45-48-or 53' which one?

What are you planning on hauling and where are you located???

"IF IT FITS, IT SHIPS" is the way I look at it.... sure you will limit yourself with the 45', but most general loads (coils, plate, shingles) don't take up 45' of trailer anyways. You may run into issues being able to scale the load, but i doubt that will happen too often.
Now i have been to shippers who required a 102" wide trailer, but have not seen any with a minimum length yet, but i'm sure there are plenty...

I've never been turned away except once, I had a 51' trailer and they wanted a 53'.

That said, depending on how nice that 1987 trailer is, i might just go for it. At $2,000 price, you can't go wrong. And if you run into a lot of problems with the length (which i doubt you will) you can easily get your money back from it, so no loss there.

 

If the trailer is in good condition except tires the price would make the loads you may not get of little concern.
I would inspect it closely before buying it due to it's age.
look at the floor too, replacing is expensive small spot not a problem though.

 

My trailer is 51' 6". i lost a good load the other day because it was 1' 6" short

 

53' and stay outta Cali!

Works for me.

 

45'x96" is so obsolete that its only worth that the steel will bring as scrap steel... seriously.

 

It depends on what you want to use it for. For local steel mill work length isn't a concern. Around Gary Ind you see a lot of 45x96 trailers working every day. It's worth $1000 for scrap anyways so if you have room to keep it you won't be out much.

 

Hard to believe you've been trucking 25 years but yet you posted this statement.

There are many 45'x96" running around making money every day. Just go around any big steel mill and you will see more 45's than 48's. Heck I never understood why people would buy a 48'x102" and not get paid more money than you would if it was on a 45'x96"
...LOL

 

For running OTR, you are somewhat correct. that's why I asked what he planned on doing with it. I could pick up a 45x96 and make $600 a day (thru Landstar agents) running local coils and steel plates (less than 50 miles) but I choose to run OTR and get equipment accordingly.