Ten feet of legal height. A board flatbeds can't touch.
Step decks (single-drops) exist for one reason: height. The lower deck sits around 36–40" off the ground versus a flatbed's 60", which turns the same 13'6" legal ceiling into roughly 10' of usable freight height. That opens the loads flatbeds can't legally take — wheeled and tracked equipment, agricultural machinery, industrial tanks, HVAC units, crated machinery — a market with fewer competing trucks and consistently stronger rates than standard open deck.
The typical 48' step runs an 10–11' upper deck over the kingpin and a 37' lower deck, with about 48,000 lbs of payload on a two-axle setup. Load planning matters more than on any dry freight: axle weights shift fast when a 30,000-lb excavator sits on the lower deck, and we talk through positioning with the shipper before you arrive, not at the scale. If your trailer carries ramps, self-propelled equipment becomes drive-on revenue — some of the best-paying repeatable freight in the segment.
Our dispatchers treat the 10' line as the profit line. Legal-max step freight books fast and moves without permits; anything above goes into over-dimensional territory with permits, routing surveys and escort math. We'll run you legal all week by default, and if you want OD work we price every permit and curfew hour into the rate before you accept — never after.
// Typical 2026 spot ranges for step decks: ~$2.70–$3.30/mi on machinery lanes, more with ramps or OD surcharges. Estimates — machinery freight is quoted load by load.