Hi folks we MAYBE going to get new curtainsider and we always bought Boalloy obviously that not a option , what to you think is the best for everyday use?
It needs to be 44t, and a soild floor for forklifts going in the back on bays , other than that no mods from standard,
So what do yous use everyday and find to be good or bad ! as i say this is just me putting feelers out it will obviously come down to bosses opinion and cost !
ps would you also fit disc or drums on the new trailer ?
we have discs and generaly been good but the guy would does our servicing recomended going back to drums ?
i pull euroliners all the while for a dutch company on ro/ro work they have smitz krone and pacton all the trls get a fair amount of stick as nobody looks after them and to me the pactons are the strongest but they have not bought any latley instead they have bought krone or smitz i do not now if this is because of price or weather pacton has packed up what ever trl u decide to buy it will proberly be british the one thing i would spec is drum brakes as we have no end of problems with the discs and very few with drums but if i was buying it would be pacton on drums
My number 1 would be Schmitz cargobull (flexos)with Schmitz axles or bpw all discs. I hate drums as I feel they brake poorly compared to discs, from a mechanics point of view drums are easier to replace & take less time that’s why they like them.
2nd choice would be sdc, rock solid build & again go for bpw or ROR axles with discs, avoid those aerodynamic skirts, they look ugly & cost more to replace if damaged, get the underun bars instead…
Fallmonk:
Hi folks we MAYBE going to get new curtainsider and we always bought Boalloy obviously that not a option , what to you think is the best for everyday use?
It needs to be 44t, and a soild floor for forklifts going in the back on bays , other than that no mods from standard,
So what do yous use everyday and find to be good or bad ! as i say this is just me putting feelers out it will obviously come down to bosses opinion and cost !
ps would you also fit disc or drums on the new trailer ?
we have discs and generaly been good but the guy would does our servicing recomended going back to drums ?
SDC. I’ve had one for almost 5 yrs and never been any bother. Well made and solid. Mine on drums and to be honest, I find them just as good as discs. I think drums are easier to maintain and more reliable too.
sdc, with bpw drum axles, along with an old school keruin floor, discs are not the way forward with trls! a local co to me has 800 trls and they have stopped buying disc trls, cos when a drum fails you lose a bit of your braking, when a disc fails, your going to be stopped somewhere awkward and be towed in, also when your done they dont like discs for export so wont be worth as much.I also have a penchant for them postless curtainsiders and i have one but im not sure if sdc do them, but if they did i would get one.
richmond:
sdc, with bpw drum axles, along with an old school keruin floor, discs are not the way forward with trls! a local co to me has 800 trls and they have stopped buying disc trls, cos when a drum fails you lose a bit of your braking, when a disc fails, your going to be stopped somewhere awkward and be towed in, also when your done they dont like discs for export so wont be worth as much.I also have a penchant for them postless curtainsiders and i have one but im not sure if sdc do them, but if they did i would get one.
Do the postless curtainsiders have any problems? Do you get any bending in the roof, or problems getting curtains tight? I’ve never used one, but I thought these problems may occur.
Listen I only asked people’s opinion on something , that we as drivers use everyday .
It’s something that’s bought with a view to being used for a long time. So would be nice to ask people who actually use them !
the only problem we have with postless is occasionally a few straps tensioners come undone, but compared with the problems with side posts getting stuck, broken or falling off on people , i think its a small price to pay, my bigger problem is what length to buy as we dont want to buy a 44ft trl and find its obsolete in a year cos they have all gone to 50 ft, or what ever it is, then your new purchase aint worth a carrot, so i would get a 5k second hand on , then ya aint lost much if they do change the lengths.
Fallmonk:
Hi folks we MAYBE going to get new curtainsider and we always bought Boalloy obviously that not a option , what to you think is the best for everyday use?
It needs to be 44t, and a soild floor for forklifts going in the back on bays , other than that no mods from standard,
So what do yous use everyday and find to be good or bad ! as i say this is just me putting feelers out it will obviously come down to bosses opinion and cost !
ps would you also fit disc or drums on the new trailer ?
we have discs and generaly been good but the guy would does our servicing recomended going back to drums ?
Boalloy were still making taut liners when I was there getting parts for ours about 2 months ago, just in a much smaller way. Don’t know if they’re competative on price now for new builds. They still have the same phone no. Ask for Craig.
On the basis of a firm with sensible staff that look after kit I would go.
SDC or Montracon
With posts as you can get curtains tighter and they offer extra load security options.
ROR axles and disc brakes
Discs obviously offer better stopping power but I also think they require less work in most aspects over drums. Drums can need a lot of man hours of overhauling for test.
I have noticed that a lot of new trailers on the big fleets like supermarkets are seeming to go back to drums though.
Supermarkets are stupid hence not opting for good kit that’s fit for purpose & some wonder why they’re losing £££. They now seem more bothered about aerodynamics that supposedly cut down on co2 & fuel consumption…
We got a few new Montracon trailers and they are pretty good but when something is brand new it should be good. Last place I worked at had I think it was Lawrence trailers and they were about 14 years old and still fine. Just depends what drivers you got I suppose.
The only thing I’d insist on is ratchets on both sides, good strong ratchets.
Some / most of Stobarts curtain siders (SDC) only have ratchet on one side of the curtain, meaning if you want 1 pallet of from the other side, you’ve got to undo the full curtain, pain in the harris on multi drop, not a prob on full loads or bays.
Flexibility is the way forward though.
Also, I quite like the plastic curtain strap things, they don’t try and take your fingers off and aren’t too fiddly to close like some, the ones where you’ve got to push them up with your thumb can be a pain when they were tight at start, then loaded on a bay causing the floor to dip that bit more making them even more tight. People have literally lost fingers with those when they’ve snapped open.
Also, if you’re using a bonding cord, the plastic clips are better again as they don’t ‘strip’ the plastic back on the cord.
There’s also air operated cable tensioners where the curtains have little rollers that you put onto the cord and then hit a plunger and it pulls it tight, they’re not too bad, but I found a bit of a pain to adjust the roller straps all the time, maybe there’s an easy way though, I only used them rarely.
Keeping on top of maintainence is the key, sticking curtains and upright roof bars are a pain in the harris, keeping the rails clean and silicone’d makes the job nice and easy.
