Low boy trailers

I love my Talbert, I currently pull a 55 ton with a pin on 4th, I'm in construction and its a good all around trailer. I've had some big loads on it and it does just fine. I pulled a 40 ton tri-axle with an interchangeable beam/deck for a long which was a nice old trailer. When I worked for All Crane we had a whole fleet of Talberts, mostly 45 tonners but a few other capacity's too. It did seem like some of the last ones we had were kinda flimsy, but I'm comparing a 45 ton to a 55 ton. If i were to get a new trailer tomorrow I think I would go with a Fontaine, I've yet to hear anyone who pulls one complain about it. Plus they're more willing to customize one than the rest seam to be. As far as Eager Beaver there is a small company around here who has had one for years they seem to like. To me they look like a Trailking knock off but I think they would be alright depending on what you expect out of it.

 

Trail King are good, but you pay for them and they have a few features which are not too user friendly unless you get a custom ordered one.
I have spoken to a lot of O/O's running Fontaine Specialized and have yet to hear anything bad about them as a company or otherwise. Their ride height is also lower than most TK's, which is a big bonus at times. Looking over a 3 axle 2007 Fontaine recently, it seems to be holding up every bit a good as the 3 axle TK I am pulling around. Granted the TK is @5yra newer, but the paint and steel on the Fontaine looked to be pretty good shape.

Martin

 

I love my TK but they are far more expensive than the other brands. The only thing I hate on it is the plates in the neck to hold the weight off the cylinders, there is only two positions (well three on mine as I manufactured another shim) I do like the looks of their new ratchet neck but I'm not going to spend the coin to buy a new trailer. I'm looking for a used 60 to 70 ton trailer now and I'm down to either a Talbert nine axle or a Fontaine 11 axle. Both will do the job but the Fontaine is 12 years older.

As for Etnyre all of them that I've looked at have been made of such flimsy iron that while they are lightweight I'm surprised that there isn't more of them broken in pieces on the side of the highway.

 

I didn't want to chime in earlier because I don't feel like I know enough to say anything good or bad but at my old company, we had an XL and it was really finicky, you had to literally back up perfectly to get it lined up to get the pin to lock. Now that I've pulled other lowboys, life is much easier. Like it was so bad, that if you were cawkeyed by a ####hair, it wouldn't lock.

It didn't matter that you had a vshape guiding you in, it literally had to be at the right 90 degree angle.

 

I had a 2000 model TH 55ton fontaine that I wished I never sold. had some heavy loads on it never a problem. have an 2006 trailking 55ton now. very good wagon! the only thing I don't like about it is it wont raise up as high with the hydraulics like the fontaine does. seen a lot of broken talberts and etnyre,s. and those flimsy xl,s don't get me started! I don't like the way etnyre welds their frames together. about 2 feet in front of the transition. that makes me nervous.

 

Nelson and Liddell make a good rgn, pitts has nothing to do with xl so I'm kinda confused how we got there, I think pitts is a decent trailer for the money little heavier cross members would have been nice.

 

Anyone has a opinion about a BWS E-Z 2 load trailers? i'm looking for a 40 ton Mechanical.

Thanks