I need opinion/thoughts on this (trailer mod)

I ran a 39', 33" lo-pro deckover hotshot. I robbed them pics from another site. According to the guys over there, some are I beam frame, some are c channel. The I beam are 29" deck height with 5" fenders. The channel are 27" with 6.5" fenders.

Moving dunnage around sucks, but it's part of open decking. Mine is chained down on the upper deck, & I have to move it around from time to time too..

Assuming you got that style trailer so you can carry 11' tall freight, why give that up? Strap the wood up on your gooseneck, or build a wood rack under the trailer.?

The 8 you carry now seems like plenty? Most 40' loads I took were not 1 piece. Probably only need to double stack 2 or 3 to get around the fenders. Even if they were 8 double stacked to 4 will still work..

Maybe adjust the coupler pipe on the neck. Looks like the trailer is riding a bit nose high.? My dovetail drug on crap all the time too. Going in at an angle helps some..

 

Yep, FL certainly sucks trying to leave, especially on the loadboard with a hotshot. Sorry if I'm coming across like a know it all. I don't, just seen lots of different ways to do things. I had a dunnage rack on my hotshot, but not on my step so I feel your pain.

Mine was a full rack with expanded metal in the center so it would hold 8 footers & smaller cut pieces for blocking up narrower ltl's too.
The simplest racks I've seen are just 2 pieces of c channel welded to the crossmember about 97" apart. That way they are light, & you can carry your 8' 4x4's without moving them around all the time..

Flipping the leaves to the top of your axles is probably doable. Thinking you lose stability though, & at least 6" taller deck height. That would probably put you close to 33" anyway. Your trailer is so new, why not just sell, or trade it on a lo-pro deckover. That way it was designed correctly.?

 

There is a guy on youtube "South Georgia Hotshot"that just did that job on his Big Tex.He got a kit from Dexter that had new leaf spring saddles for the axle and it used different ubolts.He was having trouble with his dovetail dragging.Now his ramps are off a bit but he hauled a few loads and is happy the way it performs so far.

 

@samcperez thanks for the video mention above. There 34mins of my life I can't get back!! LoL, I'm kidding, good video. Seems like a good guy, not one of those yelling, in your face, bragging type kids running around our roads..

@crocky Seems like an easy enough job to flip suspension if that's the route you'd like to go. The last comment I'll make before you do this. If you haven't tried yet, & maybe you already do this. When you're searching on dat, or truckstop or whatever. Put lowboy, & double drop in along with hotshot. There's that occasional 11' tall light weight piece paying good money. Sure, being 13'6" with a small truck sucks, & fuel mileage will tank, but for ~$3 bucks a mile who cares. Might be worth a little tail drag here or there, & playing musical chairs with the dunnage to keep those freight options open. You could also add some rollers to the tail so it's not so bad..

 

That South Georgia Hotshot just extended that trailer from 30-40ft so he is quite the handyman.As a lifelong mechanic and welder I thought he did a good job but I would of done some things a little different including selling it and buying a 40fter LMAO.Good luck to you.

 

That's a 14gn that dude has. Only 7k axles. May still be flipped, I don't know about that part, but those are not 10k Dexter's he was working with.

Agreed, the add on spring perches looked a bit chintzy..