Flat metal for trailer floor?

[welderj]

WOW!!

Okay then..............

This thread will probably crash, and burn...but.........gotta get my two cents in before it does

A floor (which is what any vehicle carrying a load is), is generally built to withstand compression under load. (That 500 sacks of Pinto Beans ya threw on the bed of the truck/trailer presses DOWN.) The floor rests on a beam (the frame rails) The load pressing down, places the bottom flange in tension, and the top flange in compression. The compression side of a beam is seldom used as a measure of the ability of the beam to carry a given load. We're mostly concerned with the tensile strength of the lower flange, the tension side.

A floor, just about any kind of a floor, IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A LOAD WHEN DETERMINING LOADING LIMITS ON BEAMS May I emphasize LOAD?

Now......you could turn the entire mess into a piece of tubing. Yeah, I said tubing. Completely boxing in the frame rails, top and bottom, would effectively make the thing into a piece of tubing. This would indeed be stronger if properly done. BUT NOW YA GOTTA PUT A "FLOOR" UNDER THE FRAME RAILS (I expect some sort of convoluted reply to this )

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I can't deal with you today, but you can't compare static straight down loads to trailer loads that come from all directions

[dieselbeef]

save the money buying the metal deck..to buy wood for the floor.... and use the leftover cash to buy enough metal to build it right

[welderj]

save the money buying the metal deck..to buy wood for the floor.... and use the leftover cash to buy enough metal to build it right

Well that won't work here for a couple reasons starting with I already have most of the structure material.

[welderj]

Exactly. Google *low boy*, *heavy equipment trailer* etc and they all have wood decking.

I'm aware that wood is better in most cases for hauling equipment, but that won't work in this case and isn't what I want. The intent of this thread was only to address whether smooth sheet would be too slick to justify saving $400.00 +/-.

[ThorsHammer]

yeah, I'm not going to argue structural strength with someone who thinks compressing a tube to weld it to another tube is just as strong as coping the tube... http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ild&highlight= what ever happened with this build?

The point of this thread was traction, not structure. to that I'm more than willing to help answer.

[mike837go]

I'm aware that wood is better in most cases for hauling equipment, but that won't work in this case and isn't what I want. The intent of this thread was only to address whether smooth sheet would be too slick to justify saving $400.00 +/-.

+/-$400 for a machine that is going to last 5-10 years and you are planning on making money with it?

Are you familiar with the phrase "Penny Wise and Pound Foolish"?

Build the frame as solid and reliable as straining your budget will allow. The added cost will pay for itself when you are not spending hours every few months fixing the thing.

A solid metal (Fe or Al) floor will get torn to shreds from tires and tracks and then corrode. A wooden floor will get torn to shreds from tires and tracks and then rot. At 1/2 the cost, guaranteed traction and easier to replace, the choice should be obvious.

[M J D]

Correct me if I'm wrong here. The OP mentioned a 30, gooseneck trailer with a question regarding metal flooring. The Q was whether diamond tread was worth the cost over plain sheet. Somehow this turned into loading tracked equipment and engineering something completely different.. With all these self proclaimed "engineers", you would think simple comprehension of a given subject would be a prerequisite.

[welderj]

+/-$400 for a machine that is going to last 5-10 years and you are planning on making money with it?

Are you familiar with the phrase "Penny Wise and Pound Foolish"?

Build the frame as solid and reliable as straining your budget will allow. The added cost will pay for itself when you are not spending hours every few months fixing the thing.

A solid metal (Fe or Al) floor will get torn to shreds from tires and tracks and then corrode. A wooden floor will get torn to shreds from tires and tracks and then rot. At 1/2 the cost, guaranteed traction and easier to replace, the choice should be obvious.

I've come to the conclusion already that it is not worth saving the money. I just wanted to see if someone has one and had good luck with it I would try it for the savings. This will be an all aluminum trailer and I need to have the deck be aluminum as well to get the extra strength as I said earlier. I have enough heavy duty 8" I-beam for the frame. That would be good for a 25' 20,000 lb trailer, but I'm thinking about going to 30' and tri-axle for a 27,000 lb capacity trailer. By using 3 axles it keeps the spans close to the same as the 25' and by using the metal deck I'll gain the extra frame height to make up for the extra capacity. I may still go with 25'. But as I said this was only supposed to be about whether smooth sheet would be too slick.

[mike837go]

Correct me if I'm wrong here. The OP mentioned a 30, gooseneck trailer with a question regarding metal flooring. The Q was whether diamond tread was worth the cost over plain sheet. Somehow this turned into loading tracked equipment and engineering something completely different.. With all these self proclaimed "engineers", you would think simple comprehension of a given subject would be a prerequisite.

Right or Wrong has zero to do with the free expression of opinions.

As they say, every a***ole has one! (And my very unqualified avatar appears several times in this thread).

[welderj]

yeah, I'm not going to argue structural strength with someone who thinks compressing a tube to weld it to another tube is just as strong as coping the tube... http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ild&highlight= what ever happened with this build?

The point of this thread was traction, not structure. to that I'm more than willing to help answer.

If you go back and read that thread you will not find anywhere where I said crimping was as strong as coping. What I said was that in that case what I did was fine and coping wouldn't have made any difference in that case. Did you ever come up with any explaination as to where the force was going to come from to cause that frame to fail? Or are you like samm, still just blowing crap to hear yourself talk?

[ThorsHammer]

Not my fault that "good enough" and "done right" are not the same thing. But of course anyone that doesn't agree with you must only be saying things to hear themselves talk. There could never be any underlying factor behind any opposing opinions on something. They must just all be lacking in intelligence.

[welderj]

Not my fault that "good enough" and "done right" are not the same thing. But of course anyone that doesn't agree with you must only be saying things to hear themselves talk. There could never be any underlying factor behind any opposing opinions on something. They must just all be lacking in intelligence.

So, did you come up with a reason for it to fail Or not? You had no problem bringing it up but don't like being called on it.

[ManoKai]

[7A749]

It'll be a cold day in hell before I ever post pix of any trailer I build here

[ManoKai]

^ HaHa! F'n true brah. No matter what, no one eva eva eva builds one good enough for da WW crew. ROTF.........

[ThorsHammer]

an Oval welded to the bottom/top of a circular tube is going to have a reduced surface area essentially point loading the tube. Where as a Coped tube will wrap around the tub supporting the tube, while transferring load around the tube, as opposed to only on the bottom/top of the tube. The Oval, or squished vertical support is going to cause the tube to flatten under load vs the coped tube which will transfer the load evenly. A flattened circle is far easier to bend than an actual circle.

It doesn't matter if the planned loads on the trailer aren't going to be enough to cause this to happen, the simple fact that the potential is there is enough to make it poorly designed/executed. It's a personal opinion, and as will any other thread, you're going to leave it. which is your right. However, There are far more people here that would agree with me, than would agree with you in the case of that trailer. as proven by the number of comments in the previous thread.

[Tmtbob]

With aluminum cattle trailers when the tread plate gets worn down we have the floors cleated with round or square rod about two foot or so long and spaced out a few feet apart. That wouldn't help much with walking across it but the square rod would work good for tires till the corners rounded off.

[12V71]

Note to self: Whenever I see a thread heading with the word 'Trailer' in it.....Stay the hell away.......

I will remember this when I see the 4 semi trailers I custom built 6 years ago doing 300+ miles a day going up and down the road... in fact, tomorrow I'll go find them and put big warning labels on the rear of them.

[7A749]

^ HaHa! F'n true brah. No matter what, no one eva eva eva builds one good enough for da WW crew. ROTF.........

Well, I might..... But it would be from a safe distance away to avoid showing detailed examples of the welding

[welderj]

an Oval welded to the bottom/top of a circular tube is going to have a reduced surface area essentially point loading the tube. Where as a Coped tube will wrap around the tub supporting the tube, while transferring load around the tube, as opposed to only on the bottom/top of the tube. The Oval, or squished vertical support is going to cause the tube to flatten under load vs the coped tube which will transfer the load evenly. A flattened circle is far easier to bend than an actual circle.

It doesn't matter if the planned loads on the trailer aren't going to be enough to cause this to happen, the simple fact that the potential is there is enough to make it poorly designed/executed. It's a personal opinion, and as will any other thread, you're going to leave it. which is your right. However, There are far more people here that would agree with me, than would agree with you in the case of that trailer. as proven by the number of comments in the previous thread.

There is always the potential for failure. You overload anything and it will fail. Does that mean that everything needs to be done more til no potential for failure exists? Cars should now be fully welded because there is the potential for the spot welds to fail? At some point on all projects the cost exceeds the value. Since I've built a good many trailers I'm fairly informed on where that is, and I can say with all confidence that if you want any kind of return on your labor you can't waste any time when building it. If that frame was built in a shop hoping to sell it for a profit the extra time wasted on coping when unnecessary could easily pass the profit margin.

[Jason Lister]

I have enough heavy duty 8" I-beam for the frame. That would be good for a 25' 20,000 lb trailer, ....

Even if you are saying 20k gvw, and not actual load. 8" I-beam is very far from the 12"x16#or 19# steel wide flange beam industry norm. What tensile strength beams are you using? and weight per foot?

[ThorsHammer]

He's using Aluminum, not steel.

[Jason Lister]

He's using Aluminum, not steel.

I know.

[CGT80]

My brother has a work trailer that has smooth steel sheet for a deck. It also has short sides that fold down and it is a dump trailer. He hauls a skid steer (rubber tires, not tracks) with it as well. I have loaded and unloaded some items from it and the smooth surface isn't a problem. It is beat up a little and has some texture to the surface.

Aluminum is soft, compared to steel, and it will likely get beat up a bit and develop a bit of a rough surface. Sometimes it is nice to be able to push a heavy object across the deck by hand. I can see where a slick deck could be a problem. If you go with a smooth deck, consider a way to set cleats or tie downs near the cargo to keep it from shifting easily. On wood deck trailers, I used scrap lumber and decking screws to keep things in place.

Wood decks suck when they get broken and weathered and need replaced. Lumber isn't exactly cheap either, though it is less expensive than aluminum or steel. I have used flat bed trucks with a smooth deck, but most of the equipment was bolted to the deck and we strapped small items as needed.

In SoCal, we don't have snow or ice to worry about so that isn't much concern on a smooth deck. Even diamond plate can be slick when painted or with water or sand on it, but it is harder to clean up or move items as well. To me, it is 6 of one half a dozen of the other.

[eagleman193]

Or because it is just cheaper or faster to use wood and get it out the door!