50 or 53 step deck?

It could always be how much upper deck or lower deck space you want. I never really looked into it because I always bought 53 footers.

 

Depends on a lot of factors, 50 feet are lighter and easier to maneuver, 53 feet hold more cargo and have many more configuration options. I can see why someone who hauls a lot of heavy yet short loads in the city would pick the 50 over the 53, and I can see why someone who hauls lighter freight would appreciate the extra space. Plus, you can get a 53 foot with an 8 foot upper and 45 feet lower deck and haul virtually every flatbed load.

 

No. East coast then to Texas now. But lately lots of it in the northeast and as far south as Georgia.

 

There are 50' and 53' foot step decks there is just a problem with spreads on a 50' or 53'.

Cali and other states have a kingpin law that must be accomidated. As such, truncating the trailer after the last wheel makes sence to many flatbeders, since the load can be run wild over the end of the trailer to accomidate long loads and the shorter trailer can be more manuverable. It is often possible to compact a flatbed load to fit within the 48' and the spread axle offers more options on postioning the load.

To run the wheels all the way back on a 53' you must slide them forward to run other states such as Cali. Constructing a slider on a step deck is possible but the extra equipment to do so raises the deck; it does so on even a flat.

Look at most stepdecks and you will see the wheels often intrude on the lower beds structrure in order to keep the deck low. To slide you have to give up some of the low deck and even more if the wheels intrude on this structure. There are decks that raise and lower on the bags to acommidate this but even then the wheels are often structured to take descrete positions unlike the typical van.

It is all just a comprise of needs, cost, and manuverabity, and the 48' step wins out more often than not.

 

Most the time when people want a 53ft all they really want is a 40 ft bottom. I never use my top deck much most my step loads are step loads for a reason and must go on the bottom if I was going to get a new trailer anytime soon it would be a 50ft 40 lower and 10ft upper

 

42 or 43 ft bottom

 

I've never had a shipper come out and put a tape on my bottom deck and most the time that's all the need 40ft

 

OK then. Weird but OK. I see you're from Beaumont....is 40 ft an oil rig thing because there's more than a few times that extra 3 ft has allowed to to get a 2nd machine on.

Moved some 61 ft long steel yesterday and was happy to have it then also.