition is a bed and a gooseneck hitch.

Maybe the angle of the photo but looks like to me the axels are way back there, putting more waight on the truck than should be?
I do like the location of the jacks on the front better that the one I worked on friday. His were welded to the front of the bed with no bracing to the frame. He loaned it out and it came back with the left one nearly torn off.

From all the trailers you have looked at I HOPE YOU HAVE BOUGHT A TON AND A HALF (F450) or larger to pull it with. All trailers you have asked about you need that size truck to pull them and yet you have said you only have a pickup to pull with and NO pickup is large enough to safley handle a trailer of the size you are looking at. A trailer that size should be pulled with at least a single axle semi tractor. Under a F450 in size here you would be pulled over by the DOT and have to get a bigger truck to keep on.

The way I look at it if you have to have everbodys opion on what to buy or not, then you must have some doubt about the trailer. Look somewhere else.

from what I have seen sell in my area they asking way to much. After all its eight years old and needs tires and who really knows how much brake work. last one I seen similar at auction brought 1950.00

Andrew, just a couple of thoughts for you, eight new 10 ply tires to handle the gross weight of that trailer will cost you over $1000 carry out, do you plan of doing the brakes and tires yourself?? The brakes and wheel bearings are a mystery till you tear it apart. The sides look pretty rusty, they will have to be sand blasted and repainted to replace the safety decals down the sides, how rusty is it underneath?? If lots of miles what do the springs and pads look like?? That trailer will weigh 7500 lbs empty and pull hard, I use one very similar to it and most of the time the trailer weighs more that the load on it. Plates can get expensive for that kind of gross and there's DOT concerns I pull mine with a one ton dually and wouldn't want any thing smaller, just my thoughts. Price seems high for condition.

All good points mentioned above. If you do the brakes and tires yourself, it's going to be MINIMUM $1000-$1500 more, if you hire out the work going to be even more. And do you have a suitable truck (1.25 or 1.5 ton) to tow it with? I'm guessing that trailer weighs around 6000lbs or more just on its own, by the time you put even a small load (couple thousand pounds) on it, you're going to be over the gross rating for a 1/2 ton. With any substantial load on it you'll be over the rating for a 3/4 ton or 1 ton and fully loaded you'll need AT MINIMUM a 1.5 ton truck. Think an F450 is rated at about 17 000lbs. gross towing weight, properly equipped, IIRC.

I believe the bearings run in oil so that leaves brakes and tires. Yes Trailerman is still in business in Louisiana MO(We supply welding gas and supply's to them) I think a new one will run right at 10,000.00 that is why I don t have one. They do not sell to walk in customers, only through dealers.

Everyone pulls gn"s like that with 1 ton"s. Todays 1 ton"s are not the same as a 70"s model.

The best thing you can do is beg, borrow, or mooch a trailer until you save up and buy a NEW one. You will never regret that.

Dont forget all the folks you borrowed from and go haul some things for them in return.

I bought a new car trailer about 15 years ago. One new set of tires a few years ago, one set of brakes, LED lights, and bearings all last year. It does show some age but has been used smartly, not overloaded much, never loaned out to idiots, often loaned out to careful friends.

Just about everything else I buy is old or used, but when an old trailer will sell for nearly new price with the work it needs, make the step up and get a nice new one.

Minimum of $1200 if it needs tires, just did that on my 29" + 6" dovetail. My trailer weighs about 7500, they are heavier than they look. I would say that"s too much if it needs brake work too. IF you do offer on it check for cracks and worn suspension parts, takes quite a lot of use to wear out a set of brakes unless they were stopping the whole rig.

We purchased a 36' TD for $3500 a few years ago. Had to rework the wiring for both brakes & lights, sand swept & painted, added new reflective decals and a couple tires needed replacing. Also had to replace a couple magnets and put new shoes on all 4 wheels. Also replaced all four bearing seals though none were leaking. Most of the TD axles are Dexter brand, oil bath--very hard to damage unless someone ran with no oil.

Didn't find the brake work very difficult. We found a local tire place who supplied 12-ply trailer tires for a fleet and was able to buy good used ones mounted/balanced for $50. As to the weight--the scale number for the trailer empty was 5400 #s and we pull it with a 2001 F350 with SR wheels and 3.73 gears. Would rather have a dually, but have made many long-distance trips with no problems.

As to the $3k price, I would consider paying $2000-$2300 tops, but as several other folks mentioned there's some unknowns on the trailer. I'm not a northerner, but suspect all the rust is from running on snow & salted roads--this can wreak havoc on springs and brake components, not to mention trailer structure. Take a real good look underneath and probably just assume all brake springs & internal hardware need to be replaced, as well as brake shoes. Lights are easy to fix, but this still takes time...best of luck with it. Last comment, one good thing about this external_link economy, you'll probably be able to find many trailers for sale so you have a target-rich environment--don't jump on this one just cause its close by....

(quoted from post at 16:19:49 10/16/11) That trailer will weigh 7500 lbs empty and pull hard, I use one very similar to it and most of the time the trailer weighs more that the load on it. Plates can get expensive for that kind of gross and there's DOT concerns I pull mine with a one ton dually and wouldn't want any thing smaller, just my thoughts. Price seems high for condition.

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We have a 30 foot 24,000gvw Corn pro. we pull it it with the 85 Chevy 1 ton. Granted we don't load it excessively. Normally we pull it with the Pete.

Where most guys get in trouble with the DOT is improper plating. Most state require a combination plate when pulling a trailer, meaning that if your trucks 10,000 GVW and your trailer is 12,000 GVW your truck should be plated for 22,000 GVW.

You could in theory be overweight with an empty trailer.

PA requires it. Ohio supposedly does but I've never had them say anything to me about it. I've never had a cop tell me I'm exceeding towing capacity.
I don't car what you pull as long as the weight on the truck doesn't exceed its rated capacity.

Of course 1/2 the cops don't know the law anyway. My brother got stopped several weeks ago by a township cop. His reason for stopping him was that there was no sticker on the trailer plate. Well duh dummy its a permanent plate, they don't have stickers. All PA permanent plates start with the letters PT. He then wrote him an overweight fine. How do you do that without weighing it? Never mind the fact that he was empty and that 1 ton is plated for 28,000.

Magistrate tossed both tickets and told the cop he wanted to talk to him in private after my brother pointed out how much the truck was plated for and showing the magistrate the trailer registration.

As for the trailer your looking at, to much money.
I literally just priced an new Corn pro last week.
14,000 GVW Deck over tag along $5450. I didn't price GN's since I need a trailer for behind my 1 ton dump.

2009 our 30 foot CP was 10,500