Time to buy a all aluminum trailer need advice

Apples and oranges here I'm sure.

I pull a 53' Fontaine Infinity combo step with a CAT C15 powered Columbia with 150 gal tanks. I feel your pain about the weight. With all of my gear, ramps, chains, binders etc,.. full of fuel I am 34,680 lbs. 45k lbs is pretty much it for me unless I cut back on fuel. I can knock off 1100lbs by cutting back to half tank fuel.

The Fontaine Infinity with the X-Beam coil package I have is rated for 80klbs and has a 11,400lb tare weight. Mine is a bit heavier, I have 2 side boxes loaded with gear, binders, ratchets, coil racks, edge protectors, snow chains, extra 30' 3/8 chains etc. I also have the HD Ramps kit and had the rear deck of my trailer reinforced with extra bracing underneath bolted to the main frame rails when it was repaired from damage I had while loading a machine. Just guessing,.. but trailer is probably around 13,000 tare with all of my gear. I am a better to have and not need kind of guy. When asked if I have the right equipment to handle a load,.. 99% of the time,.. absolutely,.. yes.

Most of what I do is under 40k lbs,.. (Mainly equipment, rentals, crane parts, construction site moves, over size or legal etc). To be that heavy with a regular flat is pretty heavy. I always thought I was much heavier than a Prostar. They look like a light truck. Not much more than a 386 Pete per say.

I am also on the hunt for a new trailer,.. all aluminum step for me.

I've narrowed my search down to just 2. MAC or Reitnouer. Fontaine makes a nice one too,.. the Revolution. Might be an option for you. The deck design doesnt work for me as I do a lot of equipment and machinery. I need the nail boards like the MAC and Reitnouer has. Plus I fear the track machines I load would cause premature damage to the Revolution deck.

The MAC has the underside deck supports to the frame which is what I need for doing excavators and dozers,.. or the odd heavy rubber tired machines. Expensive,.. but if I go with the MAC it will probably be the last trailer I ever buy before I retire. I expect to keep it for at least the next 10 years.

Hurst

 

That was my first impression. Something doesnt seem right there. Why is the Prostar so heavy? T660 with 86" Studio is not that heavy.

My first truck was a 2007 C15 powered 386. 235" wb pulling a 48' Transcrap trailer. I could easily scale 51 - 52k lbs.

Hurst

 

This is mainly why I want to have a lighter trailer. Not because I want to haul heavier loads,.. but mainly for the option to haul heavier loads when thats all there is to get out of an area. Its why I prefer step,.. the versatility to make virtually anything workable.

Hurst

 

I'm pulling around a 2016 reitnour maximizer 53ft with a 48ft fixed spread. With it and my 2015 cascadia in at 28500 with 200 gallons of fuel and full flatbed gear. The trailer has a tare weight of around 8800lbs

 

That is correct sir.

 

That was exactly the problem I had for years!
I built a heavy truck to run my regular end dump and flatbed work as well as a 7 axle lowbed which that heavy lowbed gig didn't materialize. The truck worked out great, super efficient and very workable in almost any application except for one thing, she's heavy! A shade over 22k lbs. The stepdeck I had was a 50' (40' on the bottom) Doonan combo sliding rear axle with ramps which I loved. There was practically nothing I couldn't get on there so long as it wasn't over 42,500 lbs without a permit, which obviously became a struggle in recent years as open deck has drastically slowed up along with rates.
I used to mostly haul equipment and military rolling stock when that was moving strong, typical payload of 34,000 lbs.
In the last two years I have been lucky enough to stay reasonably steady locally hauling rock with my end dump, had the opportunity to haul palletized rock for the same company when bulk was slow but I was too heavy to make it worth while.
So now my business model has changed and payload is the name of the game as rock is mostly payed by the ton, I looked very closely at every lightweight open deck option out there. I needed to load a consistent 48k lbs.
Earlier this year I bought a 48' Fontaine Revolution 52.
I'm pissed I didn't do that two years ago!
The Mac was the next runner up but nothing will beat the strength to lightweight ratio of the Revolution.
I also wanted those super tough side rails.
The floor is something I have a love hate relationship with, in an OTR application I think it's fine but as a few have already commented, there are only two nailers. However, there are turtles and chocks which slide and lock into the floor which I prefer over nailing anyway. As for the part I don't like, because of the super strong floor design, dirt, broken shards of rock and crap is very hard to remove! It's a real ##### to sweep!
The trailer only weighed 8800lbs from the factory which included some optional extras but when you put all your securement equipment and stuff in there obviously that adds up.
It had two toolboxes and I added front lift axle, rear dump, 14 winches on drivers side and 10 winches on passenger, all aluminum with outside durabrights, large Fontaine lightweight dunnage rack and backup lights.
It weighs 9,200lbs like this.
Being light isn't cheap no matter how you go about it.

Here's a link that might be more helpful than me,

 

I like a reinke I fave had one Gould never sold it but one heck of a good trailer an hold their value

 

my 2012 prostar is only 28860 with both 150gal tanks full and big bubba and full gear.