Wood vs steel deck? Other tilting deck trailer recommendations?

[jack707]

Tough to shovel snow off the deck with expanded metal tacked on.
Agree with the others that metal deck too slippery when wet.
I don't have the side lips on my 22' PJ tilt deck and can easily side load pallets.

Use then can use a weed burner. I would just stick to wood for decking.

 

[4570Man]

My rollback bed is diamond plate steel. Traction is terrible. You better be sure not to leave any chains laying on it. If you run over one you're going for a ride. Any water makes it slick. Spilling oil on it is awful. You can forget about walking on it. For a trailer I would prefer wood. For a rollback you pretty much have to use steel. Expand metal would hold up about as long as it takes me to winch something up on brake drums.

 

[Diamondpilot]

All the roll back tow trucks use metal... steel or aluminum with most embossed.

They also always use a winch to roll the load up!

Chris

 

[QRTRHRS]

Steel ramps can be fun when they are wet as well. Especially with steel tracks.

 

[ultrarunner]

They also always use a winch to roll the load up!

Chris

That is one of the features...

The repo guys can winch up a car like a BMW with all the theft deterrents by spaying a little water on the deck... and they are fast.

I've rented rollbacks many times and would love to have one...

Here is a picture with my co-pilot loading up for the car show... no problem putting two vehicles on one rollback!



My open car trailer is a tilt with steel rails... never had any problems.

 

[Fallon]

I think I actually measured the deck on mine once & it was 16'. At any rate it's definitely to small. I successfully carried a box blade & bucket on pallet forks up front with a rotary cutter on the rear... it was ugly & I couldn't turn sharp.

I haven't had any slick deck issues but could see how that could be an issue. Still undecided on wood vs steel. The price, weight & fact 80-90% of what is sold around here is probably putting me with a wood deck.

I lucked into this tilting deck at a dam cheap price at an auction ($1,700). After using it a bit I'm not going back to ramps, extra weight be dammed. Ramps are annoying to drive up & with my bad back can be painful to manhandle around. I find a lot of value in the tilt deck tradeoffs.

I probably only need a 20', but given the balance issues of the deck behind the axles I'm looking at a 22' to be safe. The extra length will mean more room up front to balance properly.

 

[dodge man]

Mine is a wood deck but the dove tail is metal. It has some texture molded into it but it is still really slick. I agree, wood is the only way to go.