What To Do If You Get Hold Of A Real Crappy Trailer...

As some of you may know, I came back to trucking this last year after being off the road for nearly 7 years. I was fortunate to find a company which although is small by most standards, has an exceptional maintenance shop and my boss keeps our fleet up to date. The oldest trailers we have in our fleet are the 2004 models. All of our trailers have the air-lock and air-ride suspension and tandem locks. Really makes life easier I can assure you.

I am not trying to be negative here, nor am I posting this to make claims my company is better, actually I decided a few weeks ago, that I wanted to post something I saw in Oklahoma City with a driver of a very well known and very big trucking company.

I had pulled into the Pilot on Morgan Rd because I needed to scale my load to give my self a good idea as to how much fuel I could sling on in order to make my next stop. When I got the scales, I was delayed because a driver was trying to slide his tandems in front of the scale. (presumably he was doing a re-weigh) I noticed he was having serious problems and instead of sitting there complaining and griping I figured the fastest way through this mess was to get out and see if I could help.

The problem was the driver had picked up a loaded trailer that had a busted spring lock on the tandems. Meaning, he could not lock the pins out in order to slide them. This trailer required two people in order to slide the tandems. I told the driver to show me where he needed the tandems and to hop up in his truck I would hold the lever while he slid and then we could all go back to our business.

Everything worked out fine, and the driver was grateful for the help, however, I decided I would offer my unsolicited advise as fee for my help.

From just one quick glance at his trailer I noticed at least 3 different issues which would have been more than enough cause to place that trailer out of service. There was a huge gash along the drivers side, which you could see the freight, there was a tire which was completely bald and was definitely what I call a "may-pop". Then the issue of the leaking wheel seal on the rear axle was another issue all to itself. The point I was trying to make to the driver was, if he had simply reported this trailer unsafe to operate when he was inspecting it, the tandem lock issue would have been repaired as well.

I am no stranger to cutting corners, lord knows I have done my fair share, however, I have also learned my lessons on how to work smarter and not simply harder. It is our responsibility according to Federal DOT regulations, and our company policies to report issues we find in our pre-trip inspections. We are required by law to complete a pre-trip inspection every time we drop and hook trailers, etc etc. The time to deal with a broken trailer is when we are first assigned to it, NOT when we get 65 miles down the road and learn we cannot even slide the tandems in order to safely adjust the load in order to make the thing legal.

I urge every driver to be diligent and picky in their pre-trips, and report every issue, every time. After all its a simple matter of CYA. I mean if you don't report the damage on the trailer, its possible that damage will placed on you, all because you decided to cut a few corners. In the long run, we are all better off to place those unsafe trailers our of service, it makes sense, and its the law. Right? Sorry if this sounds too preachy, but its sort of important you know?

I think this post is spot on. Well said! Speaking of someone who decided once to do a once over for my trailer and didn't really get into the nitty gritty of it (and got put out of service later for it) I also would like to add to all new drivers that the time to deal with a problem on you're trailer is when you get it, not 100 miles down the road. Cause trust me, there is no excuse Highway Patrol will take from you. If it's your trailer or your truck, it's your responsibility.