I have re-decked many a flatbed, was paid by the hour and it sucked big time.
As others have stated, may as well rebuild it yourself since it is a total do over.
I would never do it for my own trailer, never. Our average time with two of us was about 80 man hours each, 400.00 dollars in tools to include the grinder, drill bits and screws. Then having to strip paint, wire repairs and all the other parts you have so much time and money in it you never want to part with it.
The only upside is you have free firewood.
deck replacement???
Discussion in 'Flatbed Trucking Forum' started by MNdriver, Apr 29, 2012.
Page 2 of 3
-
-
Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds
Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.
-
I did mine myself. it was a p.i.t.a. took an axe & crowbar & tore out middle section & replaced all the apitong floor. then took a few loads, a week or so, then the rest of the flooring I ordered came in & did the sides. I bought a drill doctor, drill sharpener & it save me lot's of money in drill bits. I could of chopped down a tree BY HAND easier.
-
I was pulling a Landstar stepdeck for a little while, and the outer floor sections between the spread needed replaced. I dropped it off at my local Landstar authorized shop and they did it. It took the guy a whole day to put the new Apitong in and he swore he underbid it and wouldn't do another one. It gave me a lot appreciation for the process as I was contemplating doing my Transcrap 48x102 flat a year previous as it had that crappy Transdeck laminated wood floor from the factory and was 10 years old.
It's not worth it to me, and as others have said, you're going to be doing a lot of other work to those cheap trailers to get them top notch. If you're bound and determined though, make sure you find one with aluminum crossmembers. That will save you some work as most likely those won't need replaced. But count on a new kingpin and plate, as well as structural work. When I had the plate done on my Transcrap, once they opened it up, they called me and had me come and see the rot and why the deal would cost me a lot more money! -
-
I'll see what I can find out. I found out about it by word of mouth last year but have not heard anything since then.
-
-
Took me a total of 24hrs to strip down old deck, cut new boards to size and redeck by myself. This is the 3rd one ive done so far.
User666 Thanks this. -
-
-
Well, since it's resurrected, I bought a trailer for $2k, had $8k of work done to replace pretty much every moving part on it, as well as air tanks, air lines, wiring, lighting, etc. I had the shop do the mechanical stuff, I did the wiring and stripped/painted it. I then had to replace the nail strips. I did that with Trex decking. It's holding up great!
My advice is buy an aluminum deck with nail strips. I wouldn't want to replace an entire wood deck. Aluminum is lighter and will last longer.
Also, there are currently tons of flatbeds in the $15-17K range.staceydude and User666 Thank this.
Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds
Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.
Page 2 of 3