Advice for a newbie

Here are some limitations you might run into:

-It is hard to make bridge rules on a 40-foot hopper. I would run a longer one; that being said, there are quite a few locations that are limited to 43 feet.

-Out of KY, you will have opportunities for low-density products (Cottonseed, Rise, etc), so I would run a 102 wide. 102 wide verse a 96 inch wide is equivilant to adding 6 inches of height.

- 84-inch side walls line up just right with a mid-roof sleeper; they can also still fit under grain vacs if you load on the farm. Any higher might create issues.

- Trap size and height it really up to your preference. I would go for the biggest doors you can get to help with some of the sticky products. I do not like the lower clearance traps and prefer to have at least 20 inches of clearance just in case we unload into a swing hopper. If you are running the 12-inch clearance "commodity" traps, it is almost impossible to unload into a swing hopper. This probably will not limit you much, but in a perfect work it is nice to do anything that pops up.

-We also do NOT run power tarps on our trailers; too many variables that can go wrong, and they add weight and cost. If your shoulders still work, I would not add a power opener.

-Our drivers drop and hook trailers so we have hard-mounted vibrators on all trailers. This adds weight and puts them out in the salt. If I were an independent and only had a single trailer, I would run one of the Martin air suction vibrators. They work very well and can be kept in your toolbox.

-Stick with duals on a hopper. Super singles save weight, but not a lot of places in the rural areas carry super singles in stock, and you could be down for an extended period of time if you blew a tire.

-Auto inflate is nice to have and can save your butt in some cases, but if you pay attention closly to your tires I dont think it is needed.

-Disk brakes vrs drums is another topic that will have people on both sides. We run all disk brakes, the stopping power is amazing, and the maintance is limited. If you have a single trailer and keep your slack adjusters and cams maintained, I don't think it is a necessity.

-Trailer vents are nice but can leak in heavy rain; wet product will get rejected. I no longer order trailers with vents installed. You have ot remember to open the tarp a bit when unloading, or your bows will snap, but I prefer to know the product is not getting wet.

-Trailer weight is another thing to examine; as you make a trailer lighter (aluminum subframes and king pin sections), you make it more fragile. Every manufacturer is the same in this case, they will all crack if you abuse them. On the flip side, if you pay attention, swing wide and don't drag axles, stay on level ground, and don't beat up on the trailer, the weight-saving will put more money in your pocket.

Please help keep up hopper rates.

There's been thousands of trucks migrating from flatbed/dryvan/Reefer the past 2 years that couldn't make $2/loaded mile in that world that will run hopper for $2.50 a loaded mile and think it's Christmas in July. The problem is the base loaded rate for hopper has been $3/mile + for a few years. Heck 3 years ago it was over $4. So running for $2.50 a loaded mile (or less) in hopper is undercutting everyone that is already in it.

Rates and load volume usually get soft Jan to April each year. This year is worse than normal and falling fast. There's plenty of offers from major commodity brokers that are being offered for below $2/ mile. They know those rates a horrible but they aren't above giving those loads to carriers desperate for anything to haul. And carriers are taking them, getting their truck loaded in the short term but cutting their own throats in the long term.

A truck can comfortably stay in business at an average $2.75/mile on every mile you put on your truck's odometer running 2500 miles per week with reasonable ($2500-3500/month) truck and trailer payments and no expensive toys to pay for. If that benchmark falls to $2.50/mile you're on thin ice. Fall to $2.25/mile and below you're on your way out. Then the sandal wearing crowd that'll drive for $.25/mile can have it. Just don't drive anywhere near those white Volvo condos when out on the highway.

You will need to watch your air gauges in the cab and on the trailer to ensure you don't overload the trailer when hauling more dense products.

On a lot of trucks, you can load the air bags to the truck to a certain amount (the last truck I drove was 58 PSI), then you move to loading the trailer and fill that to your target level (our trailers are around 72 PSI). When the trailer is fully loaded, the cab PSI will be about 68 PSI, and you know you are near a full load. On our larger trailer, if you waited until you could see one pile of corn in each end, you were about 25000 pds overweight, you have to use the gauges.