Coils of steel are really fucking heavy and trailers are designed to have most of the weight placed over the axles.
That’s why there are 3 of them right next to each other.
Almost forgot, new trailers are really fucking expensive too.
Class dismissed.
40,000 pounds of carbon steel versus the aluminum bed support structure instead of axel mounts below. Yep look out below.
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Saw the exact same thing 20 years ago. Huge roll of sheet steel in the exact middle of the trailer, far from the wheels.
This loading error occurred at the steel mill. As Al McGuire famously said, “Cheap help is the most expensive kind.”
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OOPS
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Well spoken there bud !!! … Ya gotta wonder sometimes how some of these morons are placed in a position to make decisions !!! …
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Put the weight over the axles and you are going to have an unstable driving condition. That trailer was not designed for that load. I’ve seen many coils loaded in the forward center that had sufficient section property depth in the loaded area to carry the 20 tons easily. Don’t blame the tool but the fool using it for failures. (BTW Degreed Engineer)
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“Put the weight over the axles and you are going to have an unstable driving condition.” You overcome that by placing the load slightly ahead of the axle where part of the weight transfer is to the tongue (5th wheel plate), where the moment of stress on the load bearing surface is still supported. That low-boy trailer could have safely supported and carried that load had it been placed correctly. (BTW, two degreed truck driver, with 20 years experience.)
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I would rather haul a tanker full of Jet B with a campfire on top than haul that coil or a load of pipe. Seen a few too many terminal results of poor load securement to repeat.
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You can’t make the axle weights come out right if the coil is placed over the axles.
And, as Spin Drift said, that would make for a very short ride…down over the edge of the road to wherever.
That trailer was not built for that concentrated load.
Take a look at how close to the ground the underneath of the trailer is, indicating very shallow webbed I beams.
The I beams are the backbone of a flat trailer.
In most instances,a deep web gives the beam more strength (the web of an I beam is the center vertical piece that connects the two horizontal pieces called flanges)
If they’re not strong enough, the flat will do what that one did.
They come from the factory with a concentrated load capacity that states how many pounds are allowed in so many feet.
Low deck trailers like this one, by design, have shallow beams to get them lower to the ground for hauling higher loads.
Handy N Handsome
20 year, million mile veteran over the road driver
15 year trailer repair and manufacturing.
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I bow to your wisdom and experience.
I was going by axle weight carrying capacity.
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I grew up in Lake County Indiana outside of Gary. Everyday’s traffic report included ” A steel-hauler lost his load at…” The most dangerous time was before 6am when all the busted up old trucks were trying to get their load somewhere before rush hour.
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Or before the scales opened?
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Or before the daylight that would help the popo see them.
I’ve driven a lot of shitboxes after dark.
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I will commend the driver for the fact the coil did not come loose. I had a friend who worked at a coil steel distributor who told me about a 60,000 lb. coil that somebody forgot to chock and then got bumped and started rolling….out the door, across the parking lot and into an open field with a gentle downhill grade. It finally stopped a quarter mile or so away, when it hit an uphill grade. Made for an impressive bill from the heavy moving company.
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I worked at a rolling mill a few years ago, and nobody with a lick of sense would have put coils on a low-boy. Several people’s tails in a sling here, not the least the driver, for not knowing his equipment.
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