calling all truckers

Mdamerell has it right, the company I just retired from uses E Track systems in 90% of their trailers that way the trailer can be "cubed" to the max. Usually the heavy stuff goes on the floor and the lighter stuff gets decked. They use an unbelievable amount of plywood for decking freight.

I don't think you can "max-out" a trailer with clothing, lumber probably castings for sure.

Use loadlocks every couple feet. You can double deck, even triple deck, them all the way back and hang your clothes from them. The hangers and load locks would be the heaviest thing, not the clothes. But that many load locks would cost a pretty penny!

There is no standard for construction of a semi-trailer, it differs quite a bit depending on expected use. A significant proportion of the boxes now on the road are overseas shipping containers, which are very strong, but heavy. At the other end of the scale, lightweight frames with fabric walls, not meant to contain the load at all, simply enclosures to keep out the air flow.

In between, metal wall trailers, it depends on the manufacturer and intended use, whether or not the trailer is refrigerated, whether or not it is meant to contain the load or just hide the load. A $10,000 trailer is not the same as a $50,000 trailer. Some trailer walls are load bearing, some are useful as tiedowns, others simply enclose a space for a load supported from the floor only.

If you find a trailer built to be a moving van, you could probably hang just about anything you want from the walls.

I work in a welding shop and we build some pretty heavy things. Trucks
can get permits to haul more than 80,000 lbs. one of our loads was
126,000 lbs you should have seen the squat in those tires.:E

It depends on the type of construction of the walls. If you are talking about putting a bar across that is just held by pressure against the wall it won't hold all that much weight bouncing down the road. Best bet is a trailer with E Track on the side walls. Then you can hang a load bar on the E Track and load it up pretty good. We used to use Etrack and load bars with plywood over them to double deck loads to avoid crushing the freight on the floor.

Hope this helps

Steve

CANAMKID wrote:
I work in a welding shop and we build some pretty heavy things. Trucks
can get permits to haul more than 80,000 lbs. one of our loads was
126,000 lbs you should have seen the squat in those tires.:E

The OP was asking what the *walls* of a commercial trailer would support.

Lots of good answers from those that read the question..:W

.