Beveled lumber for coils

I ran a coil wagon for a while, only had Oak 4x4 timbers 5 feet long.

 

I would go 5 or 6 foot and it has to be beveled hardwood to meet feds requirements. I agree 4 foot might be a little short on some coild and 8 foot can get in the way of your chains

 

The way i always looked at it was if i kept 8'ers on the trailer then i could also use them for other types of freight. Everybody has a different theory.

 

I never tried 8 footers for coils myself, always carried 12 for regular loads.

 

When i started the mills gave you beveled lumber and all they had were 8'ers. You went through the bunk of lumber and took what you wanted. Then you just kept it with you. The fuel shortage back in the 70's killed the free lumber when guys started being hogs with the wood so they could use it in their wood burning stoves. One of the laws on the ICC books was the shipper had to furnish the trucking co. with dunnage,but try and get the DOT to enforce that today. They're too hung up on other crap,just like detention time,oh we can't enforce that our big business buddies would be unhappy with us. Tricky Dick called us Thugs and look where we are today.

 

one way to go is to buy the coil racks that angle the 4x4. then you can use them as straight crosspieces and have the beveled wood when you need it , all from the same 4x4.