Going Flatbed and Need Some Setup Advise

I have the APU condenser and fan unit on mine and it does not interfere with the headache rack. Mine is mounted toward the passenger side in the bottom corner, not up above and centered like most trucks. On other trucks I've had we made a bracket for the top of the headache rack to mount the condensor and on others we had it mounted flat under the catwalk between the framerails. As long as it gets some airflow it will be fine.

 

Our newest truck came with an APU and they removed it from the sleeper and then mounted it again on the headache rack in the center at the top. Ran the lines behind the rack and punched a hole for them to come through. That area is normally not used and it does not look bad at all. Better than it did in the middle of that huge sleeper.

 

Headache rack is good. Make sure that thing has pockets at the bottom. You will not want to wrap your own drive shaft that will flip you end over end or seriously mash a family or three next to you.

Spread axle trailer, 10 feet spread. WITH a lift axle gate for the cab so you can raise the rear most axle for turning around. 40K scaling back there and never mind the scale man.

Big chain. I think 14 sets at a minimum, 20 sets even better. Each about 30 feet long. Or was it 20? Do the 30 and be happy you have it.

Straps. 4 inch is great. 6 inch is awesome if you can find binders for that big. Get yourself 14 sets, 20 is better.

See where Im going with this?

On that trailer should be at least one box between the axles per side. Make sure your box lid opens from the bottom up. If you can prove that the box lid opens top to ground that it does not actually touch the ground. I tell you why....

You open the doors in the boxes back there, pull straps etc. Load goes on, your trailer sinks a few inches maybe your box doors get crushed back there. So solly. So sad.

Get yourself a huge steel pick up truck lock box that Paul Bunyan would not be able to get into and bolt that #### thing to your cat walk behind the sleeper. Make sure you can jack past 90 with the trailer on there. If you cannot do it, bolt that thing somewhere else. Throw in your spare sets of everything into that box. And locks for them. That way when something gets short (And they will..._ you have that box to open and dig up the spares.

Fill that rig with fuel, yourself, your stuff, water, food etc. Stuff it. Then go to a CAT scale. Find your exact TARE empty weight. Subtract 80,000 and that number is your absolute loading limit.

Aluminum trailer scale 50K, Steel trailers scale less depending on what tractor you got on there.

Binders, get both kinds, enough to fit all your chains on both sides of your trailer front and back. That is what? 40 binders? Half screw type and the other half folding kind.

5 foot 2 inch diameter lead pipe for your binders. If you ever hear the PLONG you know the #### thing is airborne and is aming to kill someone. Don't be that idiot.

Finally rubber matting. Actual rubber matting cutup conveyor belts or something. Big, strong and thick.

If you have to equipt a trailer also, then find yourself 6x6 wood about yea long, as wide as your deck maybe. Get enough of those #### things to line your deck down the center front bulkhead all the way to the rear gate. Then buy 4 more for spare.

Straps. for tarping. Buy three times the number you need for your trailer, throw them in the lock box.

A pair of rolls of twine. Big twine. Be manly. Those are going to help you when you are on the plains being blasted with 45 mph wind that wont stop until tomorrow.

Oh one other thing.

Get a #### nail gun that works off battery that can be recharged off your truck or get a nail gun that can be fed off your truck air. Buy a few boxes of big nails, 3 inch, galvanized to do it. More boxes of nails.

Then get yourself if you have room left (In one of the side boxes maybe...) about 10 pallets worth of bracing wood. Call them 1x3 about 2 feet long each. enough for 4 corners of a pallet about 4 high in the normal bracing pattern that is like a giant kids game or something with your nails. Those wood go into your side box. You will come up on a shipper one night and no wood. No nail gun and 3 coils eye to sky that needs bracing. Ive been there.

Crowbar too.

Gun oil that is heavy to keep your binders going.

The more I think about this the more I realize how much I forgot. Yeesh.

Good luck!

 

Here's where mine is mounted:

20160527_105105 by sawmill posted May 27, 2016 at 3:19 PM

And here is a shot looking upward from the ground:

20160527_105119 by sawmill posted May 27, 2016 at 3:19 PM

 

@sawmill what size chains do you carry ? 5/16 or 3/8

 

I carry four 5/16 and eight 3/8. All 20' long. Considering all that weight the Merritt headache rack is holding up fine.

 

I have always carried about half and half. Some things just don't need those heavy 3/8 chains.

 

I probably should have done the same, but when I originally bought all of it I was planning on pulling a RGN.

 

Hey guys just curious. I'm looking to come over on the flatbed side.. What equipment if any does Landstar provide to you excluding the trailer.. Figure this would be one less question I ask my recruiter

 

None, just a trailer, you have to provide all equipment and a place to store it, their trailers don't have boxes on them.