Pneumatic Trailer - Steel or Aluminum

How much is the weight difference? How much more money per load is that? How much more is the aluminum trailer? How many loads per day? What is the money difference a week?

 

the difference is weight between a steel and aluminum trailer is about 1500# or so, the difference in prices is about $20K,,sand is abrasive steel will last longer,,

 

I run lots of older steel fruehauf trailers without much problem. Believe it or not the sand won't wear on an aluminum trailer any quicker than a steel. I don't get paid on weight so the weight difference is negligible to my operation. When you look at Pneumatic trailers look for a trailer with gravity drops and cone aeration rather than c pads out the side. I use both and the difference in the time it takes to unload a gravity drop can mean the difference in getting another load or not that day, gravity drops also clean out completely while c pads leave some product in the bottom of the trailer.

The only manufactures of new steel trailers that I know of are Exa and Retessa. While they will work for a while there's a reason that they are cheap and available and that is that their performance and reliability is really low. I've got experience with both brands and I'll never buy another one.

Sorry this got long winded. In response to your question there isn't much difference between steel and aluminum besides weight they both do the job.

 

Haul hand,,what kind of problems did or do you have with EXA and Retessa?

Actually wear from sand does happen,,I have seen dump bodies with steel beds wear out an aluminum, wore faster,,of course with a dump bed the product slides out faster ..

 

My biggest problem with the EXA and Retessa is that they don't hold together on the rough lease roads. I had them in once a week repairing welds that were cracking. They also were extremely slow to unload, my old Fruehauf's unloaded faster than they did and while there is nothing wrong with a J model Fruehauf a new gravity drop trailer should be able to kick its ### with anything other than 100 mesh or cement.

Comparing dumps to pneumatics is apples to oranges because like you said product comes out faster causing more friction, and they usually haul much coarser grades of sand than a pneumatic. While trailers do wear out it takes years and years whether your pulling aluminum or steel.

 

Aluminum Heil trailers with steel Tee's and piping is what our sand haulers use. We tried aluminum tees and pipes, didn't last long at all. Also, look for a trailer with a straight pipe to the back, under the axles. Those trailers with the pipes over the axles wear out the pipe very rapidly

 

That's good advice on the steel piping and tees. But I don't like a pipe to the rear as it limits your options. I like to terminate my product line at the rear of the last T and then hang a hose under the axles to the rear of the trailer. It's cheaper and easier to replace when it wears out and it also allows you to run a short hose out the side if you can. Every foot of distance that can be eliminated saves time on the unload and a pipe to the rear adds 15 to 18 feet.