Eager Beaver trailer

You would be correct.
I'm quite familiar with all of these and many others. Asking questions, doing research, speaking to, learning from, and studying engineering has lead to the knowledge base I have.
My knowledge has formed my opinion that any trailer manufacturer that uses grade 50 steel for webbing and extruded instead of fabricated T1 crossmembers is an inferior product.
It is my opinion. You don't have to like or even agree with it. It is a very informed opinion and you can take it or leave it as you see fit, as I with yours. Understand that the operation I work for has a division that has moved many million plus pound payloads, and has engineers on staff, and these are the people who's brains I get to pick on a regular basis. What I do is a joke to those guys.
Feel free to search my profile and pictures posted here, on this site its desired work.

You would be correct, I don't and won't.
I own a Knight, and all structure is T100, pin joints are T130. Crossmembers are fabricated, not extruded.

This is incorrect. The web plays a much larger role than you seem to be aware of.

 

Your off on a couple points, Talbert and Trailking both manufacture their main and side beams from T-1 steel always have. I believe the cross members are 80,000 psi. I have personally abused a Talbert to the point other trailers would have been ruined and they keep on going. I'm also aware of Trailkings that have had the same treatment. Etnyre however is made from pot metal.

 

They must have changed in the past few years then. TK is 80k and Talbert is 50k. That is predominately (spelling) why XL is 80k and Etnyre is 50k...because they are somewhat related. XL branched off TK in 1995 and in that same year Etnyre hired several management guys from Talbert in their first trailer update from when they bought out Hyster trailer in 1989.

Sorry you feel Etnyre is potmetal. Although no manufacturer is perfect you sure like to insult people without them giving an explanation. I bet there is a hole in your story why you don't like them.

 

I do understand the web does have a purpose or it wouldn't even be there. I am not trying to be detailed about it. Just explaining it doesn't make much difference because of what most manufacturers use.

 

Hold on a minute I didn't insult anyone did I? And second Talbert and Trailking say right on their respective websites that they use 100,000 psi steel. I have the build sheet somewhere for our 95 Talbert that's in the weeds and it lists fabricated T-1 steel beam. Send them an email and ask them yourself.

As far as Etnyre I know because I pulled them, me and everyone who pulled them that had pulled better trailers made fun of them daily. They're junk plain and simple, they're light and I suppose if stayed on highway and the owner pulled it they would last a while. In my business they won't hold up, there's a local company that ruined one in less than three years then hooked back to the Talbert he parked to pull the Etnyre.

 

Let me explain my comment a little more about a hole in your story. I here stories about people loading a trailer and going to the ground and those guys a lot of times just bought the trailer used or they were a company driver and was swapped out with another used trailer the company had in the system. If the trailer gives way most of the time it wasn't the load you just put on it. It was the previous load or maybe 2 or 3 loads prior.

But I am interested in what you have to say. I know there is no perfect trailer manufacturer.

 

Ok, I wrote my last post when you wrote yours. May I ask what year model, capacity, axle configuration, and company that had it?

Also you didn't insult me at all. I am here to learn. Just cause it says 100,000psi steel doesn't mean that is what they use in their webs. Fontaine & XL says they use T1 also and they use 50k and 80k webs. You might call them and verify with engineering.

 

They're junk, they're flimsy don't know how else to put it. I never said anything about a trailer going to the ground under a load. I know very few things in life but I know lowboys and without a doubt they're junk. The main reason the people that run them do is because they're lightweight. There's a big construction company here that I worked for that has them and that's where my experience comes from. They baby them and still have to weld on them constantly. They have a 55 ton now and it seems ok in the main structure but it's still been welded on in the rear plenty already. They have a 65 ton west coast 9 that's an 07 and it's completely shot. I pulled an 89 Talbert 65 ton west coast 9 from 06 to 10 and it's still on the road. There's a couple paving companies that run them but rollers and I pavers are pretty easy on them.

 

Can you tell me what the capacity was on the trailer and the axle configuration? You say they have a 55ton now and seems ok. Does that mean it was a smaller capacity then that?

I say all of that to say this. Keen Transport had Etnyre build several 40ton beam trailers and they all cracked up really bad. They were really light...don't remember the weight. Well not only that but Keen somehow talked them into building the trailer with 120" swing and 4th axle capable. So now you have an 8 axle setup built to put 20k on the steer axle. They have enough axles to payload close to 115,000# on a 40ton trailer. Needless to say Entyre had to take them back and repair them all. The same company has a 65ton or 70ton though and some 55tons and haven't heard anything about them.

On another note I came across a guy with a really light 55ton 4 axle Etnyre. Think it weighed 22,000# or so with a spreader bar. He had it for 2 years at the time. He said it did really well except with having to replace the cylinder in the hydraulic spreader bar already. That was a year ago now I think. He said the empty weight had to do with the way it was spec'ed because it had a taller then normal beam and it was on little rubber. He said the biggest load he had done was 105,000# which wasn't full capacity, but he said it looked good and felt good behind the wheel.

 

Another comment on this. The guy that had that lighter weight Etnyre trailer ran across the country. He wasn't with any construction company that hauled local. I say that to say this, I bet those lighter weight trailers are made to run commercially instead of behind a construction trailer. Etnyre builds those heavy spec'ed 55tons on 22.5" tires for constructions. Same thing in my opinion with Trail King and their commercial series hydraulic necks. In my opinion I believe the advantage series neck (construction neck) is a lot beefier then their newer commercial series necks. Although I have not pulled the newer neck TK, I liked using the older neck TK and you put them side by side and the newer neck just doesn't cut it for me. But thats just my opinion.