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Originally Posted by iamnotahippee
So, the next portion, I have to be able to get into and out of peoples yards to deliver the buildings, thus loading them on the truck itself when possible. Sometimes I will haul the building on the trailer and then pull it onto the truck to set the building. Plus going to a tractor like that puts us in another class with DOT and our requirements go crazy. I have a CDL so I can legally drive one, but once get a rig that grosses over 26k things get alot more difficult and expensive. Now at some point we may go to a tractor for hauling our buildings from our manufacturer, but it is overkill on almost all of our deliveries.
The flat deck trailer, while not the best aero option, is the best business option. On a low boy with the axles up and behind the load, you greatly reduce capacity. Trailer length is limited by DOT to 53' without needing a permit every time you have it on the road. So with the axles set up like that you loose that much footage of carrying, unless a smaller building could be set on top of them. The other manipulation the flat deck allows is rear overhang. You can put over 50' of buildings on a 50' trailer because, depending on the building size, you could run with 6-8' of rear overhang.
My primary thought still lies with what I can do to improve empty, unloaded mileage on the pulling unit itself.
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For the truck itself,you want it to be something like this when you're not loaded
If your really chasing dollars (as some members have already mentioned)
*grille block
*electric cooling fan
*airdam
*rocker panel extensions/side skirts
*wheel arch gap reducers
*belly pan
*rear wheel skirts
*have an awning company or tarp company,or automotive trim shop sew you an inflatable aeroshell which can roll out and strap down,inflating to cover the 'bed' area like in the White truck above.This is where you'll see most of your savings.
*If you want to patent it you'll be a millionaire and then you can just move buildings for fun.
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As far as air deflectors go,your cab is so close to your load,and your load so large they're gonna have a tough time directing a beneficial flow.It would be better to have inflated plastic swimming pools attached to the face of the buildings to get their radiused edges on the corners of the buildings,all-around,to give you attached flow.(another millionaire!).
Any air deflector would have to be removed after unloading or it would become a parasite even folded down.