Ryder Truck Pulls 28-Ft. Gooseneck Trailer

Ryder Truck Pulls 28-Ft. Gooseneck Trailer TRUCKS Conversions 22-6-34 I really enjoyed the story explaining how Jule Jacobson converted a 1983 Owatonna 260 swather into a zero turn radius lawn mower (Vol. 22, No. 4). After reading it I decided to build my own "swather-mower" and am about half done with it. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks it's a great idea. When I called Jacobson for help he told me so many of his neighbors are converting swathers into mowers that it's getting hard to find swathers in his area. After attending a truck auction I couldn't resist picking up several Ryder trucks at bar-gain prices. The trucks had more than 100,000 miles on them but were in good shape and looked new. I resold some of them, but kept one and converted it to pull my 28-ft. gooseneck trailer and a 24-ft. livestock trailer. The truck I converted is a 1992 GMC equipped with a 366 cu. in. fuel injected gas engine that has about 210 horsepower and an Allison automatic transmission. I paid $12,000 for it. I shortened the truck by 8 ft., cutting off part of the driveshaft and part of the frame, and bolted a new 12-ft. long tread plate deck onto the frame. The deck is equipped with a tow ball hitch on back. The truck originally had three leaf springs and rode stiff whenever I used it to pull the trailer. I re-moved one of the springs to make it ride better. I built it because I was tearing up my pickup when pulling trailers. This truck is built to last. It has a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 23,000 lbs. compared to the 10,000-lb. GVV of a conventional 1-ton pickup. (Tim Nelson, 32 Ridge Drive, Carlinvile, Il. 62626 (ph 217 854-6100)

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.