Flatbed

not the place I went to in G.R. MI I am telling you there are plenty of places you will not unload with a step. I will give you (BILL) a specific example. just this year I loaded out of muscle shoals AL. Wise alloy is the co. they load from overhead crane, so they can load any type trailer. however at the other end, where thee destination was in monticello in. you had to back into a bay, as close as you can to the concrete floor that was level with the trailer a forklift would unload you from the side. another place I would go from wise alloy was wise alloy in toledo oh. they would also have you pull along side paralel to floor to get unloaded. I had reload out of chicago one time that required flat. loaded same way, from the side. some places may very well load/unload either. these specific places & times I can tell you I never saw a step load or unload & dont see how one could. as far as the load ramps going up or down... if a step backed into a dock, how would the forklift get down to the deck of a drop from the rear & lift steel coils & get back up to floor height? more evidence? a steel co coil plus in plainfiled & in AL. has docks where trucks load. none have docks that go all the way down to drop deck height. if any one has moree info please chime in.

 

those steps you were next to may have been getting loaded from the side. there are time where you can get loaded from the side. but you better make sure the receiver can unload you the same way.

 

They weren't loading from the side. Cause the forklift driver kept cussing because of the steepness of the ramp going up onto my flatbed & kept asking if I could lower my suspension like those trucks over there....


Those trucks over there were steps...

 

I am just trying to picture a dock that can rear load both flat & step. how does the forklift have the room to be lowered on deck plate to the step level. worthington steel has docks that I have loaded out of. no way do those dock plates go down to drop deck level. to do this, they would have to have a elevator type dock plate system. maybe more folks will give their opinion.

 

As heavyhaulerss said most of the places i load out of with a dock could never load a step, 50% load from the side where you back in a 9ft wide alley and the others ones i load out of dont have a deck plate that goes down that far, i have seen a few that do load steps but every time the guy on the lift is ######## the whole time. The 2 Sheetrock plants i haul from comes to mind as places that cant load steps. You can do fine with a step but there will be more loads you cant do than if you had a flat atleast in the freight and places i haul for. If you want to haul machines and vehicles and oversize loads mostly then a step is the way to go thats why i have 2 trailers.

 

I knew some one would see it my way.. now it's 2 to 1

 

When I was pulling a stepdeck MANY shippers would request NO stepdecks. I think the reason is they just don't want to deal with them. You can load most flatbed freight on a step~ convincing the shipper is a different story.

 

I will say when given the option of being loaded by side or rear. I always choose rear. why? cause most places, however you load, you unload the same way, especially if it is palletized, then the forks have to go in the same way it was loaded & the reason prefer side is unloading is usually done by forklift & you just pull anywhere there is room, where as rear unload, you may have to wait for a dock to become available, this happened 1 time when loading out of precision strip in OH. to gen motors/ sothtec in lebanon TN. 1st time had rear loaded. waited over an hour to get into dock & another 30 min to get unloaded, the next time I said load me from the side & when I got to southtec had a forklift come out & was gone in 20 min.