Author Topic: semi log trailer (Read 4817 times)

Randy88 · « **on:** February 10, 2017, 08:15:04 AM »

I have two questions, I'm not a professional logger bear that in mind, but I'm a hobby logger you could say.

I'm looking to get a log trailer for my semi, to save trips bringing home logs, can anyone tell me how many board feet of lumber is on a semi trailer load of logs. I'm looking at either a flatbed 45 foot with log stakes on it that I can remove and use the trailer for other things or a hayrack style with three sets of bunks on it for shorter logs, I'd be legal at 80,000 lbs and my semi tractor weighs about 15,000 lbs, don't know the trailer weight, I haven't bought one yet.

Second question is how many cords of firewood would that equate into on a semi load of firewood logs?

I'm just looking for approximately how much I could carry on a semi trailer verses on a dump trailer behind a pickup and since never done it before and have no clue how much wood is on one, I'm trying to figure out how many trips I'd save by buying a semi trailer verses behind a pickup? Thanks in advance.

BargeMonkey · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2017, 10:35:28 AM »

If your going to use it dual purpose on the farm a 45' is nice, your paying to register a tractor already why not, we still haul 5-600 5x5 round bales to the farm every yr and it worked good this yr. We bought that 45' Fontaine aluminum spread axle for hauling pipe and barge sections on a job, it had a set of log bunks with it. I got 54-5600 ft on it without going nuts. I was told DO NOT put 7-8-9000 ft on a flat deck trailer 😂, not like the big 3-4 axle slasher trailers we see around here. We have a small 7x14'x32" sides galvanized Cam dump trailer, holds 2 cord of split wood, you can load logs in them but it does beat them up after a while, ours is restricted to garbage or firewood nothing else. Biggest thing with a 45' big trailer is axle spacing, the one we run alot is a spread axle and your always scrubbing the front axle getting it around. You want a semi stout tractor, even 80k Gross is alot sometimes, my old CH600 350 mack knew it. During the flood we hauled shot rock for 42 days straight with that poor truck, DOT turned a blind eye to guys doing flood work and I scaled STUPID weight hauling rock and moving other guys big iron, poor truck is in Nigeria now. 😂
40-45' steel trailers are cheap here, we actually use them for bridges, I've got 2 sitting in our pit and 2 in NJ waiting to come up, 2 of them are still road worthy, we cut the axles and gear off them and set them on the creek banks for the city people with money to burn. Done 3 of them so far and have 2 to do this spring.

Randy88 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2017, 04:05:33 PM »

Thanks that's exactly what I wanted to know.

killamplanes · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2017, 06:24:12 PM »

I highly dought u can scale 5500 bdft of hardwood. Maybe lighter soft wood. I would say a steel 45ft trailer with 3 bunks ×- 16k pds. Aluminum trailer same setup loose 3-4k pds. I'm not a trailer expert but I own several simi truck and trailers. Like white oak logs very heavy. Walnut is my lightest I haul here. So different logs weight deferential bdft per load

OH logger · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2017, 07:54:22 PM »

we have had one in the past and we haul on my buddies flatbed some still and its a 45 footer. we can haul 4000 feet regular but its a little heavy most times. on the one we had the bunks were removable so we could put tubs on it and haul canary tomatoes (dual purpose). I think the stakes are 4.5 feet tall which is short but we never had any trouble leaving with too light of loads

NWP · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2017, 08:23:52 PM »

You'll get about 8 cords of firewood average on a semi trailer of logs.

BargeMonkey · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2017, 10:54:41 PM »

The trailer I've got has U shaped bunks that slide in the pockets and where stitch welded to the steel frame in the middle of the aluminum deck, I loaded it off my logtruck which holds 4000ft every day of the wk, added 1/3 more on it and stopped, I may have been shy a little but it wasn't 4k ft. Friend of mine has a 45ft pitts with a center mount, gets 7k ft or 12+ cord everytime. Trailers are common on softwood here, truck pup is 90% of what you see down here

That's 6400 ft, double stack the pup and you get 8k. I would go broke keeping a tractor up to DOT spec to strictly haul 4k ft, you could register almost 3 logtrucks without an R permit for what a heavy tractor costs us a yr here in NY, highway use tax is less, the hassle of getting one in on jobs.

mills · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2017, 04:43:49 AM »

The boy that hauls for me normally gets anywhere from 3,500 to 4,500 bft on his three bunk trailer. The difference being how many 12' logs I load. He said that when he first started hauling logs one logger loaded him with 6,000 bft. He said that wasn't going to happen again.

Problem that I often get into is that he can't get that long trailer back to the job site. Most land owners don't want you extending their drive way opening, so I get stuck hauling with my single axle. Been keeping my eye open for a short two bunk trailer, but most of them around here are older and flat worn out.

Randy88 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2017, 06:27:14 AM »

Bargemonkey, could you explain a R permit and also just how heavy can you load a log truck with a loader on it? Don't you need guys need to worry about bridge laws there where you need a certain spread between the axles.

I can understand difficulties with driveways, If you think a long trailer is tough, try a 53 foot detach, where the axles are at the back of the trailer and you have inches of ground clearance off the main beams, add in a long framed tractor and people ask me why I don't want a step deck, I keep telling them I want more ground clearance in the center of the trailer so I can go somewhere with it.

Your friend with the center mount log loader, just how heavy was he with that footage of logs on it? Also what weight are you if you'd load yours with 8k of logs?

I understand the truck and pup combination being much easier to get around with, can anyone tell me how they do anything with the semi and doubles or triples, how do they turn around anywhere with them? I had the opportunity to buy a set of flatbed doubles for next to nothing, first I thought it would be great, so much easier to get into driveways and such, then why I hesitated was how to turn them around, so many places I'd need to back around due to lack of turn around room and figured I'd be screwed with a semi and set of doubles loaded somewhere and stuck to boot in a turn.

Can anyone shed any light on the doubles for me, or is my thinking completely wrong and they would be the way to go for tight area's?

longtime lurker · « **Reply #9 on:** February 11, 2017, 06:35:28 AM »

Officially... 90 ton gross

Unofficially...

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies

killamplanes · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2017, 08:00:15 AM »

This truck empty weight is 36,500 lbs, with loader and pup. The pup is 6,500lbs. I am plated for 76000 lbs. Due to a bridge restriction on a main route that I travel. This picture is an overload ticket waiting to happen. I was packing out of a field prior to a thaw. Only going a couple miles to move logs of the incoming mud. Most were walnut, red and white oak. They can be stacked about 3/4 up my bunks for a legal load. The real problem with these trucks is getting your axles to scale. On this one the forward bunks ( closes to the cab is were u need the weight. That will get your steer tire and front drive axle weight. But the rear mount loader already has alot on rear axle so 2nd bunk gets about 3/4 load forward bunk gets. Anyway big differences between log weights between different species of trees....

BargeMonkey · « **Reply #11 on:** February 11, 2017, 12:37:25 PM »

I know barely enough to be dangerous, so don't quote me. I will have to check my permit and see what I'm good for, in NY any straight truck over 54k steps you into an R- permit. You measure wheelbase, tire size and show them the manufacturer info on your tag axles, they put the info in a shoebox with chicken bones, shake it up and spit you out an expensive green form. I know some of it because of the cost of keeping a heavy tractor on the road, a straight logtruck is taxed the same as a milk truck so everything is lower. 2/7 of our trucks have 22.5, I know that knocks my logtruck down a bit, and I prefer the baby tires VS floats in the back and that cost me weight also. The guy with the 3axle trailer told me last night he is legal for 119k, says 7k ft of HW is pushing it. This picture is from when pulp was going 17', he was legal for 126k and the man knows the rules to the letter.

I've got 5-6 lds to ship when I get home and will ask my buyer exactly what they are legal for on truck-pup and big trailer. They consistently leave my jobs with 63-7000 ft.

DOT is pretty heavy here at times, as long as your not ridiculously loaded or your truck looks like a rat trap they don't bother you, attitude and a decent truck goes a long ways. They told my driver a couple weeks ago when scaling him they aren't out for the big trucks, the big one right now is the F-250/350 guys hauling a 240 /540 overwidth on a pintle pull, they can't write tickets fast enough.
When I bought my loader it had to come home on a lowboy, cab and saw table stayed in NH, we didn't have time to pull an overwidth permit in time and my deal with Cat was she left in the morning. The trucker told me because the table is overwidth that I was going to be yanked over immediately coming thru Bennington VT if I sent a truck with DOT #'s on the side. My help had a dirtymax with 8" stacks and no #'s, gave him an envelope with money and said call me if you have trouble. The table is 9-10 at the wheels, 28'long and heavy. He said when they popped over the hill on RT-7 in Troy at 2pm rolling coal with an exhaust brake the trooper just gave them this look and figured if they where that nuts he wasn't going to bother pulling them over. 😂 all how you play the game.

Loghauler86 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 11, 2017, 05:06:46 PM »

I'm not sure what guys can gross with a pup. I do know with a straight truck with 13.2k front axles 46k rears and a 25k lift axle you can gross 73k state wide with enough length. As far with a trailer if you have 46k rears and 25k trailer axles on 7 axles you can gross 117k state wide. You have to have a minimum overall length of 43'. You can gross 107k on 6 axles and 102k on 5 axles. If you have a down state grandfathered permit you can carry 120k on 7 axles or 79k for a 4 axle straight truck.

killamplanes · « **Reply #13 on:** February 11, 2017, 06:58:57 PM »

Here 80k is top weight without permits. Very restrictive state. Welcome to illinois.. and dot can smell a log truck a mile away. They are very ticket happy here. The state is broke, alot of scale houses (chicken coops) are shutdown for budget cuts. It's not fun owning trucks anymore.

BargeMonkey · « **Reply #14 on:** February 11, 2017, 08:48:27 PM »

My head spins when I start reading how it all works. My lowboy is good for 102, just enough for most of my heavy stuff. I'm sure if you get out of the truck acting like an idiot or are grossly overloaded DOT is going to make it hurt, they failed our JD dealers brand new service truck a few yrs ago because they can. We bought this newer tractor near Ticonderoga this summer and I saw slasher trailer after slasher trailer, like a wide eyed drooling child out the window, loaded to the gills. We are knocking around a 9200gal fuel trailer, won't be for a yr or so but looking into that now and that's a insurance monster, the guy who is set to truck our fuel thinks he is slick. 😂

xalexjx · « **Reply #15 on:** February 11, 2017, 08:57:24 PM »

117 is max with an overweight permit and 7 axles in ny. Plus the 3% makes it about 120,000. Guy who hauls my wood is legal for about 41.6 ton.

NWP · « **Reply #16 on:** February 11, 2017, 09:27:39 PM »

Missouri has log truck plates. As long as I'm on any road other than the interstate there is no weight limit. It's a limit on volume based on how many axles you have. Most DOT officers don't understand the rules so they don't mess with you much. I did get an overweight ticket on the interstate a couple of months ago. I was 14,000 lbs overweight. I figure if I averaged that ticket out over all the loads I've hauled that were over it's pretty cheap.

Randy88 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 13, 2017, 07:53:22 AM »

NWP, what axle weights do you have to go by then, 34,000 for tandems and how many axles can you have then? Doesn't the DOT go after you for being over the tire rated carrying capacity?

NWP · « **Reply #18 on:** February 17, 2017, 08:49:25 PM »

http://www.modot.org/mcs/documents/14LogTruckBooklet2011.pdf

NWP · « **Reply #19 on:** February 17, 2017, 08:53:28 PM »

I got a ticket from the friendly DOT officer about 3 months ago for being 14,000 lbs over on the interstate. On any secondary road, I'm perfectly legal at 94,000 lbs but on the interstate I can only weigh 80,000. The rules are confusing which sometimes works in the log truck's favor. There is a definition on page 18-19 of the above link that explains the volume allowed per 2 sets of axles.

Forestry ForumSponsored by:

Author Topic: semi log trailer (Read 4817 times)

Forestry Forum
Sponsored by: