Flatbed trailer specs

Not to get in the am of the great single vs dual debate that no one ever wins .....

But that trailer could use more axles, a lot more axles

 

To me the savings you get with wide-based tires is offset by the cost of a new wheel when one let's go. If you don't catch it before it blows then you destroy the bead on the existing wheel in a hurry. The math has never added up for me on this setup.

 

With wheel you mean rim?

 

Don't forget disc brakes. Lighter, pots mounted higher than cam pots. Don't be afraid to put a disc trailer behind a drum tractor.

 

If you want to be able to haul pipe, then install pipe stake pockets, welded to the frame. Most pipe yards want beefy stakes at least 4' high.

If I have a load that doesn't require the stakes and they are in the way I have plenty of room in my dunnage rack to stow them.

 

Get some C channel & build you a rack for the stakes, angle the back side down so they won't roll out the front. I still have a strap on mine but with the downward angle they don't need it other than to keep DOT happy. I hate having stakes in the wood crib.

 

Don't think I'm allowed to debate at this time...
I agree, way more axles. A couple more components too...
Maybe it's the HHer in me, but with any deck, flat or step, priority one; FRAME!!!
If you intend to own this trailer for more than just a few years then flip it, you want to start with a solid foundation. You want a frame that is welded together, NOT HUCKBOLTED. Frames flex, particularly since you mentioned "coil package." With concentrated loads, the frame is a 48' long spring. It will flex. It will wear and fatigue huckbolts, there's no way around this fact. You want a welded frame with a nice beautiful camber (arch) in it. Who gives a crap if it means you have to use a little more blocking to only block the front and rear of long loads. Just get up beside a big wagon one day like @Rontonio's and watch it float up and down for a while. Don't kid yourself, little trailers do this very same thing, it's just on a smaller scale. Positive camber in the frame AFTER you are fully loaded means the frame (spring) is still capable of flexing like it should. Not crushed out with no more give left in it. A crushed out with no give left in a frame leads to micro-cracks, weakening, and eventually failure.
Take it from the HH guys, once you learn how to shim a trailer for proper camber and see how it works and the difference it makes in ride, reduced shock load, and longevity you have a whole new outlook on trailers.
@Rontonio, @passingthru69, @johndeere4020, what do you guys think?

 

Heavy Hammer do not take the following to personal.
BUT that positive camber you love so dearly is less about science and more about culture(meaning the way you were taught as you grew in knowledge ,learning from older drivers)
Ask @passingthru69 how many positive camber trailers he sees in Thailand(none).
Ask the Aussies here on TTR.
Ask the Europeans.
Granted you do not want a lot off negative arch on a double drop because then the belly off the beast will drag on every bump.

 

I agree, that's what shimming does, I've told my boss a thousand times our next trailer will have a modular bogie just for this reason.

 

It has nothing to do with culture it has to do with the way our laws are set up, and physics. Trailers in other countries don't look like ours so they're designed different, they have different rules. But I'll bet you find a picture of an empty Australian flat bed it's got camber. You could easily build a trailer that would hold 50,000 on the deck without any camber but it would weigh 40,000 empty. You put camber in to allow the lighter trailer tare weight. Hammer always says it takes big iron to haul big iron, but when you're dealing with an 80,000 pound limit you've got to be creative that's where camber comes in.