Dry Van Trailer

Get a 53' swing door.

Many shippers won't load a 48' or a roll-up door trailer.

Some union outfits won't load a trailer that's over 10 yrs. old & they do check the ID tag on the trailer.

 

1) Why does it matter if a trailer is 48' long or 53' long?

2) Why does it matter if a door swings open or is rolled up and down?

3) Why does it matter to a union outfit if a trailer is over 10 years old?

 

I have a 1992 48' Kentucky & a 1993 48' Fruehauf, both with roll-up doors. I don't have any issues with people loading me or fitting my freight on.

Look inside a 53' trailer and you will see a big red line, then the remark "DO NOT LOAD PAST THIS LINE" which is about 5' from the back door!!

So what good is it to have a 53' if you cannot utilize all the space?

 

That extra 5' is good for light loads such as paper products that some shippers will only load on 53' trailers. I've personally run in to that problem picking up loads for grocery warehouses. The company I worked for; the bills would sometimes state "53 X 102 only."

 

You couldn't pay me enough to go to a grocery whse, I only haul office furniture.

 

Depends on your freight. If you are utilizing brokers, a 53 is the way to go. If you have your own freight, and it will fit on a 48, there you go. I've owned both. I wouldn't even look at 48 van trailer these days unless I had a special dedicated use for it.

 

You're forgetting a key part of the phrase. It typically says "do not load 40,000 lb loads past this line". And while your trailers may work for only hauling office furniture, that isn't the case for general freight. Many brokers will ask for a 53 for a 10 pallets, because 53 is all they know.

 

Lots of lightweight stuff out there that will cube out a 53' and pays well to do it. Regardless of heavy loads, broker ignorance, etc it would be really foolish to not have a 53' van. I would miss out on half the brokered freight I haul or more if I was limited with 48' foot. 48' dry vans are obsolete. Rollup doors are for specialized will also limit you with ordinary freight that is too tall to load in roll up trailer. Chinatown is spot on reasons why, 10 years or newer also a plus agree there too. Have made a lot of money hauling 5 miles crossdock loads to autoplants that became"expedite" hot load because trailer older than 10 years rejected by receiver. OP you never want to be part of a headache like that. Usually a broker with freight like that knows to ask but depending on how desperate customer was to cover the load, how many different people were given the task to cover, sometimes that detail falls thru the crack. You are from KS there is a big GM assembly plant in KC, KS with lots of inbound/outbound opportunity - you will never tap into it with obsolete48' trailer. In case you fall thru the cracks and bring inbound load to the plant on an 11 year old trailer they will turn you around at the gate and you will end up driving 10 more miles farther to a crossdock, after much back and forth frustrations with the broker, sound like fun? Don't limit yourself....