The adjustable deck height is about $150 and weighs about 1 pound. It is just a bracket with holes that changes the position of the leveling valve. If you go with open wheel wells you give up having a slider so you can open and close the spread for western canada, get a 3 axle fixed and you can get covers(removable) for the wheel openings, carry a little extra dunnage and you could load steel and machinery over the wheels.

The tri axle would make it easy to axle 80,000 lbs.
Having TWIC card is good but going to Dundalk sucks, most of the freight is cut once or twice before it leaves the docks.

If you can load toward the area where the yellow iron is then load a machine to Ca, i can hook you up with the LTL king and put an extra 1 or 2 dollars a mile out of the rust belt back to Ca.
you need the trailer that gives you the most loading opportunity.

Has a scissor lift I could take for a good rate but it was 10'8" tall. If I had a trailer with a 32" deck, I'd be able to move it. Also, those construction machines I hauled in the past (10'7") where I had to deflate tires would be much easier to deal with on a trailer like that.

But then I"d paying for 2 trailers: my step + the RGN

I know I can get one. It's probably a good thing to have. I've already seen a few loads posted with the "TWIC required" comment.

Do you think I can install it on my trailer? I have 17.5" tires so I don't think I have much space above the wheels to play with.

To do 'yellow iron' consistently it'd be great if I could either get a lower trailer or lower mine by at least a couple of inches. Of course, the longer and lighter the trailer is, the better it'd be suited for those LTLs. So, what do you think: an ultra low 53 ft step or an 48 ft TANDEM RGN with a 29' well and a flip axle option (could get one later)? An RGN probably weighs at least 15,000 lbs ... If I put a 34,000 lb loader on it, that'd only leave 10,300 lbs for LTL, but I'd have both the front and rear decks available.... One good thing about my 48 ft step is that it's very light: my max payload right now is 49,000 lbs :)

Here's a Trail King double-drop

[ATTACH=CONFIG]693[/ATTACH]

47'10" long
10' upper deck
29'2" main deck
8'8" rear deck
24" loaded height at the main deck
40" loaded height rear deck

Can a trailer like this be used instead of the detach RGN? How often do you guys actually NEED to load the RGN from the front? The mid-size equipment I've picked up so far was always going from a plant where these machines were made to a dealer who then sold them to the buyer. Both the plant and dealer had 40" high docks for loading/unloading WITHOUT detaching from the trailer. One day I picked up farm tractors at a sea port in WA and they had docks, and again all tractors were delivered to dealers with docks. I mean, how often do you deliver machines like the one in the picture to a farmer in the middle of nowhere who just buys one of these $125,000 'toys' for his kids to play with? ;)

A basic double-drop (like the Trail King in the picture above) would be able load/unload stuff via the rear deck + get loaded with a crane. The 15,000 lb dozer I picked up recently in Quebec and delivered to Ohio was loaded with a crane and unloaded onto the 40" dock of the receiver.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]692[/ATTACH]

CAT ISO 9249
42,770 lbs
11 ft tall
11 ft wheelbase (probably 20 - 25 ft total length)

Found one company that can make a 53 step (steel/wood) as low as 30" on the main deck! Will call the local dealer Tuesday - after the holiday.

If you go DD you need the RGN, a lot of loads ask for a RGN but are not tall, just need to load from the ground.


I loaded this at a movie set, no one around to help, no dock.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_2193.jpg

This was easier, just landed it on the trailer.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_2124.jpg

Your trailer looks all new! How tall was that chopper? I see you had to extend the main deck, but it probably wasn't that tall? Do your remember the weight? I'm curious.

Trailer is 3 yrs old 2008, flip is a 2006. Blackhawk was about 13'9 tall trailet opened 44 ft make me 93' overall, about 8000 lbs. usally don't haul them with the tail section on.
The truck will be in a movie this summer, "The Green Lantern"

I'm still not seeing the need for the adjustment. Why would you ever want to increase deck height? I thought, with the 17.5" wheels, his deck height was already about as low as you can go. In addition, the trailer will only be lower at the back right....the deck height will increase closer to the drop. We must be talking about gaining what....an inch?

Not increase, DECREASE. I want to get a trailer with LOWER deck height so that I can haul 10'7" loaders without deflating their tires and be able to haul 10'8" tall scissor lifts. What's wrong with this idea? It all depends on the trailer manufacturer. Wilson doesn't want to go below 36" on the main deck, but I found at least one company that can make a dropdeck trailer as low as 30".