Ledwell Vs Trail King or Other?

Discussion in 'Heavy Haul Trucking Forum' started by Foxcover, May 5, 2014.

  1. Foxcover

    Foxcover Medium Load Member

    413
    217
    Nov 22, 2011
    Dallas, TX
    0
    Does anyone have any pros vs cons on different manufactured hydraulic dovetail trailers?
    Looking at a 48' CA legal with at least a 6" or 8" double drop in the bed.
    We have a 48' Ledwell, it's a good trailer but very heavy and at regular step deck height it's too high for many loaders etc. I have noticed trail king are getting very popular at the hire companies.
    Looking at maybe purchasing new if a nice used one doesn't come up. Just looking for pros and cons on one brand vs another.
     
    GITRDUN45 Thanks this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. bigredsterling

    bigredsterling Bobtail Member

    42
    4
    May 25, 2010
    Fargo,ND
    0
    Having pulled only hydro tail trailers for the last 3 or 4 years prior to this deployment to Afghanistan, the best bet for the money is probably going to be a Landoll slider. I pulled an older Trail EZE TE 80 53 footer for a while, and it was very robust, but was fairly well worn when I got it. Next came my current trailer, a Load King HT 70 48 footer. Complete waste of about $68k. Paint takes very little abuse before rusting and flaking, and I spent the better part of a day replacing hydro lines after putting it in service for a week. We ran into massive hydro cylinder problems, such as the back locking bar dropping too low to positively engage the locking bars to the rear frame, and the front deck lift ramp cylinders bending the frame crossmembers about an inch out of square at full extension. Weight is about 19400 empty, and the company states that no weight is to be loaded on the rearmost about 4 feet of the trailer. Trailer has spent about 2 months in various shops after being in service for a year total before my deployment took me away from it. Another company in town I worked with pulled Trail King folding tails, and said he had hydro issues and problems with cracked c4ossmembers on a regular basis. I hauled mostly aerial const equipment, such as boom lifts and telehandlers on this trailer, and wish that evil thing on no man. I would, however, pull a Ledwell or a Landoll, and we have had both at our other shops with very good success. What are you looking at hauling with this trailer? I can answer more questions as internet and time allows, mission dictates these days.
     
    Foxcover Thanks this.
  4. Big Duker

    Big Duker "Don Cheto"

    2,921
    2,867
    Sep 18, 2007
    Weatherford, TX
    0
    You might check out XL trailers. They make a lot of specialized stuff.
     
    Foxcover Thanks this.
  5. Foxcover

    Foxcover Medium Load Member

    413
    217
    Nov 22, 2011
    Dallas, TX
    0
    Thanks for sharing your experience and for your service!
    We work in the construction side of trucking but also have customers in specialized and expedite freight. It's hard to find a balance between these two things as our expedite work is typically lightweight stuff ranging from jet engines to high dollar glass and a few things in between. Our construction and equipment dealership customers are just that, equipment.
    I had been tossing up the idea of a low deck height hydraulic dovetail or a double drop for quite a while now and am still having a hard time deciding between. With that said I think double drop hydraulic RGN may provide the best opportunities in the future for more specialized stuff which is where our business seems to be taking us.
    If it weren't for the fact we are based in CA I'd buy a 53' non extendable DD but being as we are limited to having a 48' trailer this is where extendability may be hard to manage without.

    Iv been looking at Ledwell, Trail King and Landoll for hydro dovetails and XL Specialized, Trail King and Fontaine for DD's.
    Where DD's are concerned a lot of folks on the fourm seem to either love the XL or hate it, (seems to be less complaints about the newer XL's). Most Trail King guys seem to like them except for they tend to be a bit heavier than other similarly rated trailers and I haven't yet heard from any Fontaine owners.
    You guys are the first that have replied about the hydraulic dovetails (thanks).

    A low deck height hydraulic dovetail would be awesome but it seems everybody has bought one here in the Bay Area over the past few years. That and the fact that the hire companies all seem to have more hydraulic dovetail trailers in their yards than equipment going out on hire have the rates down to regular flatbed prices so if I'm going to spend $70k to $110k on a trailer I feel I'd like to have something that can command a better return.

    Thank you again for your input and I would appreciate any other good or bad experiences you or others on the fourm have had with any of these trailers.
    Cheers!
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.