175,000 sure but that includes the FET.

 

Great replies. I have a truck. Reefer was $70k and is paid for in January. Remember, this is Canada. Here's the funny thing, no matter what way the dollar sways, the industry prettty much remains anchored. That means I can buy a 55 ton lowboy and pony pack here for $110, but I can go to Indiana and buy a brand new Fontaine 55H, pony pack, 60" spacing, outriggers, for the same I paid for my reefer. I will sell the reefer and use the same equipment financing to subsidize the rest.

I am well aware of insurance concerns by carriers. That was the point, actually and I see most of you think it is unfeasable. Perhaps. I will certainly reach out to some before making any moves, but some people I talk to think I will be able to find someplace.

To be blunt, I don't have time to spend years making the jump, which means I expect to do my homework. As per the original post, I made the fast track to O/O and never ran more than a single trip with anyone. I DO expect to my homework.

Allan, thanks for the suggestion. I was briefly at Payne, in '08, but owning the reefer and still paying for it, I was marrried to it. That was also when fuel hit $5 a gallon out east and after three months I found they simply weren't aggresive enough for obtaining fuel surcharges for the PA trips they were running. All they ever ran out of here were potatoes, sometimes loose on the floor of my reefer. I had to pay $350 one time just to get it cleaned. They had one Maple Leaf run to NJ, the only decent trip out of here, Hence, I returned from whence I came, at least for the interim.

It'll be a year before I do anything, if at all.

 

I am not as familiar with Canadian carriers as I am with those in the lower 48. There are a few down here who will train you on securement if you have not pulled open deck trailers before. Some carriers will contract with you once you gain 6 months to 1 year of flat bed experience. I believe ATS will train you on open deck trailers. I think that they will start you with flats and move you up to steps, low boys and multi axle trailers. They are based in Minnesota, so they most likely go into Canada. Landstar also does business in Canada and they have all types of trailers. One thing you might consider is leasing to a carrier and renting one of their trailers until you see if it is something you really want to do. You could sell your reefer and save the cash until you find the right trailer, or keep it until you check out the open deck trailers. Some of these carriers rent trailers to owner operators. If you rent one for a few months at least you won't need to worry about selling it if things don't work out.

One thing you should keep in mind when you are talking about pulling multi axle trailers is that they don't do as much business during winter months. Some states won't even allow you to run when there is snow on the ground. Your income will likely drop dramatically during the winter months. Adverse weather conditions and short days will prevent you from doing as much running during winter months. When you pull a low boy or multi axle trailer you will need to be permitted on most loads. Most people I know who own trailers and have multi axle trailers, also have step decks and some have flats. When there is no over sized or heavy haul loads they can still keep busy. Frankly, I don't understand why you would not want to start with a flat or step deck so that you can learn what you are doing before jumping into heavy haul. The entry costs are much less.

 

I don't think our reefer division even exists any more. Payne also just bought out GVT and Ger-ed, so our freight base is expanding. Apparently we're the largest open trailer carrier in Manitoba now.

 

I got a question: do all these tridem and muti-axle trailers need special permits when they are over 80,000 lbs gross in US? I know in Canada you can put a lot of stuff on the trailer with tridem axles, but from what I've seen in the regs, the gross in US is 80,000 lbs no matter what. Any comments?

 

You betcha. They will give you a permit if you have enough axles (i.e. tires rated to carry the weight). The bridge law might come into effect too.

Canada is not quite that wide open. You "buy" your weight when you pay for your plates. Take me for example; when I renew my plates, I choose the weight that I want to be allowed to gross in each province. For example, we move machinery into ON so I chose 46,500 kgs (102,300 lbs) for ON. I chose this number because it's roughly what all the tire ratings add up too. Because I am plated for 102,000 in ON, they will give me an overaxle permit to carry ~12,000 on the steers, 45,000 on the drives and 45,000 on the steers (45,000 div by 8 tires = 5625 lbs per tire).
Our maritime loads are lighter so I'm only registered for ~50,000 lbs out there.
Quebec goes by axles....our combinations are all 5.

 

Interesting info... thanks.

 

As a side note, in some states on their non-interstate highways, permits are not necessary if the weight can be bridged and scaled legally and the weight is already declared on the base plate registration. For example, Nebraska allows 94,000 lbs gross on non-interstate highways. So, if you have a 94K load and if you are legal on your axles and if you can bridge it and if your cab card has 94K for Nebraska, then you are good to go without permits. Although, if any one of those three things (bridge, axle, registration) is not up to par, then you are not good to go. If that same load travels on the interstate-highway system through NE, a permit is necessary.

However, each state has different non-interstate highway weights, so that 94K load that you legally hauled through NE without a permit cannot go into Colorado without a permit because their non-interstate highway allowable weight is.....well, I'm not sure at the moment....it used to be 84K but I think they raised it recently to 91K....regardless, 94K would still be heavy so permits are needed. But if that load went north from NE to South Dakota, permits are not necessary because 94K is legal on SD non-interstate highways. Just don't get on the interstate without a permit!! No permit makes interstate scalemaster unhappy, and when scalemaster is unhappy, everybody is unhappy!

 

It is the gross weight of the trailer and/or cargo that is considered in the U.S. I recall seeing a multi axle trailer running around Ohio. I was always glad to see him pulled into a scale because they would close the scale so that they could weigh him. His empty gross weight was more than 80,000. In the U.S. some states offer annual over sized permits. If you plan on running over weight or over sized much of the time through the same states it might be beneficial to simply purchase the annual permit. I don't usually haul heavy that much so it was never cost effective for me to purchase one in most states. Each states makes up their own rules and regulations, but without adding more weight to your cab card you are limited to 80,000 pounds. There has been talk for some time in this country about raising the maximum allowable weights. To tell you the truth, I hope they don't raise the limits. I think that 80,000 is enough weight.