Aluminum vs. composite flatbeds

Are you sure those are the actual trailers? Those look new, way too clean for 5yr old trailers and no grease on the plates and the rear axle is at the rear (not set ahead 3' like the description).

These fit that description better.

If your hauling long distance tarping isn't bad, local stuff is a pain. If you only hauling steel a sidekit isn't bad for local or long distance. However IMO you can't beat a conestoga. Problem is their expensive (Quickdraw is around $13k installed) and they weigh between 1700 and 2k lbs. But you can haul anything from lumber to hard to tarp machinery and never get dirty. Keep in mind though a 96" wide flat with a curtain side is worthless for lumber.

 

Good thing about a flatbed, it can be whatever you want it to be. You can tear the sidekit off if you want, add a conestoga or leave it an open flat. Just do some shopping. If you want a Conestoga look around believe it or not they can be bought cheap used. I found some used Quickdraw kits for $4500.00. Thyssenkrupp Steel traded a bunch of trailers and some company bought the old ones but didn't want the kits. New tarps are under $4k installed. But you can always add all that stuff later.

 

IIRC, those come in a little over 8,000lbs. Check Reitnouers Web site, I think the weights are listed there for the different models.

 

They used to, I had a maxmiser, one step up from the maxlite, and it weighed 8800 IIRC with boxes between the spead. I would guess the maxlite is a couple hundred pounds lighter.