[jmac1299]

We are considering getting another set of super b's and just wondering what are the things to watch for with any of the more common brands and why a particular trailer is better than another. We have a couple sets of 08 doepker open end steels and like them other than the rust from stone chips associated with lots of gravel. Looking at doepker and load king steel as well as load king and Wilson aluminums. We only do our own farm hauling and put about 20000 Kms a year. Lots of loads just short hauls. Always in and out of the fields with poor approaches and sometime a tad overloaded! If there are other trailer that are better I'd like to know why. Seems like some new ones to the market rescently as well. Emerald, Centerline as well as others I can't remember. Thanks.

 

[gm]

We are considering getting another set of super b's and just wondering what are the things to watch for with any of the more common brands and why a particular trailer is better than another. We have a couple sets of 08 doepker open end steels and like them other than the rust from stone chips associated with lots of gravel. Looking at doepker and load king steel as well as load king and Wilson aluminums. We only do our own farm hauling and put about 20000 Kms a year. Lots of loads just short hauls. Always in and out of the fields with poor approaches and sometime a tad overloaded! If there are other trailer that are better I'd like to know why. Seems like some new ones to the market rescently as well. Emerald, Centerline as well as others I can't remember. Thanks.

We have a set of load king steel open end with aluminum slopes '08 and they are just starting to get surface rust. Other than that they have been very good the load equalizing works well, ours also get only used on the farm. For our next set we will look at load king all aluminum but price might drive us away from them.

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

I would lean to full aluminum bees, my farm had a set of 1991 Merritt super bees and they still looked pretty good being so old. Most steel ones built in 91 aren't even on the road anymore much less look like anything decent. I'm not a fan of open ended either, so many crevices for rust to start or snow to pile up and add weight. When I look down the transcanada highway all I see is aluminum Lode King bees, they are certainly not the cheapest but if they are so popular there has to be something to them. My second choice would be Wilson and mostly because you can find used ones where as the aluminum Lode Kings haven't been built for too many years so there is very little used selection.

 

[peterbilt]

Between the two I'd lean to the lode kings, we have a set of 2011 wil sons and have had a bit of trouble with rivets working loose, we have lift axles and that was a bad idea, the valves seem to give us a lot of trouble. Going to trade the Tri axle I think and will look for a set of lode kings, just couldn't find any when we bout the wilsons.

 

[Snipe]

Between the two I'd lean to the lode kings, we have a set of 2011 wil sons and have had a bit of trouble with rivets working loose, we have lift axles and that was a bad idea, the valves seem to give us a lot of trouble. Going to trade the Tri axle I think and will look for a set of lode kings, just couldn't find any when we bout the wilsons.

Where do the rivets come loose? I have looked at a few used Wilson trailers and notice the chrome rivet covers missing on the rivets in the channel above the hoppers and only on super Bs. Tri axle they are never missing there.

 

[Don Boles]

I would lean to full aluminum bees, my farm had a set of 1991 Merritt super bees and they still looked pretty good being so old.

Are they air ride Jason?
Roughly when would air ride have become general?

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

Are they air ride Jason?
Roughly when would air ride have become general?

They are spring ride, don't know when air ride became the norm. Ive seen 1999 Lode Kings bees with spring ride so its all what the original owner ordered. My guess would be mid 2000s.

 

[Christian A. Herrnboeck]

We have a 1997 Doepker B train with air ride....


Would agree Doepkers have the best finish... paint lasts longer, only real weak spot is the rear bumper... they tend to rust out because salt gets in there and the metal is unpainted on the inside.

 

[woodytr99]

We have a 1997 Doepker B train with air ride....


Would agree Doepkers have the best finish... paint lasts longer, only real weak spot is the rear bumper... they tend to rust out because salt gets in there and the metal is unpainted on the inside.

I agree on the rear bumper rusting prematurely. But I respectfully disagree with you on the point of best finish I have a 2010 tri axle doepker. With less than 100000 k. And very limited gravel travel. The sides are already pitted and rusting. So no doepkers don't have the best finish. IMO

 

[Christian A. Herrnboeck]

Buddy of mine has a 2014 LodeKing superB, the paint is literally falling off the box supports on the front/back and the metal underneath is all rusted....

That's kind of where I was going with that comment

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

Sounds like Lode King quality has fallen a bit, we had a 1998 Lode King tri in steel, full walls and after 10 years it had some brown spots on the side but looks pretty good for that age.

 

[harvestmoon]

Are they air ride Jason?
Roughly when would air ride have become general?

I had a new lode king in 1995 that was air ride.
The next year is when everybody started going to air.

 

[Don Boles]

I had a new lode king in 1995 that was air ride.
The next year is when everybody started going to air.

So almost 20 years air ride.
And the last 3 to 5 years that axle lift systems when empty have shown up.

 

[meskie]

I know guys who made there own lift axles about 10 years ago.

 

[ilbar]

And a lot of guys that had lift axles are going away from lift axles on their new trailers.

 

[Don Boles]

And a lot of guys that had lift axles are going away from lift axles on their new trailers.

Because...?

 

[Northern Farmer]

Just curious why some are now going away from lift axles, I wonder if its because of tire wear on the lifted axles ( rough roads up here in the Peace Country of Alberta ... skid marks at every bad frost heave ) or if its mechanical problems from the system ?. The local Loke King salesman suggested we not get it for the tridem because of the roads so we crossed that option off.

Christian, I presume a horrible paint prep job and resulting paint blowing off in the breeze is covered on warranty ?

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

I was told that transport companies are going away from lift axles cause they are more trouble/maintenance but it's not longer cost effective for them to travel empty. They need back hauls and want to be loaded most of the time.

 

[scottyheps]

Just curious why some are now going away from lift axles, I wonder if its because of tire wear on the lifted axles ( rough roads up here in the Peace Country of Alberta ... skid marks at every bad frost heave ) or if its mechanical problems from the system ?. The local Loke King salesman suggested we not get it for the tridem because of the roads so we crossed that option off.

Our local tire shop advised us against lift axles because of the damage they see from the bouncing on rough roads. After he said that i noticed the skid marks on every bump in the road as well.

 

[Christian A. Herrnboeck]

Just curious why some are now going away from lift axles, I wonder if its because of tire wear on the lifted axles ( rough roads up here in the Peace Country of Alberta ... skid marks at every bad frost heave ) or if its mechanical problems from the system ?. The local Loke King salesman suggested we not get it for the tridem because of the roads so we crossed that option off.

Christian, I presume a horrible paint prep job and resulting paint blowing off in the breeze is covered on warranty ?

He's dealing with them now... who knows what the answer will be.