40th Anniversary Distinction Walkthrough
2020 marks a significant year for Lode King, as it marks our 40th anniversary. Beginning small, we’ve grown into one of Canada’s largest commercial trailer manufacturers. We’re proud to introduce our latest Distinction Series 40th Anniversary Super-B trailer. The updated Distinction trailer carries a lot of the same features that we offered back in 2008, but thanks to customer feedback we have made several refinements and added new options. Watch a guided tour below, or continue reading to learn more about the updates we’ve made for 2020.
Walkthrough Video
Our entire 2020 product lineup will carry our 40th badge, and we look forward to seeing many of them on the road this year.
Traditionally, our Distinction trailer is offered in white or black. For the 2020 / 2021 model year, we are offering an all-new option – Graphite Metallic. The sidewalls have a smooth finish. There are no ribs or corrugations. We think it’s a great finish that makes it easier to clean.
We’ve redesigned our chute frames. This new design gets away from the chain drive and is now a rack-and-pinion design while maintaining 16″ x 24″ opening that our customers have become used to. Also new, the venting is now located in the tarp hoods of the trailer. We have eliminated the vents on the interior wall skin to prevent debris from accumulating inside the wall.
Our airlines and electrical lines between the two trailers are now underneath the bridge, eliminating any hazard and making a nice, clean walkway between.
We’ve also redesigned all of our ladders, both at the front and back of the trailer. The back ladder of the pup trailer has had the step removed, as it’s now a folding ladder with a nice low entry point.
Our walls continue to be an aluminum monocoque construction featuring a two-piece extruded lower main rail, an extruded top rail, and structural outer skins riveted to Z-posts inside the walls and to the top and lower main rails. The interior skin serves as a cover to keep your product out of the wall cavity. You will notice that all of our beltline fasteners are a hefty 3/8” diameter to keep everything secure and travelling straight down the road. A new option we’ve added this year is the stainless steel end walls. At the rear, we still have steel tow hooks.
We’re using the Jost aluminum landing gear. It’s lightweight, corrosion-resistant, it handles great in low temperatures, and moves easily. The landing gear comes with a five-year maintenance-free package and a ten-year warranty.
We’ve changed the angle of our chute shafts, they’re now coming straight off of the hopper, allowing you access for your swing augers. The chute is an all-aluminum construction with a Teflon replaceable wear strip above the door. The chute doors are supported on hard nylon rollers. The chute door and rack are cut from stainless steel, so the components are more corrosion resistant. The optional Michel’s Chute Opener will have the power unit on the curbside of the trailer, as well as a set of buttons on the roadside, that allow you to operate from either side of the trailer. The electric chute opener option package includes a wireless remote control as well.
Another new option is aluminum air tanks, included on both the lead and pull trailers. Keeping with aluminum, we’ve added slight weight savings over the steel air tanks we’ve previously used. Each trailer is equipped with an air gauge box, where you have the option of adding an air chuck if you need an air source. This particular trailer is equipped with an access window so you don’t have to open the box to check your air gauge. The air gauge box on each trailer also incorporates a dump valve for the air ride suspension. We always recommend dumping the air from the suspensions before you unload the hoppers.
We have a new fender style mount. The mount is completely stainless steel. We’ve removed the round pipe at the front and back of the fender and have moved to a nice, smooth design to make it easier to clean. Inside, we’ve put in a sloped fill plate to allow moisture and debris to drain off.
Standard on all of our Distinction Series trailers is the Intraax 23K suspension supplied by Hendrickson. We offer several wheel-end options. Our standard is an oil-lubricated wheel end with National Seal, the Hendrickson Precision nut inside a sealed hub cap. The hub is set up with a fill plug in case you need to add any oil if it indicated that you’re low at any point. Another option is a semi-fluid grease lubricant package, which has the same components except we use a semi-fluid synthetic grease. Optional features that are available on the Intraax suspension include, the Tiremaax Pro inflation system, disk brakes and the HXL5 extended service wheel ends.
The steps are accessible, allowing you to get between the two trailers and up the ladders into the hoppers with ease. Inside the hoppers, we offer steps that run right down to the bottom allowing you to sweep and cleanout. In addition, we have a catwalk option on either trailer.
We offer three different lighting packages on this trailer. Our standard is the minimum legal DOT package. Optional additional lighting packages are popular as well. Our standard lighting package uses the Truck-Lite Model 21 rectangular lights that are very bright at night. The trailer we’re featuring here is equipped with Model 33 “penny” light.
Build & configure a Distinction, or talk to your nearest Lode King dealer about all the new features available on the 40th Anniversary Distinction.
