Spread or Tri

If you will only haul legal weight then a triaxle is at a disadvantage because the 3rd axle comes out of your payload. If you will haul OSOW then you can permit more on the triaxle.

 

Do you expect to cross into Canada in the future if so the spread can only load the legal weight of a single axle . Plus you need to raise it off the ground. Tri axles ride nicer but have more tires to maintain .. if your riding on rough roads I’d go with the tri because it has less weight per axle which is easier on the suspension .PS in a hard panic braking situation the tri axle stops way shorter.

 

I like 10 foot spreads myself. You can put 20K a axle back there. The Tri probably can load a little more but increases maintaince. Its sort of a compromise.

If I had a choice it will be a Ravens 48 foot with 10 foot spread and Coil package. It can and did scale 52000 pound coils in her time with my experience first hand. I recognize that ravens is a older trailer and may not be made anymore. But that is the flatbed I pick first and compare against all other flatbeds out there. The arch bridge is a minor annoyance when hauling custom built hand built special machinery orders. (Covered wagon)

The tractor however will have to have triple axles and disc brakes if I had a need of one. Not the standard tandems. There are just too many times the weights on the drives tip past 34000 and we have to constantly fuel 50 gallons until past a nazi scale.

 

Provided the spread is 10ish feet. You can haul 40k. If it's 9ish it drops you to 39. 8ish drops you to 38.

A tri gives you 43,500. Give or take. Depending on the bridge of the 3 axles. Could be higher.

That's a standard federal weight. ND and MT might have a different weight allowance. Up or down.