Buying Securement Equipment..

Alright, I'll take your word for it. You've been out here almost as long as I've been alive. I'm still yet too see a lot of you've seen. As I said, I'm content with Mercer for the moment but not necessarily keen on rapid growth I've been seeing.

 

Hopefully, you don't go home very often if you have to sit for 2 weeks every time you do so.

 

I try to stay out in the corn belt for 5~6 weeks, unless I got something planned.

Fortunately, the truck will be paid off in May and I paid cash for the trailer last year (EDIT: actually that was in 2010 - time flies by). So I can afford some extra vacation time.

I used to be able get 20-foot sea cans out of Long Beach and put some LTLs on the deck to bump up rate, but lately I've only been seeing 40-footers or pairs of 20s.

 

Why would you avoid running 17.5 or 19.5 tires?

 

Tire and break wear is much worse than with 22.5 tires.

 

The tires are smaller diameter (higher revs/mile) so they run hotter. Additionally, they're significantly wider than your traditional 255/70R/22.5, causing tire wear that is much worse than with the taller tires, especially when in a spread setup. Tight turns peel the rubber off of a 17.5 or 19.5 setup on the front axle.

 

I have seen some of your step decks with the humps in the deck over the tires. Does that ever become an issue when hauling regular freight?

 

step decks are also safer...I believe SHC mentioned that you are working at waist height instead of shoulder height or even on the trailer.

 

It does, but as long as you're aware they're there you can avoid most issues. The wheel wells get very slick when wet/covered in snow so loading machinery gets tricky. Additionally palletized freight can be troublesome or extra blocking required.

One of those things you learn a lot about as you do it. For instance certain trailer manufactures have better designs than others, one common problem is that the c-channel side rails crack in front of the front fenders on many steel steps w/ this design.