I will be entering a lease purchase program with a company at the first of the year and I have not yet decided if I wanna pull skateboards or reefers. I only have experience pulling boxes and drop deck/equip trailers. Ive ALWAYS wanted to get experience hauling steel to have that under my belt since my home is practically steel central. The thing is I want the best chances at the best loads I can get since I will be leasing. My uncles(veteran drivers) tell me that reefers are the safest bet, but I would like to get a more wide spread opinion. Thanks!

I'm curious as to why they think reefers are a "safer bet." I've got reefer experience, and compared to dry van they are a PITA. The shippers and receivers are much harder to deal with, the loads are much more time critical, and then just when you can least afford it, the damn reefer decides to act up.

OTOH I have no flatbed experience, so I don't know. I do know that tarping in high wind and bad weather does not look like much "fun."

Thye probably are saying reefers are a 'safer bet' since people gotta eat.

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I don't pull a van or reefer for several reasons. One of which being... when was the last time you saw a flat bed blow over from high winds???????????????

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hmmm i cant say i have...that be a gusty wind

When it was loaded with HAY!!! YEEE HAW, that boy's goin' fer a wild ride!

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Have you really?


I've hauled a lot of hay and never had any worries because of the weight.

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Back in the early 80's on SR 86 between Brawley and Coachella CA. Actually about 6 miles north of the border patrol check point on SR 86. EMPTY flatbed w/pup. The pup caught a gust of wind that picked it right up off the (defective) fifth wheel of the tow dolly, and put it back down, upside down. The long bed was just turned sideways in the road, and was pulled off the road by the time I got there.

I've also seen (at least twice) where the wind was so strong that it would tip the loaded hay trailer down to where the bed was rubbing on the tire, catching fire, and taking the hay with it.

Keep in mind that these were all farmer owned trucks, not used for any thing but farm hauling, and poorly maintained. Back then the "powers that be" in the Imperial Valley just kind of ignored anything that Joe Farmer did, right, wrong, or indifferent. . .

OBTW hay fires are a ##### to work. The only way you can put the fire out is to seperate the hay. You can stand there all night and pump water on it, but unless you can seperate it, or smother it with foam, it's still gonna smolder. . .

You got that right about a hay fire.

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No Brickman, I have never seen a flat knocked over, but hay (and other tall loads) do get the flats leaning as bad as a van.

So let me clarify: It was in 05, coming across 80 in Iowa, with a sustained southbound wind of 20-30 mph. All the trucks were leaning bad, but this flat hauling hay was leaning MUCH worse. Granted, that could have been due to faulty equipment (bad airbags,etc) but that sucker looked ready to tip over if the gusts got worse.

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