Step Deck Loads
For Freight A Flatbed Cannot Clear

The arithmetic that puts freight on a step deck

Overall vehicle height is capped at 13 ft 6 in without a permit in most states. A standard flatbed deck sits around 5 ft off the ground, leaving roughly 8 ft 6 in for the freight. A step deck's lower deck sits nearer 3 ft 4 in, leaving about 10 ft. That 18-inch difference is the entire reason the trailer exists, and it is the difference between a routine load and a permitted one.

So the decision is mechanical rather than a matter of taste. Freight under about 8 ft 6 in tall goes on a flatbed. Between there and roughly 10 ft, a step deck. Above 10 ft, the answer is usually a double drop or an RGN, which lowers the well further still. Getting this wrong is not a rounding error, it is a permit, a route survey and a schedule.

What rides on one

• Construction machinery, excavators, backhoes, loaders, lifts, which is tall before it is heavy.
• Agricultural equipment: combines, planters, sprayers, much of it seasonal and much of it also wide.
• Industrial equipment, tanks, generators and HVAC plant.
• Building materials and structural steel that will not clear on a flatbed.
• Palletised freight that happens to be stacked tall, where the step deck is simply the cheaper alternative to a permit.

Most step decks are ramp-equipped, and that matters commercially: it means self-propelled equipment can be driven on and off without a dock, a ramp or a crane at either end. A load that can be driven on is a load that does not wait, and waiting is where open-deck days get lost.

Securement is harder, not just different

Everything true of flatbed securement is true here, plus the complication of two deck levels and freight that is frequently machinery. The federal rules set specific requirements for heavy vehicles, equipment and machinery: a minimum number of tiedowns by weight and length, restraint of any accessory sections such as booms and blades, and working load limits that must total at least half the cargo weight.

Chains and binders rather than straps for most of it, tarps where the freight needs protecting, and the same personal liability at the roadside. If you are moving to a step deck from a dry van, budget the equipment and the learning time honestly, this is the segment where the extra rate per mile is most obviously earned.

Where it sits against flatbed

A step deck can take almost everything a flatbed can, plus the tall freight a flatbed cannot. It is more versatile and typically commands a higher rate, and the trade is a slightly heavier and more expensive trailer with a shorter usable lower deck. For an operator already in open deck, it is the most straightforward way to widen the pool of freight you can bid on.

If you are working out whether open deck suits you at all, start with flatbed loads. For freight taller than a step deck can clear, the next trailer down is a lowboy.

Every step deck load on this board shows its rate before you call, and posting is free for brokers and shippers, which is why the freight is here. See how it works for carriers.