Mechanical vs Hydraulic Goose Neck trailers.

Personally, I prefer hydraulic over mechanical for a couple of reasons.

1. Easier to work with when breaking it down to load/unload. Less trips in & out of the cab.

2. The ability to raise & lower the neck as needed for clearance issues. There have been times when I needed to lower it as much as possible to clear an overhead obstruction. There have been times when I needed to raise it to clear over humps or railroad tracks.

Even with a mechanical, you can always remove the leveler bar on your suspension & increase or decrease the air in your bags to achieve this, it's just a bit more of a hassle. I have override valves on my trailers that allow me to raise & lower the bags on the trailer suspension as needed, suppose you could do the same on the tractor to make that easier.

The downside to a hydraulic is the need for either a wet kit, which means added weight on an already heavy tractor, or a pony motor, which can have its own issues. Properly maintained, the pony motor usually isn't an issue. Make sure it has a functioning pull starter in case the starter or battery goes belly up at any time. My pony motors are built into an enclosed box to keep them out of the elements, which helps, especially in wet & cold weather.

 

You don't have a wet kit solo?

 

I agree with all this, as far as the hydraulic system goes how about the electric powered unit Keen uses? That seems like a decent idea.

 

Nope, that's another 1,000 lbs. I don't want/need on an already heavy tractor. It would knock me out of even more loads on my flat & step when I don't have a heavy load to haul.

 

For what you are talking about, hydraulic NGB.
Counting the days. Mine's light weight but what a PITA sometimes, especially getting under it in the snow & you can't easily jack it up to keep it from bellying. I won't miss it.

 

Haven't ever looked into the electric systems but it's definitley a possibility.

 

It's a pump like this,



It would be slower than a wet line or pony motor but a lot lighter and less problematic.

 

Was thinking it was probably slower but not enough to be an issue.

 

had one of keens old talbert drop sides with one it runs the neck as fast has a wet line or gas motor there are larger than what you have there the elec motor is about the size of a big truck starter