Trailers Doors..

Roll up doors will cost you a few inches of clearance at the rear of your trailer. Swing doors increase the width of your trailer when open. Depends on the freight you carry, and where you need to be to load and unload.

 

With roll up doors you can back up to a dock & leave the door closed. Dock workers can open/close them as they need. I have used both & prefer swing doors. Once had a cable break on a roll up door while opening, the door opened completly, went out of the track & the remaning cable or spring pulled it back to the rear of the trailer. Almost broke my leg when it hit.

 

roll up doors are a pain

 

unless you are doing city p/d work dont by a roll up
like the other guys said--you lose room
and when they need work--they are a pain--and dangerous if you dont know what you are doing--big spring--lots of tension--can leave some nasty cuts--dont ask me how i know that
and they also dont seal tight ,like a good set of swing doors will

 

swing doors are more user friendly.

 

Roll up doors are great if you're making a lot of deliveries and especially if it's on a reefer. I for one like roll up doors but then we're hauling refrigerated groceries for Wal-Mart.

 

Now lets speak of door hold open hardware.

Of all I have come across the chain that goes into the x shaped hole are the best.

The reefer I pulled had a chain that hooked inside the hole on a hook. One bump and both doors swung free.

 

90% of our trailers are rollups but some customers will only load swings because the rollups are shorter in height. Not much but some package their freight to fit snug in a standard swinger. I have traveled over 200 miles only to find out the customer couldn't load it because the inside height was too short. The advantange of rollups is you don't have to get out of the truck. With swing doors you have to get out 3 times to make a delivery. These ltl companies have 5,000 drivers making deliveries each day can lose lots of money paying a driver the time fool with a swing door for each stop. If I were to buy a trailer as a solo driver it would be a swinger.