Just a quick flat bed question.

Mine is not shiny anymore, but yes, it's aluminum mounted to steel.

 

That's probably bc scrap yards can still use them in the yard.

I did a contract in an Omnisource scrap yard and was amazed at the state of their yard equipment.

Also, I never witnessed a scrapped flatbed while there. They had a yard filled with scrap van trls but never FB.

There were guys pulling local scrap with flatbed that could never pass a dot.

 

As long as they're pulling local loads, they really don't get too much flack unless stuff is obviously dangerous.

Once you go outside that 100 air mile range or cross state lines, you gotta be on top of everything or you'll end up paying out the nose to keep running.

There's no way in hell I'd take a crappy trailer over a set of scales or over state lines. Too much potential for bad things to happen.

Just look at some local dump trucks in your area. A lot of them probably run bald tires and get away with it because they haul loads 20 miles from the quarry everyday and never get dot'd by a trooper.

 

Considering the cost of a brand new aluminum flat, most guys run them til there's nothing left. In my neck of the woods, when one actually breaks at the frame by the suspension, it usually gets cut down to 35ft or so, then put back together to use locally.

 

Cut down and put back together as a 35ft... that's hard core. I like that.

 

It's pretty easy with a ritenouer because they're bolted together. The 2000 my mrs was pulling broke just behind the front spread. I sold it to a friend of mine and he had it down to 34 ft and on the road in 9 days.