All Aluminum Equipment Trailer

[em14]

There is only any "magic" about the 10,001 pounds when your towing vehicle is over 26,000 pounds. It's a point that many are confuslated about.

jb

What about the DOT Number requirement for folks in States supporting that requirement?
"Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming."
Leo

 

[QRTRHRS]

I had an aluminum trailer way back when and it suffered from cracked & torn aluminum welds.

I have an Eby bed on my dually. I would say that Eby manufactures a quality product.

Anyway, I had two areas where my rubrail was pushed in due to errant use so one day I decided to straighten it out. When I pried the rail out with a pinch bar, I broke welds on the stake pockets?

Aluminum may be light and shiny and all but for most users, steel is more realistic.

 

[Builder]

I have an Eby bed on my dually. I would say that Eby manufactures a quality product.

Anyway, I had two areas where my rubrail was pushed in due to errant use so one day I decided to straighten it out. When I pried the rail out with a pinch bar, I broke welds on the stake pockets?

Aluminum may be light and shiny and all but for most users, steel is more realistic.

Yes, that can happen. I had a Tamaqua aluminum dump body on a '99 F-450 Superduty. It was nice and it did save considerable weight, but I always felt like I had to be careful with it. I guess we're getting off topic.

 

[john_bud]

What about the DOT Number requirement for folks in States supporting that requirement?
"Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming."
Leo

Different issue. That's a 10,001 pound total actual gross combined weight. Truck, trailer, load + gear and people. Not trailer. By definition a 1 ton probably needs the DOT number without a trailer.


Builder - The "Magic" is that a 26,000 pound truck can pull a 10,000 pound trailer for a 36,000 pound total and NOT NEED a CDL. But a 16,000 pound truck pulling a 10,001 pound trailer DOES need a CDL. The magic is that for some reason a trailer 10,001 pounds and over and a total load over 26,001 = CDL. But a trailer 10,000 and under can have a truck pulling it that is at 26,000 and under and NOT need the cdl.

Been posted a lot and discussed even more.

jb

 

[Skyco]

We are seeing a lot more aluminum trailers in the boating world. I sold a 42' trailer to a guy to haul his 38' Baja. It had 6x6 wood bunks and 3 6K axles sporting 15" wheels. Anyway we backed it in to the water deeply the first time to adjust the bunks and put the boat on and the darn thing floated up. The tires and the wood bunks were enough to make it float if put in deep.
Chris

Try launching/retrieving with an aluminum trailer in a river with current. The trailer, if it doesn't actually float, is light enough to get pushed off the ramp at a 45 to the truck

I have an aluminum Featherlite brand enclosed 20' trailer...very nice, even the floor is aluminum. I've owned Wells Cargo and HaulMark, no comparison to the Featherlite. Of course I could almost buy two low end trailers for the same cost.

 

[Redbug]

I would rather have steel than an aluminum trailer because it is easier to weld...you can make additions/modifications/fixes to it.

 

[excelagator]

I have a Trinity 16 foot single axle utility aluminum trailer. We used it for hauling the lawn mower, building materials, and manure with a tarp down of course! It is a nice trailer, but It has a only 1000 lb rating for the ramp.

Dan

 

[QRTRHRS]

Yes, that can happen. I had a Tamaqua aluminum dump body on a '99 F-450 Superduty. It was nice and it did save considerable weight, but I always felt like I had to be careful with it. I guess we're getting off topic.

At the risk of digressing just a bit more, I used to live close by Tamaqua Body. If aluminum does not float your boat (ha), they do work in stainless.

 

[Builder]

At the risk of digressing just a bit more, I used to live close by Tamaqua Body. If aluminum does not float your boat (ha), they do work in stainless.

I went with aluminum for the weight savings. F-450's only have a payload of ~3+ tons, even with an aluminum dump.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I went with aluminum for the weight savings. F-450's only have a payload of ~3+ tons, even with an aluminum dump.

An aluminum body can make a lot more sense than an aluminum trailer does. For example, I belive that PA is still at 17,000 lbs before you need DOT numbers?

Here in Kentucky, the magic number is 10,000 lbs. When I moved here, I was originally going to go commercial. I quickly decided to nix that and went with farm plates.