96 or 108

here's a good tip for you-..

If you can find a 108 wide trailer......I Want you to book as many 103" to 108" loads you can find........If the broker says their wide Loads- Just say "yeah yeah yeah" and charge him real good.

 

You might as well get a 102". Probably easier to find anyway.

 

Well 108 ur gonna need permits just to run empty?? Just get a 102 and call it a day. No use for a 96. Ive pulled a couple 96, its a pita when u have freight hanging over and ur trying to get ur straps in winches.. I guess the only good thing about em is u would be legal on a road restricted to 102" .. I would say thats the only good use for them. Maybe someone else can chime in and say where it comes in handy because i have no idea

 

Hell, I always preferred the 96" trailers...being from IL (which used to restrict 102" trailers) and close to KY (which still does), it allows me to take short cuts through the sticks without being hassled. Not only that, but on my 1st trip solo just starting out, I was broke (just finished training) and the cash advance was not yet turned on on the fuel card...and they sent me to NJ. Without toll money, I decided to run US 1 up...after all, they wouldn't put a permanent scale on a road trucks couldn't run! Going up at night, scale was closed. Coming back they were open...and they wrote me a ticket ($120 fine) for being over-width, and said they were doing me a favor letting me slide on the over length (would've been $540 for the 53' trailer). Since then, even with vans, I prefer the 48'x96" variety...lets me run pretty much any route I desire with few problems. Very rarely have I ever hauled a load that was loaded into the last 5' of a 53' trailer (can count them on 1 hand with plenty of fingers left over)...so I just don't see the point in pulling anything longer.

And yes, I know I'm a little wierd, but on flats I even prefer the closed tandems over the spreads. Makes it easier to adjust the weight balance how I want it instead of having to have the loader rework the load to shift it forward to where I want it. "But it's legal!" ... perhaps, but it ain't RIGHT! I absolutely hate running down the road with 28K on my drives and 38K on the spread. There's no reason for it, other than a lazy/incompetent loader or driver who just doesn't care.

 

There is one town called Marysville PA, US 15 at I-81. Once in a while with a 96" I can get through that one. Useful. However the 102" would risking a ticket once the law sees how much I am overhanging my drives (tractor was 96 also...)

After 102's in 48 foot flats became common in my life it's not too much of a problem. I preferred the full 48' flat with the 102 in covered Wagon with the coil packaging and so on (mid 90's Ravens) which I consider really good trailers of their day, just the problem of them being aluminum and when you intend to put a 52000 pound coil onto it's belly you better make sure all welds are intact.

I solved the Marysville problem by running to the east bank of the river and up to Duncannon and cross back over to US 15 or US 322.

 

Man seems the last 5 or 6 loads i have ran have been like that. 26 k on the driver and 40 on spread or 39. Loaders dont want to rework it , cuz hey buddy ur legal on gross and axles , have a nice day...

 

They have gotten lazy. It's not always good to have it ### end heavy back there. I liked to load up the drives first.

 

Don't want to rework it? Take it off & find another truck. I even went so far as to start pushing things off the trailer with a pry bar...still parked in the middle of everything (in their way) refusing to move until it was either reworked to MY satisfaction or removed completely.

Don't get me wrong...I always tell them where I want the weight centered before they start. If they decide not to do as instructed, that's when the problems start. As I've gotten older, my tolerance for incompetence has declined exponentially.

 

straps work just fine on a 96” trailer with 102 wide freight.