Trailer.. VS.. Flat Bed.....

Jim@Garagecleaning

Jim@Garagecleaning

banned
I recently read a thread about a Flat bed VS a trailer. There are good AND not so good things about both.....

For the purpose of Pressure Washing and pulling with an Isuzu Flat bed and / or one of the Big Three auto makers 3500 series ( Dodge, Ford and Chevy )

I will start with the trailer....

A trailer can carry up to 10 times more weight than a flat bed.

Of course it depends if your trailer was bought at home depot or is custom.

Some trailers can even carry More than that. Axles can be bought to 10k each axle for a couple of thousand or less for each axle.
 
A flat bed is limited to the rear suspension of that truck. Pay load is what to look for. for the big three, usually not more than 4,000 LBS. Including the steel used to create the flat bed. 24,000 GVWR
 
The Isuzu NPR DIESEL is a whopping 6,329 LBS. The HD version is even more at 8,729 LBS. The total GVWR is 12,000 to 18,000 for the light duty and 14,500 to 20,500 for the heavy duty.

THESE ARE IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS!!!
 
Can't tow a trailer rated 10k lbs or over in most states for commercial purposes without a CDL. Can go up to 26k lbs w/out a CDL on solid units.
 
advantage of the flat bed is everything is on the truck. No towing. Able to go 65+ mph in California where a trailer is 55 MPH Max by California law.

Moving in tight spots is also great with a flatbed Truck VS a Trailer.
 
Pressure washing a Parking Garage here in California, I was torn by the Trailer VS a Flat bed truck.

We went with the trailer for multiple reasons for our application.

1. Height. Height was an issue when we were looking at the Isuzu and similar capacity flat bed trucks. They were simply too high when we installed the equipment. In Some cases the cab was too high as well.

All of our equipment is 6' 2" with a 2.25 inch drop axles custom made for us. The truck is 6' 3".

This way we can go up the ramps of a parking garage that is set for 6' 6" with a 3 inch clearance.
 
It might work good to have a flat bed setup, you could have a reclaim trailer with your recovery equipment, vac hoses, recovery tank ect. Just park it where the water is flowing and come pick it up when your done.
 
flat bed works in the south but not so in the north .would love to have but to cold in weather
 
Great points about both the trailer and flatbed truck.

For me is is personal preference. Too many times I can't get where I need to go because I can't turn too sharp with the trailer like on some of these small 1/2 circle driveways, narrow alleys, tight turns at apartment complexes, etc....

I would like the flatbed truck so I can just get in it and go, not worry about tight turns or turning into narrow alleys, tight turns at apartment complexes, etc...

I like the F450 that John Tornabene had with the 2 hot water rigs, the 400 and 500 gallon water tanks, etc.... I would not need that much water on the truck, maybe a 400 or 500 gallon water tank but not both.

The parking garage would be a problem with the vertical burners on a truck like that. I don't think I could do a parking garage unless I took the machines off the truck temporarily or get one of those fancy trucks that you can take the bed off and slide it into the trailer, that would work.

I just have to get the work to pay for the truck now. Hopefully this year.


_____________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
prostaff@superiorpowerwashing.com<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Cleaning Driveways and Sidewalks Corpus Christi Texas
 
I like the flatbed idea too.

As "needlean" mentioned that is the intention with my current set up, pressure washing equipment on trailer and recovery/treatment on truck bed.

Chris, John T's rigs is sweet. If boiler heat is a concern in a parking garage you could mount the burners lower than the bed via a custom bed mount or hitch platform.
 
Jim@Garagecleaning said:
I recently read a thread about a Flat bed VS a trailer. There are good AND not so good things about both.....

For the purpose of Pressure Washing and pulling with an Isuzu Flat bed and / or one of the Big Three auto makers 3500 series ( Dodge, Ford and Chevy )

I will start with the trailer....

A trailer can carry up to 10 times more weight than a flat bed.

Of course it depends if your trailer was bought at home depot or is custom.

Some trailers can even carry More than that. Axles can be bought to 10k each axle for a couple of thousand or less for each axle.
Click to expand...



Good to know your Starting with a Trailer Jim, let us know when you get it done. Glad to help you Build the rest of the business your getting Started
 
I am now in the process of switching to npr and fuso trucks. One of my main concerns is my men driving with the trailers especially in crowded apartment parking lots with 14 and 16 footers. I am keeping two trailers set up just for parking decks. When the first one was put together I couldnt believe how much space I was going to save with parking in our warehouse. A fuso with a 14 bed takes up a lot less room than a 14 foot trailer and truck. Its just a lot less hassle all the way around with a flatbed
 
Once you go with a flatbed then you really don't want to go back to pulling trailers. I'm actually starting to look for another brand new F-450 or F-550 flatbed with a 16' bed on it.
 
Ron Musgraves said:
Good to know your Starting with a Trailer Jim, let us know when you get it done. Glad to help you Build the rest of the business your getting Started
Click to expand...

LOL!!!

Personally, I think it depends on what type of job you are doing. I would not dream of having a trailer that was taller then the top of my truck. I also would not want the heaters to be up that high. Most of my units are flatbeds, though. I like them because of the type of work they are used for, they look better, and are for more efficient.
 
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