Update, dovetail angles...

Okay record...This is just an update, people continually ask me how to determine angle of dove... This seems to come up quite a bit. Very simple. Take the length you'd like for the dove, my example here will be five feet. (I'd like a five foot dovetail) So we're adding five feet of length to overall usable bed space, at 8 feet wide, that adds 40 square feet. I did it by the numbers. We know we have to get to the ground, I've already got five feet planned for dovetail and I'm going to fabricate flip over ramps to match bed height in travel position so that my usable bed space is all flat for hauling things loaded by forklift. (stand up ramps are much easier) I suggest making a mock up with wood, maybe 2X4's 10 feet long. The angle depends directly on your bed height, in some cases with a higher bed you will need a longer dovetail and ramps to get to the ground. If you're making flip over ramps and you'd like to add loading surface level with bed you'll need to keep some key points in mind.

The ramps cannot be the full dovetail length. (same length doesn't allow surfaces to mate level)
The front legs/feet on ramps must contact ground (only when weight applied) forward of ramps themselves. (if legs/feet are directly under the front of ramp, when the weight transfers from ramp to dove the ramps will lift up at the low end causing major damage to wheeled vehicles)
Ramps cannot contact ground when lowered to ground, the front legs/feet would stop ramp from getting into lowered position.

To determine the angle correct for dove, position your 2X4's at matching level of bed with opposing end on ground, Measure your angle. Mine worked out to be 15 degrees. All that matters is a balance between ramps and dove and you must get to the ground.
The perfect system isn't possible. You have compromises and are looking for the best compromise for your application... You can always use wood to compensate for needing to load irregular items. in fact, to load my forklift I will lay down 3/4 inch plywood on ramps and dove to make it smoother on small forklift wheels and distribute the weight better. To load my VW Passat (low to ground) I would need to raise the car with wood 3-4 inches and adjust ramps accordingly. So basically, my ramps are too steep to load cars. Trucks are a non-issue. Tractors, wheel loaders, rough terrain forklifts, manlifts and such would be perfect for loading. Lower ramps, drive on, chain and roll...

Been busy working people. Ramps completely installed with assist springs and primed. I'll come back to the install to share details about assist springs, solid hinge rod etc. I need to do bids for work. Also, I had all ramp diamond plate sheered to exact size for simplicity and will weld the sections on as time permits.
NOTE: Full spool of copper coated .045 welding wire ran out doing some final welding on ramp structures. (50 lb spool, all of it in trailer... I just loaded a spool of copper coated .035 (44 lbs)

and I'm enjoying it in relation to the .045, pleasant change...)

ramps

Making ramps...4 inch channel main supports (3) @ 55 inches long... spaced 20  inches apart, total 40". Angle cut @ 40"  2 1/2" .25 wall angle crossmembers (9) spaced 5" apart (crest to crest) I used 3" channel for legs straight down from channel and miter cut foot ends to match feet squared on floor. (almost) By that I mean I took wooden shims and raised the front of one front channel foot and raised the rear of the other front channel foot. I'm no engineer, but it seems to me the feet shouldn't be identical in how they contact the ground, I believe they're more stable this way. Whenever I run into a situation where I don't know how to do something, I think of a guy smarter than me, then I think, what would he do...Heh!  Obviously the front feet/foot of each ramp needs to be out further, (in front of) ramp surface to prevent ramps kicking up with weight on them, (actually at the weight transfer point from ramp to dove) and this brings into focus the issue of just how will the ramp feet clear the ground when raising or lowering... The ramps need to match the bed height when in travel position and they must be off the ground in lowered position, only coming into contact with ground when weight added to them such as when loading something... You can readily observe in my images that I put smaller legs and another foot behind the front legs/feet for additional support. Ramps are very heavy. In an attempt to save weight as much as possible without sacrificing strength, I'm adding diamond plate to bottom of ramps (flipped over on dove this will be the travel loading surface) and welding the angle cut ends of channel main supports to diamond plate to prevent twisting forces that would naturally occur during loading heavy equipment. (this is as opposed to adding more weight with structural crossmembers)
I need two sheets of 1/8" (nothing will be driving on ramps in travel position therefore 1/8" is sufficient) diamond plate for this because each surface is now 57"X 40". As well, I'm considering the difficulty in finding a shop with a large metal brake and braking the small end over the angle cut mainframe channel 3 or 4 inches for a nice starting surface for ramps... I may have the two sheets sheared at 57X40 and weld it for simplification and add a smaller piece of angle to top to finish starting surface, either way will look good... Of course I could brake the opposite end over the hinge side of the ramps far enough to add two additional tail lights. This would actually make more sense because with my current set up about 40% of my bumper lights will be covered by the 1 1/2 inch solid steel hinge rod... Who knew the ramps would be the most complicated part of the trailer? So there you have it, there are some variables, but anybody can get the general idea of how I did this and you can adjust yours to your own ideas or use mine... I'm including detailed images of my ramp side hinges, 3/4 X 2 1/2 inch, cut, mitered, welded, drilled 1 9/16" holes, cut off corners, rounded with grinder... First image is pattern for hinges required. I'll fabricate bumper side hinges today. Last two are ramps in progress. Have a nice day!

Updates

Well now... No point in lying. I was anxious and a little worried to actually pull it. Fact is, I didn't really calm down until after I weighed it on the big truck scales, got a bite to eat and took a break...
I torqued all lug nuts, checked lights, checked breakaway system battery, put my gooseneck spider in my bed on rails, secured with pins, connected breakaway line, inspected all of the shackles, spring mounts etc. I greased all grease fittings. (jacks, equalizers, coupler) Set all air pressure to 80 psi and reversed and pulled forward braking numerous times. I drove around a 3 block circle and returned for inspection. Then I drove out to the four lane and hit it! I did keep my truck in 3rd instead of overdrive, we know the trailer is at least 6200 lbs. I didn't add welding wire and I didn't have the correct measurements on the dovetail angle 5/16 X 3, as well, the scales could be slightly off... I couldn't ascertain a correct intelligent answer as to what percentage are they guaranteed correct... Such is the world/time in which we live... I was so excited I have no idea what I paid for the two weighs... She pulls just as pretty as you please, my truck knows she's there, but just goes on... My happiest realization is that there is no jerking/bucking going on and I purposely hit potholes to investigate oddities. So, in light of that, I'd say the rigid frame and neck idea are an extreme success.

Here are the scale tickets, as you can see; Steer axle is 3200 lbs. Drive axle is at 3820 lbs. and trailer axles are at 5160 lbs all while connected to truck.

Total is 12,180 lbs.

Then I dropped trailer on scales and weighed alone. At the jacks the trailer is 1880 lbs. At the axles the trailer is 4620 lbs.

Total trailer 6500 lbs.

I'd like to point out that I'm building ramps now, 40 inches wide each and they are very heavy, I'm guessing I'll be lucky if I can keep them at 300 lbs. each. I ordered 3 sets of assist springs, up and down is plan, I may adjust that number by necessity... 

Also, as time/money permits I have every intention of removing 7k axles and replacing with 12k axles and running super singles rated at 6005 lbs each.

I pulled it roughly 46 miles all told and I plan to pull it again unladen on a nicer day with no rain in forecast. I've yet to finish priming and painting bottom of bed plate and painting the rest of the mainframe...I expect I'll get on those issues as work permits. I'm attempting to design and build ramps in the evenings/nights but I have to rest a little... 

Good Day!

Tunes

People I am so tired working 16-18 hours per day that I've just been dragging butt this morning, should be doing wiring, yet I am listening to music. Here are a couple I found recently that I'm fond of, I don't consume alcoholic beverages anymore but I can certainly relate well.
Neither of these recordings sound quality on a system (ie. I'm running a DJ mixing board, Crown amps and JBL M-Pro's (dual 15's, horns) switchable to Klipsch CF-3's...) however, on my little computer speakers (Klipsch THX) they actually sound fantastic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO3RIy7JB7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McdA0aPQEUI

A good laugh!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMFY7RhzhDA

All Mickey Gilley...

Here is one that does sound fabulous on ANY system and can be really cranked up!!! I thrive on the horn parts!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaUVLvhwwK8

Okay, that's enough goofing off, have a nice day...

DREADNOUGHT

Dreadnought definitions that suit me...

One that is among the largest or most powerful of its kind.

Fears nothing.

Big, Strong, Impressive, Awe inspiring.

Any large heavily armored battleship.


Heh!

Sand application between topcoats

Here folks is an image of the result of shaking clean/dry sand in between the final two topcoats...The feel is that of around 20 grit sandpaper...

Hi Solids Polyurethane

Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to these types of coatings because the actual topcoat hi solids polyurethane was actually much worse than the Kem Kromik primer, as far as odor and dislike. I'm not sure if the hardener was the culprit and what, if any, effect the reducer had in the mix, I had to reduce it a small amount to make it more workable... Very happy I never opened the stuff inside!!! I even had a good breeze blowing and it annoyed me.

After careful consideration, I'm leaning towards letting the huge landing gear idea go at this time due mainly to the weight. (I have a slightly educated guess that they are over 220 lbs each)

I might add that if I do happen to come into possession of a GM Duramax (Preferring the GMC)  I could go ahead with the extra weight...Especially if a set pops up on Craigslist that's reasonable...

I guess it's time to talk about my truck. I suppose you can see it in some of my posts. I love it! It is a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 2wd extended cab long bed with the 6.0 LS engine.
A little story; I've gone to look at the new trucks, mouth gets all dry, then I get back in my paid for, nothing wrong with Baby and she glides away just as pretty as you please... Sure a crew cab four door, four wheel drive, dually, WITH DIESEL AND ALLISON TOO!!! would be tits!!!
Some of you may know, if you've ever heard of a spark plug, or haven't spent your life on Uranus, that GM's LS engines are the easiest to soup up.  Very reasonably priced mods and some of the best engines in existence... SO! I've toyed with the idea of freshening it up (new rod bearings and mains, rings, oil pump etc) and slapping on a set of aluminum L-92 heads and a new intake. Then adding a small turbo charger (75mm) and running about 10 lbs of boost. I figure that'll get me in the 500-550 hp range and around 500 ft. lbs. of torque to pull my trailer loaded uphill without, lets just say, getting in the way... My dealer says they can reflash computer and offered options for the transmission.. While toying I have noted that Hudiburg Fleet sales in Oklahoma seems to have the best prices on the 2015 and 2016 3500HD crew cab 4X4 with Duramax and Allison....Both with pickup bed and cab and chassis and bed options as well. (I'm rather fond of the aluminum flat beds)
Obviously I'd go with the dually for stability but folks that's an awful lot of money, I cannot trade my truck because she's my girl...She's reliable if I do nothing! I have a car I could trade in but I'm not a fan of payments AT ALL! Therefore I'm left with paying for it by working my butt off. I'm starting a complete exterior first thing in the morning, I'll get the interior as well... But honestly, I'd need 20 more to buy that truck and I'm not certain I could do it. Sure, it would be fantastic and I could do more dabbling in heavy equipment (buying/selling) but I just don't think I could do it. That is a boatload of money!

That's all I have to say about that. I need to get up early, get to Nashville and get to work... It rained a good portion of the day here and I had to give a bid for work so nothing got done on goose today, still need to finish priming bottom of diamond plate and painting it as well, then I need to run 7 conductor wire in conduit, wire in breakaway box, electrical connector, brakes, stop and turns... Then design and build ramps. Add additional lights etc.