Hot shot trailers

ok & I just bought that new trailer & now I have to get my CDLs & plates.

 

I'll assume that lunch is out, do you feel that a 32'/25 k GVW gooseneck is big enough to capture 90-95% of the work available regionally ? I had 37' 5th wheel camper for many years and am not uncomfortable with a bigger trailer but is sometimes smaller better? ie.. more payload capacity and better inner city maneuverability.

 

oops, just seen this, that sounds good to me. but can you give your opinion on the trailer question? I have seen Farmer Transportations remarks on trailer size but i'm not real sure what types of loads are available. Thanks for your patience and thoughts.

Regards, Mike

 

Mike will be happy to have lunch. Getting ready to do a couple of things, leaving out tomorrow. I run the light stuff 34ft trailer under 26k, so yes you can get a lot of loads at the weight and length you are considering. Longer in better if you are over 26k IMO.

 

Thanks for your advice. I'll probably twist your ear some more moving forward but should probably start my own thread. When you get a chance PM me so I can reply with my contact info.

 

Yes Farmers Transports remarks on trailers is correct. He is around the Pittsburg area if I remember right. He started out with just a SWD truck and built up from that. He got a grasp of how he wants to run his business and doing it. I have not found the right connection to justify air ride on my trailer as I have missed out on loads requiring air ride.

 

I need to stick with the heavier trailer because I have a connection for hauling oilfield loads in the future but the oilfield is currently in a slow period and loads won't be very frequent for the next 6-18 months. That is where my lack of understand of the freight scenario come in, I haven't invested as much time into the research prior to now.

 

For all you guys who are in the process of starting a hot shot business and trying to decide on a trailer I have a little advice. Unless, you already know what kind of freight your going to be hauling don't short change yourself and buy to small of a trailer. You will regret your decision. As someone else on here already mentioned you can always put a smaller load on a longer trailer. At a minimum the shortest trailer I would consider would be a 35'. You won't lose out on loads with a trailer that size and you won't be trying to sell it on craigslist three months down the road because you need a longer one.

 

I should probably have added the fact that in the absence of info on load sizes, buy the biggest trailer you can handle. That's what I was kind of saying when I said that you can put small loads on big trailers but not vice versa.

The caveat is that the bigger the trailer the more it weighs and the less total payload you can haul. The big guys don't have that issue.

 

Agreed Farmer, i'm thinking that 34' is my size. I can't find a used one so i'm going with a PJ with 12k axles with elec./hyd. disk brakes and monster (wide) fold flat ramps. hope I don't regret not getting a bigger one but I know that the longer I get then the less weight I can haul and conversely, your pulling around more weight if you don't need all the length....