opinions on what is the best flatbed trailer out there?

Les have you been to Northstar Bluescope Steel in Delta OH?

 

I had a nearly new Chaparral... 48X102... it was a good trailer... nice and light. With my 379 and all my chains, binders, tarps (lightweight), etc. my empty weight was 28,200 light on fuel. I hauled many loads that no one else could scale legally.

I also had a Transcraft TL3000... all steel. Built like and tank and weighed the same, too.

I also had a Talbert 48X102 combo flatbed. Nicely built but the front of the frame was poorly designed and it would catch the rear frame rail on my old 378 and bend the top flange... after that happened twice I sold it.

I like MAC trailers... they can get very pricey but are custom built for you. The only thing I'd like is for them to be lighter... I never hauled many coils so having a 70K coil package wasn't a concern with me... hell an old outside framed Utility or Alloy would suit me fine if I still did flatbed work.

Reitnoeur's have had a good rep but some guys don't think hey are as good as they once were.

I pulled Ravens and City Welding 40 footers years ago and we beat 'em up pretty badly but they seemed to stay together.

Transcraft's have problems with the floors staying together.... my son's would have literally self destructed if he hadn't replaced all the floor screws TWICE!

 

ITs been a while but yeah, why?

 

I saw you guys were talking about mill rolls and I didn't know if you ever went to Northstar because they use the old rolls as pillars. In stead of using the standard steel pipe filled with concrete to keep D-A truck drivers from hitting stuff. They drive the giant mill rolls in the ground, some as big as 3 feet thick and as tall as your truck cab. I'm guessing you'd know if you hit one.

 

You can get a Mac as light as 8600# but the problem the run into is like Les said. Guys around here buy the light weight trailers and over load them then complain when they break. Which is why Mac stopped making their 50k trailer, similar to the Reitnouer "maxlight". I flew to Bosie ID to the Western Trailer factory and they complained of all the guys who insist they need the lightest trailer possible when they order, then show up to pick it up with a huge heavy tractor. If your not hauling heavy loads or coils then just about any major trailer brand will probably be fine.

We used to have City flats. They were ahead of their time when they were first made. Their biggest issue is the arch was made with the beam being bent like a rainbow. Instead of the bottom of the rail being straight and the top arched.

 

Those guys with the 22,000 lb tractors need those light trailers.

My Chaparral was about 8700#'s... they were building lighter ones but not by much. You could buy a 45X96 that came in at 7800#'s...

I hauled a lot of wheeled vehicles when I had mine... I was always concerned about overloading the crossmembers that were under the wheels of a 33,000# Sky-Trak... never had a problem but I sold the trailer to my son who had to buy some new bolts to replace several that had broken on the X-members.

 

I have a 42' Mac with a 8'2" spread it weighs 11700! But I had a roll on that weighed 77300 yesterday still had lots of arch in it. I took a picture of it. If I figure out how to get it from phone to here I'll post it.

 

Send it to your email

 

A big roll 77300lbs still holding its arch. Thats107200 gross

 

I've always liked Reitnouer trailers. If your trailer and truck is too heavy, just haul less weight.