Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

……that trailer manufactures didn’t have a clue.  Now it’s confirmed.

I’ve been pulling one variant or another of flatbed trailers for some time now, a decade or two.  Flat bed type trailers are pretty simple really.  Basically they’re a platform on wheels to which “stuff” is secured.  They come in many variants, however.  There are the basic flatbed and the extendable version.  Then there are the  extendable and nonextendable stepdecks, the extendable and nonextendable Mechanical and Hydraulic Removable Gosenecks and and also beams.  The number of axles vary wildly, from as few as one to nineteen or more.  Some have a “pony motor” or two.  Some have steerable axles.

When it comes right down to it though, they’re all basically the same.  A platform on wheels  to which “stuff” is secured.

Given that and the length of time they’ve been around I often wonder why:

fttimes the manual/automatic suspension control valve is normally mounted where it can be made inaccessible by freight.

: ofttimes the ride height adjustment either doesn’t exist or is extremely difficult to use.

: most times there isn’t enough securement locations on the trailer.

and I could go on and on and on.

The fact is that just about the only flatbed type trailer that’s really useful is one that was “spec’ed” by a driver, normally an Owner-Op. “Company Trailers” have all the above ills and more.

Hold that thought.

Since the democrats have destroyed the economy freight is slow.  Since freight is slow I have a LOT of time on my hands.  I’ve been spending way too much time at various terminals.  The reason being is that it’s cheaper for me to stay there than at some truckstop.  Typical for the last few months is a short load (two to six hundred miles) that I have to deadhead a huge distance to get to then wait four to ten days to do it again.

Ofttimes I’m in a company terminal while I wait.

The other day that was the case.  It turns out the the company I’m leased to is right next door to a trailer manufacture.  I had just pulled into the yard with a three axle stretch low profile stepdeck.  There being no place to park I was just sitting there, in my truck, veggin’ out.

I noticed a young fellar was looking at my trailer.  INTENTLY looking at my trailer.  Taking notes even.

I lit up a ceegar and climbed out of the truck and went back to visit.

Turns out he was an engineer for the a fore mentioned trailer manufacturing company.  They were thinking about building this type of trailer and he was scouting the competition.

In the course of our conversation he asked me if there was anything I could think of that he should do to his  trailers to make them better.

Mistake.

Two hours later, glassy eyed and a little bit scared he escaped.

One thing he said though is noteworthy.  He said “I just build them. I have no idea how you guys use them on the road.”

Duh.