What kind of wood should a guys use when replacing the wood on a trailer deck? Around here pine is the cheapest, but i dont think its quite what I want. I was thinking fir. Opinions?
we just replaced all of ours with 2x6 rough cut pine
I have always used 5 quarter hard wood.Rough cut is fine......Carriage bolts and the special cupped washers are what I like.I don't like drilling the frame,that can't be good over the long haul and you could never use the old holes each time for those self tapping screws they use when they build them new..Ron G
I think fir is a pretty good choice. We are repairing ours this week and thats what we went with. If we had all the money in the world I would probably go with apatong (How do you spell Apatong). In years past we have used apatong and it seems to last the longest but boy is it expensive. :my2c
Bamboo is what's being used more and more here, it's also very eco-friendly as it grows faster and therefor it's cheaper.
I have used rough cut fir, it works good. I have some apitong that is super hard and does not rot, some guys use it.
what are you hauling on trl. rubber tire or steel track? I use oak,appitong or elm on trl. decks rough cut from local mill. drain oil helps preserve wood.
Around here white oak is the norm.
down side is when wet its like tryin to drive on ice...once its wore in a little its not so bad
Oak or another good hardwood. I usually throw a couple gallons of linseed oil on the boards to help protect them and it wears good so the thing don't send you ***end over teakettle. Rough cut stuff never bother with stuff from the hardware store cheaper to go to sawmills.
My equipment trailer has Hemlock on it for now, when that craps out i will be putting oak on it. I have several freinds with portable sawmills who will mill the wood for me.
Thanks for all the replies guys. The fir around here is pretty expensive, I figured it out and it would cost just under 500 bucks to get the deck done with it. Pine is cheap and easily available, but I was thinking fir would be alot better. Im using the trailer for my rubber tire case 580. Its funny to hear me say that some of you guys put oak on your decks! Ive always thought of oak as a fine woodworking type of wood haha.
if your just hauling a rubber tire mach. thick pine is fine. track mach. tear up pine pretty quick thats why oak is good for that.
Oak is the way to go here. Lots of it and easily cut. Most of the local area have small sawmills scattered here and there, the guy i get to cut my lumber only charges around 50 bucks to cut the trees you bring. larger jobs he just charges on a trailer load type of thing. I can buy wood he has cut for around 100-150 depending on the length and type of wood. Built lots of barns and outbuildings for little of nothing.
I guess I'm lucky. There's a guy a couple towns over that has an old saw mill, and he cuts up old telephone poles and rail road ties. Nothing better than creosote to last for ever.
I wonder how he deals with the sawblade getting all gummed up from running through that tar like creosote and the trash metal you are going to find in that type of wood?He must run a lot of set in his saws.Ron G
At age 12 I helped the old man build a trailer for transporting 1/2 tonne bins of spuds on the farm. The trailer was made by cutting the cab off an old Chev truck, probably about a 5 tonne unit. A heavy drawbar was fitted where the engine used to site and the front axle ripped out. The deck was made by surrounding it with inverted 3" angleiron. The deck was laid with 1 1/2" Jarrah (Eucalyptus Maculata) a very very durable aussie hardwood. The Jarrah was oiled heavily with Linseed and diesel. The Jarrah boards are simply captured at the ends under the angleiron...no screws or bolts on the ceck, fully free floating. If you need to replace a board you just unbolt the angle at one end and take the jarrah out. A few weekends ago I was down the farm looking at that trailer with my nephew who is now the "farmer" in the family. He was in awe when I told him that the chasis was older than me, and that it had only been a farm trailer for 31 years in its second life. That Jarrah deck has only been replaced once in all that time and it takes a hell of a beating. The old Chev diff is still going round and round too BTW, if you are bolting a timber deck down to a steel frame, elongate the bolt holes in the timber to allow for longitudinal expansion.
Sqizzy i like the bolt on angle iron thing wish mine was like that in many ways ours is welded on and you have to pry the board up and slip the end under. That's always fun if you lose your grip let me tell ya. :Banghead
i got some out dated scaffloding planks from one of the local scaffolding rental places, they are oak and work very well