This is probably a silly question but can you have an aluminium chasis for a trailer rather than steel to save weight?
Is it too brittle, is it too expensive are there other reasons for firms not using it does any firm offer this option, does it have to be a special design to take the weight?
Im not 100% sure but I think STAS tipper trailers have an ally chassis. If they do im sure if a tipper can be built on ally then any other design can be too.
Matt
Ok cheers Matt, suppose it just comes down to cost then. I know you can spec aluminium sides but just wondered if the meat could be lighter or if it was prone to cracking/fracturing.
Give Montracon a call 01302 732500, they should be able to advise you.
Yes they do aluminium chassied trailers.
Heinz at Kitt Green had three of them.
Not sure if they also had Aluminium beam axles with steel stubs.
Wonderful piece of kit (think they were American Crane Frauhauf units)
Tri axle curtain side units that tared at just under 4 tonne.
Not really knowing much about it, I would say that a steel chassis trailer would be better for keeping the trailer upright. As in it helps keep the centre of gravity low.
Could you imagine pulling an empty multideck on a windy day? Wouldn’t it be worse if it was an ally chassis?
Quite a lot of tipping tanks are alluminium chassis ,they grow where the spring hangers bolt on !
Bking:
Yes they do aluminium chassied trailers.
Heinz at Kitt Green had three of them.
Not sure if they also had Aluminium beam axles with steel stubs.
Wonderful piece of kit (think they were American Crane Frauhauf units)
Tri axle curtain side units that tared at just under 4 tonne.
Oh, 4 tonne tare would be loverly. 
all the major manufacturers do lightweights, around four tons empty
Do they stand up to a bit of punishment though?
I followed a belly tank which had a tare of little over 4 tonne sticker on the back.
I’d imagine it wouldn’t take too much screwing it around fully-laden before you started running into serious problems. Going from a regular 6-7 ton curtainsider to 4 seems like a lot of weight to shed even with aluminium.
We used to do a job taking pallets to landfill and would just open both curtains and push them all out from one side with a loading shovel would only ever want to use a good steel framed bed for something like that really.
Aluminum chassis’s have been normal on large tipping powder tanks for 30 years and yes Stas use aluminium chassis, in fact Weightlifter have built some in the past. Benalu euroliners had ali frames, but were very expensive and whilst lighter than average they weren’t amazingly light.
As far as I know there are only two manufacturers building curtain siders significantly under 5 tonnes Bergerecotrail from Austria and Fliegl from Germany both of which use high tensile steel rather than aluminium. A good tip would be don’t drop them loaded, and definitely don’t load them dropped. I know Fliegl are very fussy about who they sell them to, if your not going to use them correctly they would rather sell you a standard trailer or even not sell you one at all than risk their reputation and possible warranty claims.
Thanks acd, informative.