Tractor decking - White Oak vs. Pressure Treated

[2manyrocks]

I haven't priced white oak lately. You can look up oak strength vs pine.

Oak is also more dense and heavier. I think it would be more resistant to damage than PT pine, but the disadvantage is your trailer weight will go up a bit.

 

[ponytug]

White oak, hands down. It is tougher, stronger, and more decay resistant, especially if you add some water repellent, or copper naphthenate, to the deck.

Since you have a small trailer, you might price out recycled semitrailer flooring.

I've heard that locust is quite rot resistant, but I no experience with it in trailers.

All the best,

Peter

 

[JeepHead]

Look around for some telephone poles. It makes for great trailer decking. That's what my 20' trailer has and is is solid! Your local telecom or electric utility will give broken ones away for free, many of which are still long enough for a trailer.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Look around for some telephone poles. It makes for great trailer decking. That's what my 20' trailer has and is is solid! Your local telecom or electric utility will give broken ones away for free, many of which are still long enough for a trailer.

That is not a bad idea and a good buddy of mine is a foreman for a lineman crew. 2 problems I see. First, how many 2x6x16 boards are you getting out of a single pole? My guess is not many, gonna take a lot of poles! Also, those seem kind of nasty to mill with all the chemicals and potential metal. Doesn't seem like the juice is worth the squeeze on that one, for me anyways.

 

[workinonit]

Not sure how old you are but I can say that I will likely not be around when a PT trailer deck rots. LOL.

 

[workinonit]

That is not a bad idea and a good buddy of mine is a foreman for a lineman crew. 2 problems I see. First, how many 2x6x16 boards are you getting out of a single pole? My guess is not many, gonna take a lot of poles! Also, those seem kind of nasty to mill with all the chemicals and potential metal. Doesn't seem like the juice is worth the squeeze on that one, for me anyways.

Yea, and buy you a truck load of saw blades. Or a metal detector.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Not sure how old you are but I can say that I will likely not be around when a PT trailer deck rots. LOL.

I'm 50. But yeah, all of the other options seem like considerably more work or more expensive. I think PT 2x6 with the oil treatment is going to serve me just fine. Especially if you keep the bark and leaves cleaned off of it. I am waiting on a buddy to let me know if he has a white oak log I can have. If not I'm probably taking a trip to Home Depot.

 

[dieselscout80]

I bought my trailer new in 2003 and it has some generic pressure treated wood on it and it’s getting close to needing some new deck boards. I treated it once or twice with diesel and ATF mixed and the deck is still solid enough for my TC45. However, my hay guy quit driving his Kubota 7040 on it a couple years ago as the deck was creaking.

That said my best friend has redecked his trailer two times since about 2011. I think the difference is mine is in a sunny spot daily and leaves never build up on it, so the deck dries out.

Bottom line is I will use PT pine again, but may treat it more often.

 

[Portuguese Farmer]

I used to use apitong on my lowbeds the only thing better was aluminum truck frame rails.

 

[mjonesnh]

I'm 50. But yeah, all of the other options seem like considerably more work or more expensive. I think PT 2x6 with the oil treatment is going to serve me just fine. Especially if you keep the bark and leaves cleaned off of it. I am waiting on a buddy to let me know if he has a white oak log I can have. If not I'm probably taking a trip to Home Depot.

When I refloored my trailer I used 2x8x16 PT. Home Depot had those rated for ground contact. These are lasting much better than ones came on trailer.