Aluminum flatbed spread- with or without lift axle?

[SquareOne]

I've been doing a good bit of research on the next trailer purchase, and wanted to ask...if you were to purchase a flatbed now, would you do it with/without a header?

I understand the point of one, but wouldn't a secured load prevent movement from an abrupt stop anyway? As far as I can tell, the rule was changed about requiring flatbedders to have some sort of header board on the trailer or headache rack on the truck.

The empty aero drag with a header seems like it would make an mpg difference. For example, I usually run with my trailer about 2 notches from the front (on the sliding 5th wheel track) and I will notice any fuel changes to the tenth between fill-ups. Just for the hell of it, I ran the trailer about 2 notches from the rear of the slide track for the next 2 fill-ups. The mpg resulted in a .205 - .289 loss. All other factors were relatively the same as before. Once bringing the trailer back forward, I immediately returned to 9.089 mpg, thus retrieving the lost mpg.

So, the drag is definitely there according to that test, but also, wouldn't there be a little more versatility when it comes to longer cargo (if I had to overhang)? Seems like the header may prevent some cargo options in that scenario.


BTW, Ill research for months before making a move ....I studied this site before buying a truck so much that I was already sweating about the fuel pump issues and didn't even own a damn rig yet lol!