How to Choose The Best Trailer for Shipping Equipment

How to Choose The Best Trailer for Shipping Equipment

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William Thomas / January 2021

To properly transfer your equipment, one of the most crucial factors is picking the right trailer. The last thing you want is to risk choosing the wrong trailer, leading to damage to your expensive equipment. Read on to learn more about choosing the best trailer for shipping equipment.

Flatbed Trailers
The Best Trailers for Compact Equipment

Flatbed trailers can be found in lengths between 48 and 53 feet, with the former being the more common option. Towing capacities of standard flatbed trailer transports typically top out at 48,000 pounds. A flatbed can be no more than 8.5 feet in height or breadth. A flatbed trailer is usually sixty inches off the ground.

The transportation and shipping industries rely heavily on flatbed trucks because of their adaptability. They’re versatile enough to haul loads of varying sizes. Because of their open design, loading and unloading from and onto flatbed trucks is a breeze. A crane can raise the weight from above, or forklifts can access the load from the sides.

Flatbed trailers are the best trailers for oversize loads with irregular shapes and heights. Due to their open layout, tarps and tied own traps can be used to keep your shipment dry and secure throughout the transport.

Benefits of Flatbed Trailer Transport

A flatbed, being an open trailer, can transport anything. Its open design makes it practical for transporting irregularly shaped or oversized items. You don’t need to worry about banging into walls and breaking anything.

Transporting a vacuum truck on a flatbed trailer.

“Knowing the make, model, and dimensions of your heavy equipment helps determine the best trailer for transport.”

Step-Deck Trailers
The Best Trailers for Partial Loads

A step-deck trailer’s maximum payload capacity is 48,000 pounds. The maximum height for cargo is 10 feet, while the width is eight and a half feet. A standard length for a step-deck trailer is 48 feet. A step-deck trailer has a well that is 37 feet long and a deck that is 11 feet long.

Step deck trailer transports sit lower to the ground than flatbed trailers. Smaller pieces of self-propelled machinery may be driven up the ramps with a step-deck trailer. Step deck trailers have a well almost a foot lower than the deck of a flatbed trailer, allowing for the carriage of equipment that barely exceeds the height limitations on a flatbed. It is possible to utilize a step deck trailer as an alternative to a flatbed trailer if the intended cargo is too tall to fit on the latter. Equipment too tall to ship on flatbed trailers typically travels as a partial load on step-deck trailers.

Transporting multiple heavy equipment on a step deck trailer

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Benefits of Step-Deck Trailer Transport

You can avoid the headache of obtaining height permits by stowing your cargo a few inches lower on the step deck.

Because of their low loading height, step deck trailers are ideal for transporting heavy or bulky items. They are the perfect trailers for oversize loads.

RGN Trailers
The Best Trailers for Oversize Loads

You may load up to 42,000 pounds into an RGN trailer. The RGN trailer’s low-sitting well allows it to transport items up to 11.5 feet in height. The typical width of an RGN trailer is eight and a half feet. In most instances, the length of the well is 29 feet.

For heavy, self-propelled equipment, RGN trailer transports are your best bet. This heavy equipment may weigh up to 80,000 pounds, so the RGN’s drive-on/drive-off capability is essential for safe transport. On top of that, RGN trailers have around 1.5 feet of additional headroom than step-deck trailers.

Choosing The Best Trailer for Shipping Equipment

Hauling Capacity

To calculate a vehicle’s towing capacity, you must first determine its empty weight and then add the weight of everything you plan to transport. Even though you may be able to fit more items inside the truck’s bed, you should never do so. This is because legal and structural safety restrictions dictate a trailer’s hauling capacity.

Type of Equipment Being Hauled

You must be familiar with the machinery you will be transporting. For example, an ATV deck over won’t look the same as one for a vehicle. Knowing what you’re hauling will give you a better idea of what you require.

Selecting the proper trailer is the first step in ensuring your machinery’s safe and effective transport. You need to find the most practical solution at the lowest possible cost.

What are Iron Bull Dump Trailers?

What are Iron Bull Dump Trailers?

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William Thomas / January 2021

Dump trailers are hauling trucks designed to transport a variety of items, such as construction materials like sand and gravel. A typical dump truck has an open-box bed that is hinged at the back and has hydraulic rams to raise the front. This makes the material in the bed fall to the ground behind the truck at the delivery site.

Iron Bull Dump Trailers are manufactured by a company called Iron Bull Trailers. Iron Bull trailers have one of the most durable dump trailers for construction on the market.

Iron Bull Dump Trailer

Iron bull dump trailers can make it much easier to load and unload materials like bricks and dirt.

When it comes time to unload their cargo, iron bull dump trailers are equipped with hydraulic lift systems that elevate one side of the trailer. Additionally, it is able to independently raise either one end or side. Iron bull dump trailers can make it much easier to load and unload materials like bricks and dirt. This is because they don’t need extra equipment like dump trucks, which require special training to use.

Iron Bull dump trailers are available in a variety of sizes, materials, and features; selecting the appropriate trailer for your needs may be an investment that will last for a long time, saving you both time and effort. To determine whether or not you need a dump trailer, or which kind of dump trailer would be most suitable for you, you must first evaluate the requirements of your work, determine the maximum weight your truck can pull, and establish a financial plan.

What are Iron Bull Dump Trailers?

Heavy Equipment Transport is always available for a quote. Fill out the form or give us a call now! (888) 730-2951

The Advantages of Iron Bull Dump Trailers

These units have a number of significant advantages over standard transport trailers, which makes them a good option for a variety of different applications. These include:

Safety: Due to the reduced load height and easy unloading, these trailers are safer for the workforce than dump trucks or standard trailers.

Easy-to-load: Dump trailers are lower than dump trucks and conventional trailers. This makes loading simpler since your workforce doesn’t have to lift as much.

Versatility: The two main designs of this hauling equipment are side-dump and back-dump. Back dumps are better for close-quarters work on construction sites, whereas side dumps are better for longer hauls.

Cost-Effectiveness: Trailers are less expensive to purchase and to maintain than dump trucks. This equipment will save you money because it is not that expensive to buy and it is faster to load and unload compared to dumping trucks.

Final Heavy Equipment Transport Thoughts

  • Unlike bigger and more costly dump trucks, Iron bull dump trailers may be detached from their towing vehicles and left at a construction site, regardless of how remote the location may be. The appropriate investment in a dump trailer might save hours of time and money on labor costs. When looking for a dump trailer, you should pay close attention to its size, including its height, capacity, and design.

Tandem vs. Spread Axles in Trucking

Tandem vs. Spread Axles in Trucking

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William Thomas / January 2021

Tandem Axle Trailer for Heavy Equipment Trucking

By definition, tandem simply means a set of items arranged one after or behind the other. In heavy hauling and trucking, tandem configuration means a truck or a trailer with close coupled pairs of single or multiple axles.

When compared to a single-axle trailer, a tandem axle trailer offers smooth trucking down a straight path. The tandem axles provide a large surface area with better shock absorption, which maintains the stability of the cargo by producing less shock.

How do Spread Axle Trailers Differ?

A spread axle provides a more stable configuration during loading and unloading of the heavy equipment. Spaced axles offer a significant weight distribution leeway compared to closed spaced axles due to the large wheel base brought about by the spread. Since the spread axles can support weight over a more extended area, spread axle trailers are easier on the trucking vehicle; as a result, towing is smooth. The same applies to balancing; spread axles are easier since the load can be distributed over a large area. And since axles that are 8 ft. apart can be legally considered as separate units each carrying 20,000 lbs. balancing on the scale becomes even much easier.

When compared to a single-axle trailer, a tandem trailer offers smooth trucking down a straight path. The tandem axles provide a large surface area with better shock absorption, which maintains the stability of the cargo by producing less shock.

Dump trailer transport

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Which is Better for Trucking and Heavy Cargo Towing?

With all pros, the spread axle trailers come with they are still less popular compared to tandem axles trailers, and for good reasons. Both have 12,000 lbs loading capacity of steer axle, 34, 000 lbs capacity for drive axles, and when spread over 8 feet, the spread axle trailer can have a capacity of 86, 000 lbs., both the spread axle and tandem axle trailer has a legal limit of 80, 000 lbs. The only advantage the spread axle will have with the extra 6,000 pounds’ capacity is the ease of balancing the load. But the spread makes the trailer harder to turn, resulting in faster wear and tear of the axles, tires, and the suspension system, not to mention the difficulties the extra length pose during turning and maneuvering of the towing tractor.

The frame of a spread axle trailer has to be studier, making the overall trailer heavier. This leads to lower carrying capacity for the trailer. The increased wheelbase also makes it harder to back up. As evident, a tandem axle trailer doesn’t have a long list of pros like the spread axle trailer does, but neither does it have a much longer list of cons, like the spread axle trailer does. Both the trailers have a legal gross weight limit of 80, 000 lbs, but the tandem is easier to maneuver, easy on wheels, axle, and suspension, and excellent to back up, this makes the tandem axle trailer much suited for short trucking of heavy loads across cities and spread axle trailers are best for delivering heavy equipment over a long distance.