48' reefer vs. A 53' reefer. How bad will that affect my loading capability?

What's the reason for not going with a 53' reefer off the bat? Are you running in an area that will require you to be shorter to make a delivery work? Is it a legal matter because of the length of your tractor or kingpin to trailer axle distance?

 

If you don't have a dedicated account for the 48'. It is best to have a 53' it will affect you very much.

 

Unless you have contract freight where you know you can get away with a 48 I'd go 53. I still see some owner ops dragging spread axle 48s around but not very many

 

95 percent require 53'. You can do bulk potatoes floor load with a 48

 

Depends, generally, with reefer freight, a 48 will be fine, and if that's all you do, I'd actually prefer a 48. Problem is, if you get some backhaul that requires a 53, you're kind of screwed, not that the backhaul should dictate what kind of trailer to get. 48's are a dime a dozen, and just better wagons to load and get around with, Yep, that 5 feet makes a world of difference getting around.

 

I get 28 pallet loads constantly. Where have you seen 48's posted that are not bulk load? I haven't seen them outside of weight limited loads

 

When I ran vans and did reefer loads, 95% of what I hauled could have been done in a 48'. They want 53', they don't need 53'.