Gary Coffman wrote in message

Jerr-Dan, the largest manufacturer of rollback wreckers, doesn't offer
a wood bed option.

The key word here is "wrecker". A "wrecker" is designed for moving
incapacitated vehicles, not machinery.


Note, I am not trying to claim that steel decks are better than wooden
ones for a machinery mover. I'm just saying that you shouldn't depend
on the friction characteristics of the deck material to hold your machine
on the truck.

Hopefully you don't think I use a wood deck in lieu of safe tie down
practices.
So we agree on your statement above.
There's one more reason professional Riggers prefer wood decks. A
steel or aluminium deck won't be flat for very long if you move a lot
of machinery on it. It tends to get wavy and you can actually tell
where the supports are.......they are the peaks in between all the
valleys. Forklifts are particularly good at causing depressions in
metal decks and most riggers routinely transport forklifts.
It is a lot tougher to securely tie something down or slide it on a
wavy deck than on a flat one.
My landlord owns a towing company with several Jerr-Dan trucks. He
refuses to move forklifts and or machinery for fear of rippling the
decks.

Since the original post was about HSM trailers, another thing I like
about wood decks is that you can drill through the deck and use
carriage bolts from underneath to secure machines. Additionally, you
can nail or screw 2x4's around the base of machines. I don't get too
many HSM's who show up to pick up a machine with a box full of chains
and binders. If they have a wood deck trailer, I know I can safely
secure their load before they leave.

Regards,
Dave