When looking to transport an excavator to a project site, choosing an excavation trailer with the right deck is vital for the safe delivery of the equipment. This is because excavators are enormous and heavy pieces of equipment; therefore, you risk damaging an excavator or causing accidents when you use the wrong trailer. For this reason, excavator manufacturers and suppliers advise clients to conduct thorough research and get the right trailer deck whenever they want to transport a rental excavator. However, if you know little about excavator trailers, the chances are that you will choose the wrong trailer for your hauling needs. This article provides insight into a few excavator trailer deck designs and their appropriate applications.

Flatbed Trailer

A flatbed trailer is considered the standard deck design for an excavator trailer. As the name suggests, the flatbed trailer features a flat loading surface all through, and this has a couple of advantages. First, flatbed trailers offer unmatched versatility that allows you to move more than just your new excavator. You can use the flatbed trailer to transport other heavy construction machinery, such as forklifts and backhoe loaders. Second, a flatbed trailer makes the loading and offloading process much easier because you do not have to deal with elevations. That said, the flatbed trailer design has the highest deck height; therefore, it is not the most ideal for transporting tall excavators.

Raised Centre Trailer

This is another deck design that features a lower deck height compared to the flatbed counterpart. Since the deck sits low, the centre of gravity of a loaded excavator is low, thereby making it the best option for transporting some of the tallest excavators in the industry. However, it is vital to note that the raised centre poses a problem when fitting particular excavators onto the trailer deck. It might explain the reason why some operators use extra blocking to ensure that the excavator sits securely on the trailer. The raised centre also reduces efficiency during loading and unloading stages because extra care must be taken to ensure that the equipment fits snug on the container. Therefore, loading and unloading an excavator onto and off of a raised centre trailer takes longer than any other deck design.

Beam Deck Design

Of all the trailer deck designs, the beam deck has the lowest ground clearance, thus making it the easiest to load and offload heavy equipment. The feature also makes the model the safest option for transporting some of the heaviest gear. During the loading phase, the machine must straddle the central beam before it is secured. Since the equipment occupies most of the space on a beam deck design, there is usually not enough room left to accommodate smaller equipment or accessories.  

For more information, contact an excavator trailer supplier.