Which Equipment Your Freight Needs

Read the freight before you pick the trailer

Almost every equipment decision comes down to four questions about the load, not the trailer. Does it need to be enclosed and protected, or can it ride on an open deck? How does it get on and off — a dock, a forklift, a crane, or its own wheels? How tall and how heavy is it, measured against the legal limits? And does it need tarping or other protection on the road? Answer those four and the trailer usually names itself.

Work it the other way — book a trailer and then force the freight onto it — and you tend to find out at the dock, when the load doesn't move. A load that runs over legal height on a standard flatbed, or freight that can't reach a dock door, doesn't move that day. So the order matters: describe the freight honestly, and let the equipment follow.

The equipment we run, and what points to each

We run dry van, flatbed, step-deck, hotshot goosenecks, and power only. Here's what each is for, what fits, and the cue that points you to it. When two could work, the desk sorts it — that's what the description is for.

One class we don't run is worth naming so you don't lose time on it: temperature-controlled freight needs a dedicated refrigerated (reefer) trailer, which is its own equipment class. If that's your load, tell us and we'll say so straight rather than put it on a dry van.

Dry van (commonly 53 ft)

The default for boxed and palletized general freight that needs to be enclosed and out of the weather. It loads and unloads at a dock, floor-loaded or on pallets, and a common trailer length is 53 ft. If your freight ships on pallets, moves by forklift, and doesn't need open-deck access, this is almost certainly your trailer.

Flatbed (commonly 48 or 53 ft)

An open deck for freight loaded and unloaded from the side, from the top, or by crane — and tarped when it needs weather protection. Building materials, steel, lumber, machinery, anything that can't fit through a dock door or has to be lifted on. The cue is loading method: if a forklift or crane has to reach the load from outside, you're on a flat.

Step-deck (drop deck)

A flatbed with a lower main deck, so tall freight can ride at legal height instead of going oversize. Same open-deck loading as a standard flat, but the drop buys you clearance. The cue is height: once your freight on a standard flatbed would break legal height — commonly around 13'6", though the limit is set by state, not one federal number — the step-deck is what keeps it legal.

Hotshot (30–40 ft gooseneck)

A gooseneck trailer, commonly 30 to 40 ft, pulled behind a medium-duty truck for smaller, partial, or time-critical loads that don't justify a full 53 ft trailer. A single machine, a few pallets, an expedited piece that has to move now. The cue is scale and urgency: too small or too fast for a full truckload, but still needs its own equipment.

Power only

You have the trailer; you need the tractor and the driver. We supply the power unit and pull your equipment — common for drop-trailer programs, shipper-owned trailers, or repositioning a loaded trailer that's already yours. The cue is simple: the trailer isn't the question, the truck is.

The legal envelope, and where oversize begins

These are the baselines that decide whether a load is routine or needs a permit. Treat every one as a starting point, not a hard rule — the federal figures below apply to the Interstate system, and states set their own limits on their own roads, height especially. The point isn't to memorize them; it's to recognize when your freight is close to a line, because that's when it needs lead time.

Gross weight

On the Interstate system, commonly capped at 80,000 lb gross without a permit. State rules and the federal bridge formula can lower what's legal on specific roads.

Tandem axles

34,000 lb over a tandem axle group is the common federal limit. How the weight sits over the axles matters as much as the total on the scale.

Single axle

20,000 lb over a single axle is the common federal limit.

Width

Commonly 8'6" (102 in) legal width on the Interstate. Anything wider is oversize and needs a permit.

Height

Commonly around 13'6", but legal height is set by state, not one federal number — always confirm the route. This is the figure that most often pushes freight from a standard flat to a step-deck.

Length

Driven by the trailer, not a single number — a 53 ft van, a 48 ft flat, and a 40 ft gooseneck each carry their own envelope.

Beyond the envelope

Anything over these lines — oversize or overweight — is permit territory. It needs lead time for permits and routing, so raise it with the desk early rather than at pickup, and get who orders permits, plans the routing, and pays for what in writing.

How to tell us what you've got

Give the desk these and it can name the equipment. Send them once, up front, and you skip the back-and-forth — usually it just comes down to whether the height and the loading method were in the first message.

• Commodity — what it actually is. 'Steel coils' and 'palletized retail goods' point to completely different trailers before anything else gets discussed
• Dimensions — length by width by height, per piece and for the whole load. Height is the one that most often changes the equipment
• Weight — total, and per piece if it's heavy or concentrated. How it distributes over the axles matters, not just the total
• How it loads and unloads — dock, forklift, crane, or drive-on. This decides open deck versus enclosed as much as anything
• Whether it needs tarping or protection from the weather — open-deck freight often does, and it changes both the equipment and the handling
• Any special handling — tarps, straps versus chains, oversize permits, hazmat, or a residential or appointment delivery
• Origin and destination — the lane sets the routing, the state limits in play, and the price, which is quoted per lane and never estimated online