I have a CAM Superline triaxle trailer rated 22500. It's about 12 years old now & the deck planks are getting old. It's stored outdoors. Planking is 1-1/2" white oak now. Not readily available, red oak is easy to come by, but rots faster than white. Black locust is said to last 10 years longer than stone. It's used for fences, & manufactured rail fencing is VERY expensive. Farmers claim a fence post split from a trunk can sometimes sprout & grow. Nobody uses it for lumber, it's said to dull tools. I managed to find logs, & get them sawed. Planed them out to thickness. Now it's time to put them down. using existing holes is near impossible to line up. The wall thickness of the steel channels is about 1/4". The present screws are self drilling & almost always break off backing them out. I expect it'll be a matter of cutting old planks each side of the cross members & splitting the planks away from the screws. How would you fasten the new planks?
Self drilling Torx flat head
On old trailers I typically do much as you stated but remove the old fastener completely. I then lay the new planks atop the xmembers, get them spaced appropriately, and from the underside of the trailer use a "Sharpie" marker to mark the drill holes. In the case of the broken fastener through the xmember, a little heat and vice grip pliers from the underside usually removes them. Usually on all but cheap utility trailers I sandblast clean, and paint also but many customers won't foot the bill for that. I typically use the self driiling "torx" screws myself.
What I've done in the past is sawzall the old planks at the cross members, knock the wood pieces left on the crossmembers off and grind/cut the old fasteners flush with the cross member. After all the old deck is removed run a wire brush across cross members and hit it some paint then install new decking, pre-drill wood and use self drilling Torx screws to attach to crossmembers. Have done this on with SYP 2x8's and rough sawn white oak. If we hit an old fastener just off-set and keep going. On non-treated wood like white oak we'll soak it in linseed oil for a couple of days and let it sit in the sun. Do this before the first piece of equipment goes on it. If using treated SYP make sure the Torx is compatible with treated wood. On light (15K lb trailers and smaller) we've found SYP last's many years with regular use. Our larger (54K lb) trailer is actual 2" white oak.
I avoid pressure treated on anything steel. I did do one trailer ith pressure treated & coated all steel in contact with wood used Texico Compound L rustproofing grease. It seems to be rust free where treated touches steel. That trailer I pre drilled then used stainless self tapping screws.
Different climates I suppose. Drug our 16 year old 15K pan trailer on a 40 mile round trip today hauling our 305E mini from one project to another. The trailer is on its 3rd SYP PT deck and other than a slightly bent axle is still performing well structurally. Pic from a prior move with said trailer to the same project I went to today.
White oak is readily available here so what I use mostly. If I can wait the sawmill will also kiln dry and square them too. I welded a trough together that will take eight 2 X 8 X 16 planks stacked with thin perforated plastic spacers between. I load this up with boards and fill it with waste engine oil allowing to set overnight. After draining the oil the boards are wiped dry and installed. This is after the pre fit and drilling mentioned earlier. 20 years is not out of line life expectancy unless punctured of course. I've done several lowboy trailers for owner/operator's leased to Dailey Express, and Keen Transport in years past.
I went with round head bolts and large fender washers to attach to crossmembers, as that's how the old decking on my trailer was attached. It's only been on since feb of this year but I haven't had any decking come loose or any issues, and this is on my trailer I haul my 210 hoe on.
Someone in a bit of a rush tying down the mini?
Nope.
Deckover is syp, bobcat trailer is doug fir....untreated syp is not available here. Truss companies have it, won't sell it. Hot summer day, ice cold beer and a good sloppy coat of used15-40 goes a long way to preserving the deck..... Ed
No firm decision has yet been made. Using existing holes & screws seems iffy. I presume the screw holes are going to be about impossible to clear. Last trailer I did, screws mostly broke off trying to back them out. Had to cut them flush with a cut off disc on a grinder. I've seen them done with carriage bolts & thick big washers. It seems to me the present system of two screws per plank at each crossmember is overkill. Gravity holds them down, just don't want them rattling away.
Just use the hex head or torx self tappers. Pre drill the wood, coat the new screws in never seize, and get to it. Don’t worry about the old screws, cut em flush or they can broken off with a good swing of a lump hammer. One screw per plank every few cross members is fine. Painting or coating the cross members before putting on the new planks is a good idea too.
Apitong 6/4 decking with 5/16 self drilling flat head deck screws. Use a 17/64 bit for the pilot hold in both deck and frame.
Both good advise. Thank you.
The fellow that replanked my 50t sealed all the screws with roofing tar.
The main deck of my gooseneck is a trailer built in 1969 it has self tappers screwed into other self tappers looks like a porcupine. If i every refloor it i will take a cutoff wheel to them. I used carriage bolts when i did it back in the early 90s i dont think i know about cut off wheels back then.
I re-decked the 16K and the 20 ton tilt with apitong. I could remove many of the old Torx head bolts, and the ones that broke I just ground flush. I wanted the new self tapping torx in their own fresh metal and planned on drilling fresh holes. As I laid boards I made little notes so I could miss the old ones when I re-drilled. I don't give two cents about how the spacing looks as long as it is fairly regular. It worked out great. I used my big Stanley (Bailey) plane to straighten the boards a bit for nicer gaps. You can see the old rotten original oak that I pulled as I came across.