Don't overload your trailer......:lol:

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it happens

 

I didn't know there was 54' trailers:lol: I could be wrong though:hellno:

 

Arent there 60' trailers out west in Arizona or something?

 

`There were some companies, like Burnlington Motor Carriers (when they were in business), Dart, and I believe Schneider, that had 57' trailers. But, I believe most of them have been cut down to 53' because of the very limited places you are legal to pull them.

Although, it is possible that the trailer was loaded too heavy, it's more likely that it was loaded "IMPROPERLY". I remember WH Transportation had a couple of them. One was carrying a load of brass ingots... All loaded in the belly. H. O. Wolding had one that did that with a load of paper rolls right at he 4 mile/marker, on I-80 in IN.

I was once told, at the factory, that a box trailer is designed to handle 57,000 pounds, evenly distributed across the whole bed. However, if the load has dense weight, and is loaded in the belly, between the 5th-wheel and the trailer tandems, 44,000 pounds will fold it in half like that.

While "belly-loading" may be fine for a flatbed, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER load a box in the belly. For a dense weight load like metal bars, ALWAYS load half in front and half in back. That puts the weight over the support rather than stressing the uni-body construction of the trailer.

Another thing that can happen is to have the bed of the trailer drop out and drag on the hiway, while the sides and top stay intact. Don't know why the rivets gave way, but I have seen that happen in MI.