Is it me or has trailer prices gotten insane?

My bad I meant 25GN the one with 12k axles 35+5 with the dovetail so a 40fter.. I picked it up today, but driving home I could tell it was dog walking. Pulled a tape measure on the wheels and the right side is about a 1/2" difference from the left side so it's walking toward the curb. There are adjusters on the axles and Big Tex apparently didn't do very good quality control before sending it out the door. Have an apt to get it fixed for Mon but a bit annoying because was hoping to go get the trailer inspected tomorrow and head out with it Monday. I may just adjust it myself so I can get it inspected this weekend and still head out. Shouldn't be that big of an issue TBH just I shouldn't have to do that to a brand new trailer so a little peeved on that. (the rest of the trailer is fine though, overall pretty happy with it)

As far as mods. I'm planning to have the gooseneck chopped off and have a 12ft step deck built on it with a 5th wheel kingpin. I'm gonna run it a bit 1st before I do it but that's in the plans hopefully before springtime.

The current gooseneck length from the center of ball to the back of the upright i-beams is roughly 8.5 ft. If I go 12ft I'm extending the length of the gooseneck by 3.5 feet but the kingpin will be set back around 1ft to 1.5ft So I'll add a total of roughly 2ft to the total trailer but I'll gain 12ft of flat deck space at roughly 45-50" to the top of that deck. Meaning my 40ft trailer will then have 52ft of overall usable deck space but will only be 2 ft longer.

(I'm looking to build a step-deck like this https://www.appalachiantrailers.com...2020/07/step-deck-car-trailer-appalachian.jpg ) but it will be better usable for freight than that one is.

I'll end up putting extenders up at the front of the step deck so I can get cars on there no problem and don't accidentally drive off the front. (extenders like you often see on 3 car wedges)

The 2 boards on the outside of the main I-beam frame I'll be removing to put punched steel decking so I can easily tie down cars with over the wheel straps and it will be level with the deck boards. (punched steel is like you see on big semi car trailers the sections the wheels go on with all the holes so they can tie down to them.

Last is the dovetail.. I need to run the trailer a bit to sort out what I want to do there. Currently, it has the upside-down angle iron on the dovetail which is too rough to run a small car over. I'm toying with removing the angle iron, added some supports in, and then putting the heavy-duty wire mesh there instead like they use on car trailers.

I'm not really sold on the MEGA ramps.. I need the dovetail for cars so I went with the mega ramp model but I might pull the ramps off completely. I tested a bit ago.. I was able to load a crew cab F350 short bed and a F350 extended cab long wheelbase on the trailer but I couldn't get the ramps all the way up. (partly due to one truck had a long hitch.) If I make a longer securement bar that I can switch out when I have 2 trucks I can run it like it is now no problems but I have a different idea in mind and I might remove the mega ramps and change up the dovetail a bit so I can still load cars and have the full 40ft but I have to play around with that idea 1st and it's hard to explain.

Anyway, if I can do all these mods I can probably have 4 small cars or 3 normal sizes or 2 trucks/vans and 1 small car. However, I can still fit a 40 ft container on it, haul equipment and have 52ft of flat deck space.

Will be a very versatile trailer once done. I was looking to have someone build it for me the way I wanted, but I needed a better trailer now and after thinking it through, it made more sense to buy a 40ft deck and modify it because I can use the trailer right away and then do the mods as I get to them.

I've been thinking about what I wanted a long time. I have a local shop that builds some quality stuff that I'll get to do the gooseneck. In all honestly, I think they can probably do it in a day 2 at most. It's really not too complicated but I need a shop to do it so they can recertify it so I don't end up with DOT issues. The dovetail mods and other stuff I'll be doing myself.

 

Figured I'd bump this... As I posted I bought the 40ft 25GN that I'm going to have modified. I took it for my 1st run last week up to NC with an F450 crew cab long frame dump body loaded on it. Got $1.50 out of FL with a single-vehicle so that was a welcome sign.. ( didn't book a 2nd small car because it was a giant truck and I was worried about the mega ramps)

With that said.. the Mega ramps I'm not too impressed with. I realized even with my car ramps to change the angle it's gonna be very hard to load cars (the way they made the ramps it's just too rough for small car wheels). I decided to go home and try to take the ramps off for now. I ended up booking another F450 home that paid $1k but then it canceled that morning.. it was Friday and I decided just to dead head home take my loss and fix my ramp issue so I can start the next week off right and be able to load cars.

Made it home, can't get the ramps off.. (I curse big tex) In short if I take the ramps off the secondary bracket that the mega ramps hang on can't be removed without cutting the mounting tabs off the trailer. (they caged the bracket in place with the mounts on the trailer it's self) Not good. This means I'm going to end up having the trailer shop rebuilding my dovetail to a new design and I'm gonna ditch the mega ramps altogether. I wasn't sold on them but I needed a dovetail so I figured I'd at least try them.

I figured out a workaround using some 2x12's that I'll use in conjunction with my aluminum car ramps so at least I can load cars in the meantime but here is the kicker..

I just booked my 1st $10k week because I had the right trailer...(all prebooked)

1st I have another F450 dump for the same guys I hauled the one to NC for ($850). I ended up rebooking the return load to FL that I lost last week so $1k straight back to FL. (truck wasn't ready but it's ready now)
I then booked a $3/mile 2 partial load going to Idaho. paying $8,5k.. It was actually a $10k load but I lost a 3rd partial that was paying $1,5k. (hauling 2 pieces of equipment, had a 3rd piece but lost it) This will end up being my 1st $10k week since I started trucking.

The moral of the story.. trailer is expensive but I'm getting access to loads I couldn't do before. I'm not ideal for cars yet but once I have the gooseneck mod done, this trailer is gonna be a little money maker. This week has proven to me my thoughts are right about having a do anything trailer and it's worth having it built to my specs vs just taking what these trailer manufacturers want to sell. If I had the step deck mod done right now, I'd have made even more this week because I'm not overweight on any of them, just out of deck space.

 

Actually.. pretty good until today... LOL

I just loaded the big load and ended up with a bigger load.. A guy that booked another part of this load couldn't carry everything he said he could carry. I ended up picking up 2 more items. I have a 2nd truck I set up to run the other 2 items so I have to pay him some but it will be a very nice run altogether.

The drawback is my F550 after running awesome all this time started overheating on me after picking it up. . I think the radiator needs to be flushed because it previously ran a bit hot running up 2 different mountains... I ordered a new radiator and will put it in tomorrow. So my trip out is getting a bit delayed and I likely won't drop until Thurs next week so it will now be an "extended very good week".. lol

Luckily this pick-up with very close to home so I came home and fixing the truck tomorrow then heading out Sunday. They are giving me leeway on delivery because I saved their ###-covering the 2 pieces the other guy couldn't carry.

I do think that I will be upgrading to a new truck this spring. I really wanted to stay away from a new truck, but I prefer long runs and if I can put together $5-6k runs cross country once the trailer is reworked then I think it's worth it.

This load here is a total fluke.. I can't believe the money they are paying out. I'm getting $13,5k for the pieces I'm carrying, another guy is taking a $5k piece and then they had 2 different carriers hauling 6 trucks for them (big crew cabs). I have no clue what the trucks were paying but I know they weren't cheap. These guys are easily paying over $20-25k to move all this equipment and the heaviest item the other dude took was 14k lbs everything else was 5k-9k

 

Well.. I ended up parking the F550. As I mentioned, it was over heating running the load 20 miles back to my house.

I pulled the radiator, pulled the intercooler and both were super dirty so I flushed them and sprayed them out. I also pulled the water pump but it was brand new.

I was pretty confident it was the radiator causing the issue so put it back together Sat and drove the truck all over getting a few things. It ran fine.

I tried to pull out Sunday morning and it started overheating again. I assume at this point must be the oil cooler but I bit the bullet and bought a new truck on Sunday.

Tried to buy a new f550 but the Ford dealership wouldn't sell me a cab and chasis. They wanted to only sell the truck with a bed so I went to Chevy and ended up with a brand new 2019 5500 that had been custom ordered by some company that never picked it up.

It's a loaded and I mean loaded standard cab but it has the long frame. Its same length as my f550 was which is a crew cab extended frame.

With this set up I can put an actual sleeper on the truck and still have the stretched frame for my step deck mod I'm having done.

Anyway all the #### happening and I still only dropped a day late and beat some other dude who left out Friday.

The chevy is a nice truck, I love the front tilt hood and has aluminum wheels, navstar the whole 9 yards. About only option it didnt have was leather seats. It did however beat the #### out of me, but I'm pretty certain it was how I had the trailer loaded.

I had a ditch witch fx50 on it and a 14ft dump trailer. I had to load the fx50 up front in other to fit both on the trailer. All that weight up front made a bumpy ride from FL to Idaho..


But now I've gone and done it, bought a new trailer and a new truck... It's an awesome truck, but I'm gonna have to figure a way to put airbags on it because it didn't like the concrete highways.. beat me to hell..

On plus side these guys want me to run some more trucks from FL to ID when I get back.

 

Thanks, I really didn't want to buy a new truck, but it takes a lot of stress off the table now that I'm not worried so much about taking a load long distance.

I'm gonna custom build a fiberglass sleeper for it and will do aluminum diamond plate on the frame.

 

Yeah, it will be a lot easier now with all new equipment, but now I have to pay for it...lol