if im not mistaken if the axle isnt on the ground then it doesnt count toward the bridge formula, and if it is on the ground then that means your overweight for a tandem, and there fore that require you to have a permit for the weight and that means your covered i think. ive also seen some guys have the flip axle flipped down but they put the pins in before they sat the axle all the way down and it was off the ground but not resting on the deck.

 

Tracer What the agent is talking about and what you need is a 48 ft RGN with mechanical detach with a flip.The reason for a flip is so that when it is up you have a 48 ft trailer which exempts you from king pin laws. You need 18 inch deck heigth so you can be 13-6 with a 12ft high piece. Be very careful of used equipment, many have been abused. In the states you can permit 92,000 on 5 axles and 112,000 on six. More in some states depending on axle spacings and tires.

The load you were looking at has the permit cost included probably $700 to $900. Overweight permits can be quite expensive in some states. Check with LS before you buy a trailer to be sure they will let you lease it on and what restrictions they will put on you.

X L Specialized Trailer

 

How can 48 ft trailers be exempt from the maximum 41 kingpin setting requirement? Is it strictly for RGN trailers? Because I have a 48 ft step and we spent a lot of time with the dealer discussing various settings. I think I'm at 40.8' from the kingpin to the center between my 2 axles.

But looking at the drawing of the XL 70 MFG, I can see it does violate the 41 ft requirement even in its shown 48 ft configuration: the rear deck is 9 ft from the beginning to the end, so it looks like the center between the axles is 4.5' away from the end or 43.5' from the beginning of the trialer. Minus the kingpin position of 16" gives us ... 42.1' from the kingpin to the center between the axles! What the heck.

I guess that explains it why you cannot have a 53 ft RGN with a tridem (all fixed axles)....

 

Kingpin law excludes 48 ft trailers. Even in California(STAA routes). The kinpin laws started after 53 footers became the standard. With the flip down and the axle lifted you are in violation because they consider it a 53 ft trailer. Most customers are good about helping with the flip if not you can use a wrecker, or buy one of these

Globe Hydraulic Flip Axle

 

I liked the video. Thanks for posting the link. But back to the 53 footer: when you need to use the third axle, do you have to get a permit each time, even when you're pulling an empty trailer?

 

Here's a drawing and a couple of pictures of the Trail EZE detach that comes real close to my 29' well requirement. It's just 2 feet short It has 2 or 3 kingpin settings. The only drawback - apart form a relatively 'short' main deck is the height of the main deck: it's a whopping 22" off the ground. That's no good, is that?

 

This unusual trailer from Trail EZE looks like an interesting compromise between a regular stepdeck and machinery trailer. The upper deck just folds to turn the entire trailer into one surface. I have never seen something like this before! The website says it can be a 53 with a 39.5" main deck height. Looking at my past loads, a trailer like this would work with that pickup and F-650 truck I hauled to Northern Ontario. Loading and unloading them would have been a breeze. It should also work with big front end loaders as long as the trailer uses smaller tires and the deck height is at 36". The site doesn't say how much it weighs though .. it's all metal. Wonder what the hauling capacity would be like with this one...

 

No, not all states have kingpin laws, and some don't enforce them. Look online at LS saftey and compliance, they have a good list.

 

Here's an interesting load from our LS board.

Origin: PA
Destination: ON, Canada
Loaded miles: 616
Rate per mile: $6.82
Freight: excavator
Weight: 79,000 lbs (!)
Length: 36.4'
Width: 11.2'
Height: 10'6"

Looking at dimensions, this could be done with my step... But my trailer wheels would probably fall off if I put 79K on the deck! How many axles do you need to haul this? The load description just requested a 'DD' trailer without specifying axle amounts. Could it be done with a regular truck (12k + 40k axles)?

The load is a Link Belt 350x2. I think rank once wrote he had 2 of these on his 53 step

[ATTACH=CONFIG]671[/ATTACH]

 

For that load Tracer, you would need a 3-axle tractor as your truck would be over the weight rating for the front axle off the bat and I would imagine a 50T LOW or DD.

If your IH is like mine was, it was almost pushing 12,000lbs on the front axle bobtail with that C-15