96" wide trailers?

F em. Tell em to grab the tape measure and have at it

 

96 wide also has advantages in places that put width restrictions on certain highways and roads. Not sure if the bill passed or not but PA might still have tons of roads restricted to a max trailer width of 96 inches. So you can run better routes and still haul anything you can fit on it basically.

 

my hopper is 102, most i see are 96”

102 slopes allow more spread in product even, instead of loading up, mine will be 3 rivet rows below the same trailer size with 96 wide

FB 102 wide is easier if you haul a lot of wood, or it’ll be passed rubrail, they way they bundle it.

 

I did all the time. We got tortured steady over 102” wagons for years down south.

 

I have a 96" covered wagon, 96" hopper. Only single reason I might go 102" on a new flat is that I'm thicker than I used to be.

There is weight in the width and length.

In estimates, a new 45x102 mac aluminum spread with 100k gvw, weights the same as my 1995 Fruehauf steel/aluminum combo 42x96 and 110 gvw.

Both with 12 inch crossmembers and 6 inch Jr beams in center. 6" in tail for rear drive on tailgate load.

 

That's pretty crazy to think about just 6 inches more is that much more weight. But I guess if we broke it down by math. 6inches for the length of 45 feet would be 22.5 feet more of trailer

 

It sure adds up fast.

 

Thats incorrect

(.5 ft) 6 inches for 45 feet is the equivalency of adding 2.8125 feet to the end of a trailer, its still not an insubstantial sum of weight

and if what you meant was an extra 22.5 **square** feet of deck, youre right, but thats in comparison to a (45×96"(8ft)) 360 square feet of deck space, so only a 6% increase, BUT his comparison was 42x96 to 45 x102, thats actually a 13.8% increase in deck space.


The 2 things to note on the comparison is that

1. aluminum is stronger than steel... for the same weight (roughlyish 3x), so all aluminum of the exact same dimensions and more importantly the beams etc the same WEIGHT as steel would be far stronger, but a 6" aluminum beam isnt the same as steel, the steel is far thinner, meaning approximately 1.5x steel weight for same aluminum beam (which is about 2x+ in cross sectional area) will yeild the same strength across any given span.

2.the length matters a lot, a 42' trailer can be built with the same members as a 45 (or 48 or 53) and the 42 footer is rated far higher in weight because the beam isnt spanning as far.

A long way of saying engineering things makes a difference, but a 10% weight rating loss for a 13.8% deckspace gain isnt a bad deal at exactly the same gross empty weight

 

Aluminum is stronger than steel? That cant be even close to correct.

 

Pound for pound tensile strength (what is neccessary for carrying a load)

Its deceptive because its less dense. But it is actually stonger in specific applications (cyclical loading of distributed loads, which is mostly what youre doing in flatbed) (and when i say distributed, i mean a coil on the deck in cribbing such that its not on a knifes edge, youll note that aluminum has a high arch that settles back, but comes back as soon as you deliver, the camber is part of the strength)