Buying a Stepdeck! Need advice!

Personally I pull a 48' by 102" step deck. Never have I run into problems with
getting a load where a 53' was required.

Myself I would not worry about getting a triple axle as the extra weight that you
can haul with it is not much at all. If you have a 10' spread, as are most open decks,
you are legally allowed to have up to 40k on the trailer. Now even though you can
have up to 40k you are only allowed 20k per rear axle. On a Triaxle you can
load up to 42k, at least in LA I'm sure most states are about the same, which would
only be 2k more pounds.

One place that it would come in handy is hauling heavy loads as you could permit
for more weight being you have the extra axle. In that case I would have lift able
axles. We had one tridem where each axle was air lift and it made it nice to be able
to get some of the wheels off the pavement saving tires when not loaded.

Another thing I would look for when buying a step would be the amount of drop in
the drop at the step. Some trailers depending on the amount of drop will have
different bottom deck heights. For example most step decks bottom deck height
are around the 38" to 41" height. The only I pull is some where around 34" deck
height, I wish it was here to measure, that makes a big difference when hauling something tall.
Another thing that will make a difference will be tire size. Most step run
255/70R22.5 like myself, but you can also run 17.5 on it. For me the 255's hold
up much better.


This is also something I invested in for my trailer.
http://www.landsport.com/Dropdeck.htm


Opens up the doors for loads that I could otherwise not haul.

These also come in handy, just not as much.

 

There are some ramps that are out there that double as load levelers.. You get both for the price of 1... If you want somthing like this it might pay to shop around?

 

Coon, what was your final cost to doorstep ?

been want'in to get a ramp setup.

 

Just over $3k, that was the set of ramps and two load levelers.
The website is: www.landsport.com its' in the pics of the ramps.
That is where I got mine.

The ramps have allready paid for themselves, the levelers I could
have done without. But I guess they'll come in handy one day.

I guess it's cause I also have a regular flatbed and I just use that when
the load requires it.

 

Get the ramps that double as load levelers and you will be glad you did, I can not tell you how many loads I loaded because of that, it saved my butt time and time and time again.

Also having the ramps you can drive things onto your top deck.

Also put the attachments for the ramps on the front of your trailer.

Why on the front? So you can load a vehicle off of a flat bed wrecker onto your top step.

Often times vehicles can pay 7-1100.00 on top of what you are already hauling, and they are light and easy to secure.

 

http://www.landsport.com/LLRAMPS_PAGE_PICS/LLRAMPS88.htm

 

Can't speak of many states but, ky if u have three ax step center has to be off ground to be legal. recognize spread but not tri.

 

Thats what mine are, ramps that can be used as levelers. All it takes is
a couple extra pieces.

We just bought some load levelers by themselves as we have 4 step decks
that we run.

 

Also a great tip, go buy two wheel barrow tires and a piece of rod that will go through them, works great for rolling one end of the ramp instead of carrying the whole thing, a lot easier on your back too.

 

That makes no sense. I've seen closed triaxles running down there and I used to run a 3 9's down there and never got bothered. Heck I've seen 4 10's b-train doubles even a LA dalton 6 axle trailer down there running.

Use caution with the lift on a stepdeck. I've seen to many running downt he road bouncing tires off the road causing more damage than leaving it on the ground. If your gonna run a lift you should have good clearance between the road and axle.