CDL Road Test Tomorrow, Not Sure About The Trailer Registration

So I studied like crazy, made sure I had all the paperwork in line for the truck, but I wasn't able to secure an empty trailer until the last minute, since we constantly cycle through trailers.

One little issue; There's about 30 empty trailers in our lot right now. The paperwork on one departments trailers says the registration expires in 04/2018. The other half are 07/2019 expiration, HOWEVER, the 2019 trailers aren't in good shape. They did pass the DOT inspection this past July, but the tandems are extremely rusted and the shocks/brake canisters look really bad. A lot of the electrical wires are also spliced. I honestly don't see how they passed inspection.

According to the dock foreman, the registrations get "rolled over" to the next year, and even though it says it expires in 2018, the registration is good until 2019. He say's he is 100% sure. Does that sound accurate? That sounds strange to me. I'd rather take the 2018 trailers because they are in much better condition, but obviously if the paperwork doesn't check out it's a no-go.

I have a couple hours tomorrow morning before we need to leave to the testing facility. I'm debating on unhooking the 2019 trailer in the morning and using one of the 2018 expiration trailers that are in much better shape.

Best to make sure the paperwork is in order on the trailer you pick. Looks can be deceiving. I've pulled ugly old trailers that ended up being considerably better than a shiny newer model sitting in the same location.

How about doing a complete pretrip on a trailer with an up to date registration and just use that one. Rusty tandems? I don't know of many that aren't rusted.

How about doing a complete pretrip on a trailer with an up to date registration and just use that one. Rusty tandems? I don't know of many that aren't rusted.

I did do a pre-trip on the one I found with current paperwork at the last minute today. The one I hooked up before I left looked okay, but then I noticed there is a crack on the upper part of one of the shocks, then I had to leave so they could lock up. It's on the upper part where you can barely see it. It looks cosmetic, it's not leaking and you really have to crawl under there to see it. I just know I can't honestly say "it's not cracked or damaged", because it is lol. There is also a spliced electrical wire. I know you can't have spliced hoses, but am not sure about an electrical wire with electrical tape on it. I'm afraid they might see that and then start looking more closely and then notice the small crack on the shock.

It's going to be dark out when I get there tomorrow morning, so I'm concerned I won't be able to find a good 2019 trailer, and if I do, a lot of those trailers are packed in and I may not be able to get it out without moving multiple trailers.

On the other hand the ones that say 2018 expiration are all super easy to get to, and I had already checked a couple of them out before I noticed the date on the registration.

I'm wondering about the accuracy of what the foreman said on the ones with paperwork that says 2018 expiration. One of the drivers I asked also said that he is correct and that it "rolls over". Even though the paperwork says it expires in 2018 it's good until 2019. That just seems really strange to me...

Splicing on the electrical wires does not matter. They just need to be operational and function properly.

Here (NY) you don’t actually DO a pretrip, you just explain what you would do, and no one inspects the truck or trailer.

In other words, you verbally do a pretrip while pointing at the parts. You don’t actually check the brake linings, or crawl under to inspect anything. Shocks? You would simply point at them.

They want to know that you know HOW to do a pretrip.

I'm very confused.. a shock, like a shock absorber, on a trailer? Most trailers I know of don't have shocks. They have leaf springs, or sometimes a torsion bar looking type of spring, or it's air ride..

Or are you saying that the truck you will be using has a defective shock?

I'm very confused.. a shock, like a shock absorber, on a trailer? Most trailers I know of don't have shocks. They have leaf springs, or sometimes a torsion bar looking type of spring, or it's air ride..

Or are you saying that the truck you will be using has a defective shock?

This particular trailer has a shock absorber on the center of the axle.

The upper half of it has a crack. It still appears to be functional, though. You have to stick your head under the trailer to see it.

Here (NY) you don’t actually DO a pretrip, you just explain what you would do, and no one inspects the truck or trailer.

In other words, you verbally do a pretrip while pointing at the parts. You don’t actually check the brake linings, or crawl under to inspect anything. Shocks? You would simply point at them.

They want to know that you know HOW to do a pretrip.

I'm leaning toward taking this one since I'm 110% sure the paperwork is good on it. There's a 1/3 chance I won't even have to inspect the trailer anyways. Here in TX they have you draw a card and each card represents either under the hood, the door and back of the truck, or the trailer.