[ATTACH=CONFIG]669[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]670[/ATTACH]
Anyone with experience pulling a RGN or DD, please advise..
I talked to a few agents at Landstar and their recommendation was:
- 3 axles
- minimum 29 ft well
- usable decks in the front and rear instead of just open metal frame.
My truck is a regular highway truck with 2 drive axles and a 12,000 lb front axle. Is there even a point to get a tridem? The agents said the advantage is you can 'permit' extra weight with a tridem, but you cannot do that with a tandem double-drop. Is that true? If a tridem DD is allowed to carry extra weight, does the truck have to be of the heavy duty variety too? Or can you get away with a truck like mine?
I just want to haul machinery and equipment and I'd stick with a tandem because I don't want to deal with 100 ton excavators. Something like a CAT or CASE front end loader or grader (35,000 lb) is what I have in mind but the Agents said, "a tandem is no good." What the heck?
What other considerations might be important when spec'ing a trailer like this? Deck height? Manual/hydraulic disconnect? I know there's one plant near where I live in Ontario and they make RGN and DD trailers with AIR detach. The pictures above are from their website. My understanding is a trailer like that is what LS Agents like (3 axles, long well, decks in the front and rear)..
What about gross weight? I see ads and the same tridem can be a 50 ton or 55 ton or 60 ton model... What's the average required?
What are the useful options to have on a DD that might make the loading/unloading easier and make it safer for the driver?
Finally, what's the difference between an RGN, DD and lowboy? On the LS website, we have 2 trailer groups: "DUBL" and "LOWB" but most agents seem to use the double-drop abbreviation.
Thanks in advance for all the comments and suggestions!