'Lighter' weight rig?

45000 -- should b the cut off -- unless they got REAL $$$$

 

Hope they pay great money making you haul a mim. of 48k

 

My experiece, the heavier, the cheaper the rate.
I haul light freight and a high rate.

 

Translation: I don't haul roofing shingles, sticks and bricks, or anything used in the construction of a house or anything they store at a Lowes distribution center.

 

That's true but having more room means greater potential for a juicy partial.

A lighter weight combo also makes loading accurately, easier since there is more lea way.

I'm really happy with my Columbia 70" XT and MAC 48' tandem. It's not spec'd particularly light but I can scale 50K with 240 gallons on board and can easily burn some off and do another 1,000#. The nice thing about a set back axle is being able to burn off fuel and sliding that same amount of weight off the drives and onto the steer axle. The other day I loaded a 22' generator right on the nose leaving 26' for LTL whereas most people load those 3-4' back or they overload the drives.

 

Why don't you contact some flatbed companies that sell their used fleet equipment that's already spec'd for flatbed work. Ask what their setups will scale. Sometimes their websites show what's available for sale. I know of a tanker company that bought a few Western Express midroof Freightliners & put tanker setups on them; hose rack, pumps, smaller fuel tank on right side. One reason they bought the trucks was because they were relatively light weight.

Western Express
Melton Truck Lines
TMC
Howard Transportation
Maverick

 

Most trucks and combo trailers will load 48k. Heck, my Star with a 51' Fontaine combo step can load 48k, not that I like to.

 

The Beancounter path to making money

1. Buy the cheapest, lightest truck and trailer.
2. Pull the cheapest, heaviest loads, since they are so plentiful.
3. Drive 60 mph.
4. Get on TTR and tell everyone that grosses 100k-150k more while runnng only half to a third the miles that you do that gross numbers are not important at all.

Wow...bean counting is really tedious work!

 

My setup:

02 t800
Detroit
13 speed
236" wheelbase
62" sleeper
120 gallon tanks
1 headache rack with chains
2 toolboxes loaded up

Truck weighs 20k fully loaded with 400 feet of chain

06 East step deck
48 feet
4 tool boxes
2 load levelers
set of triples and two sets of single tire chains
tire chain rack

10,500 lbs

30,500 lbs fully loaded, I can load 50k pretty easily. I could get rid of one or two of the toolboxes on the trailer easily.