Step Deck question?

I'm currently looking at getting a step deck. There's a gigantic place that moved in a couple of miles from where I live and they fab lots of industrial stuff. I know the guy that runs the place. We grew up and went through school together. Most of their stuff is hauled on flats and is oversized.

They have a few things, though, that are light and small and they want hauled on a step deck to customers that are really important to them. They want someone to haul their stuff to those few customers with those customers being a priority. Basically they want someone to babysit and take care of a few accounts hauling one specific thing. The guy they are using now is kind of a slug and they aren't happy with him. He's out after the first of the year. He's promised to straighten up to keep the account, but it's too late. The guy I know gave me a heads up and a little inside knowledge and he's the one I'd deal with. The deal they are talking about is pretty darn sweet, but it would require me getting my own authority and a step deck. I'd also need to supplement their freight as what I'd be hauling is pretty specialized and will be one really nice paying run per week.

I've never done that kind of work. I've always been interested, though. I have a few other leads and lines on things that I could do with a step deck, too. I just have to decide if I really want to leave the stability of what I'm doing and take the chance. It sounds too good and you know what they say about that.

I know what I'll need to haul for the guy I'm currently talking to, but I'll need to find some other freight, too. I'm not too familiar with step decks and don't want to tie up a pot load of money into a piece of equipment that isn't useful. If you have a step deck, what things do you wish you had that you currently do not? If you had it to do over again, what would you put on your trailer this time around? What is on your trailer that you wish wasn't? I'm most likely going to have to have a trailer made to suit what I need and IF I decide to go through with it, I don't want to get into this and realize all the things my trailer should have had.

BTW, I'll have ramps and some winches on the trailer to haul for the primary shipper.

 

Thanks. I am trying to find a used 53 foot and it's tough. I can find 48's all day long, but I really want a 53. Am I making too much out of a few feet? I'd like the extra length because I have an idea about some extra work where that few feet would seem be worth it to me, but it sure seems everyone else doesn't mind a 48.

 

I really don't have much time pulling a spread at all. I've pulled for a friend of mine and his trailer is a 53 spread reefer. His is set up to dump either axle, if I remember right. It seems like when I got into a tight place, I was dumping the rear axle to help in turns in Dallas.

I remember Liking it and thinking it was easier than what I normally pull because I could choose the axle I wanted to pivot off of.

Right now, I'm just planning on using my old freigtliner. It really short. Its only a 112" hood version and a 42" sleeper. I doubt it's 200 inches. It's like driving a daycab. I plan on getting another tractor next year, but I'll wait to see what I get, because whether or nor I stay leased on will have a bearing on what I buy. Also, what I spend on a trailer will, too. I'm trying to come up with a way to do this without taking out a loan and still keep all of the money I have in reserve for maintenance and emergencies, so I'll probably not be looking at new trailers.

When I helped my buddy out, I used his Pete. It's pretty long. I think around 270" and I don't remember it being any trouble with his 53 spread reefer. Whatever tractor I end up getting, it will be longer than my little shaker. I want more room. I traded a couple of horses for my tractor and had no intention of running it this long, but it kept running and not using much fuel, so Ive just kept on running it.

For what I do, it's actually about perfect, I'm just getting really bored with a lot of things being leased on where I'm at a d looking at this deal that kind of came out of the blue.

The only real flatbed experience I have is from the farm and helping friends out when they were in binds, so this would be a learning experience. The primary thing I'd be hauling, though, would have to be unloaded and loaded by me using winches, so I'd need to do a little outfitting on whatever I get. The flatbedding I'm nit afraid of and am willing to learn, I just don't want to screw up buying a trailer and miss out by not buying the right trailer the first time, if I do this.

Decisions, decisions. Thanks, guys.