After alot of reading and research I found only a couple safety issues regarding trialers. On a daily basis you should check tire pressure, look for nails, makes sure your lites work! I travel all over for work from Cape Coral to Northern Tampa and the Beaches and I've been behind some of you guys with no brake lites. Also make sure your chains are on and that you have a tung pin or a nut n bolt, so your trailer doesnt fly off. Simple check-up could save you from an accident.
this is done every time my trailer touches the road.
good for you.
It should be along with other checks
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Bucks County PA Roof Cleaning 267-477-1107 Free Your Pennsylvania Roof From Fungus Serving all of Bucks and Montgomery Counties and surrounding areas of Philadelphia Chalfont, PA 18914
i also make sure all my equipment is in tact and fully operational before we head out to a customers house. There is nothing i hate more than down time to fix something that should be fixed at the shop.
You should also grease the wheel bearings about every 20,000 miles or sooner, check for uneven wear (bent axles will wear the insides of the tires fast, been there and done that a couple times), uneven wear can lead to balloons in the tires or blowouts.
If you have a tandem axle trailer, you should have the break-away controller for the brakes and need to check that battery every couple months to make sure it is working. I am not sure about the other states but here the trailer that can hold 3000 pounds or more has to have brakes on at least one axle and a brake-away controller.
If you have a tandem axle trailer and it is pulled by a vehicle that is logo'd and/or lettered they consider that a commercial vehicle and it has to have a trailer inspection sticker every year. Not sure about all the states but it is a regulation here.
If you have a lot of weight in the trailer you should take it over the scales and see how heavy it is just so that you know so you don't over load it with water or chemicals and end up bending an axle or two by hitting potholes.
There is more to check but this thread will have more people adding to it I am sure.
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Superior Power Washing Chris Chappell 361-853-2513 Cleaning Shingle and Tile Roofs in Corpus Christi Texas No Pressure Roof Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas Texas Certified Roof Cleaner
Ha sanyone been hassled by the DOT Department of Transportation.They've been pulling people over down here. A guy I know got a 500 fine for transporting water,all because he didnt say NON POTABLE WATER!!!
Ha sanyone been hassled by the DOT Department of Transportation.They've been pulling people over down here. A guy I know got a 500 fine for transporting water,all because he didnt say NON POTABLE WATER!!!
They are cracking down all around the country, tickets are very easy money makers for the state.
When guys are hauling backhoe's, bobcats and other heavy equipment on regular trailers, those are easy tickets because most of the time the equipment is over the capacity of the trailer and a lot of times the truck hauling it is not rated to pull that much weight. I have seen this in person at least a dozen times in the past few months.
I had a light out and they inspected just about every inch of my pressure washing trailer, asking a lot of questions, measuring the length and width of the trailer to make sure that it was legal (it is factory made and no major modifications were done to it) and he found that I needed a 3-light in the middle of the trailer even though it came from the factory without it back in 2004. He gave me a warning for that.
He asked me about the water tank, the buckets of detergent, how much water the tank can hold, etc.... to see if it could be overweight but when I go out of town the tank is only about 60 gallons of water but I know the empty weight so even full the trailer will never be over the weight limit.
When he asked me about the water tank I told him that it is just tap water, no chemicals because that is what feeds the pressure washer, he did not say anything about stickers on the water tank but it is not a bad idea.
He did tell me about all containers being properly labeled or there would be fines for each container no properly labeled which I already knew about that.
I would check the trailer, make sure that any containers are properly labeled along with the hazard diamond, MSDS in the cab within arm's reach, etc... just to be safe.
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Superior Power Washing Chris Chappell 361-853-2513 Cleaning Shingle and Tile Roofs in Corpus Christi Texas No Pressure Roof Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas Texas Certified Roof Cleaner
Sounds like their hitting up everyone. Everyday there is about 10-15 cops on bikes and in cars doing speed traps in a 35 zone, sh=--t its not even a school zone this street is a frickin race track.
Sounds like their hitting up everyone. Everyday there is about 10-15 cops on bikes and in cars doing speed traps in a 35 zone, sh=--t its not even a school zone this street is a frickin race track.
Cops in Tampa are using the seat belt laws to swoop on unsuspecting law abiding citizens as an excuse to pull you over and BUST YOU ! A friend of mine was Busted by Tampa Cops in a seat belt stop for a little weed He never even had a Traffic Ticket
You should also grease the wheel bearings about every 20,000 miles or sooner, check for uneven wear (bent axles will wear the insides of the tires fast, been there and done that a couple times), uneven wear can lead to balloons in the tires or blowouts.
If you have a tandem axle trailer, you should have the break-away controller for the brakes and need to check that battery every couple months to make sure it is working. I am not sure about the other states but here the trailer that can hold 3000 pounds or more has to have brakes on at least one axle and a brake-away controller.
If you have a tandem axle trailer and it is pulled by a vehicle that is logo'd and/or lettered they consider that a commercial vehicle and it has to have a trailer inspection sticker every year. Not sure about all the states but it is a regulation here.
If you have a lot of weight in the trailer you should take it over the scales and see how heavy it is just so that you know so you don't over load it with water or chemicals and end up bending an axle or two by hitting potholes.
There is more to check but this thread will have more people adding to it I am sure.
Speaking of greasing wheel hubs, bent axles, and worn tires..... My trailer is a good ol trailer... 7x14 with 3200# axles. Its borderline heavy enough for what we are doing (definately not with tanks full) plus we average 100-150 miles a day on the road.
This year Ive blown a hub out 50 miles from home at 6 in the evening. Without parts available we came on home on 3 wheels.... Which im sure is what caused the leaf spring to break a week later! I was looking at my nice fairly new 8ply tires earlier and there is no doubt the axles are bent. Im pretty sure you can look at the trailer on flat ground the frame actually looks a little off kilter.
But this is what happens when you buy something for work. I looked at upgrading to a heavier trailer last winter and will be able to justify it now. On top of that Ill have a great 4wheeler trailer.
I HAVE A 7000 LB TANDEM AXEL TRAILER. TWO 100 GALLONS TANKS,ONE SKID UNIT,ONE GIANT AIR COMPRESSOR, THREE HOSE REELS AND GAS AND WHAT NOTS ON THERE. WITH EVERY THING LOADED UP IT IS ONLY 4500 LBS TRAILER IS 2000 LBS SO I AM ABOUT 500 LBS SHY OF THE TOTAL WEIGHT LIMIT I CAN CARRY ON THE TRAILER. I HAVE MY TRAILER GUY MAINTAIN IT EVERY APRIL AND SEPTEMBER.
You should also grease the wheel bearings about every 20,000 miles or sooner, check for uneven wear (bent axles will wear the insides of the tires fast, been there and done that a couple times), uneven wear can lead to balloons in the tires or blowouts.
If you have a tandem axle trailer, you should have the break-away controller for the brakes and need to check that battery every couple months to make sure it is working. I am not sure about the other states but here the trailer that can hold 3000 pounds or more has to have brakes on at least one axle and a brake-away controller.
If you have a tandem axle trailer and it is pulled by a vehicle that is logo'd and/or lettered they consider that a commercial vehicle and it has to have a trailer inspection sticker every year. Not sure about all the states but it is a regulation here.
If you have a lot of weight in the trailer you should take it over the scales and see how heavy it is just so that you know so you don't over load it with water or chemicals and end up bending an axle or two by hitting potholes.
There is more to check but this thread will have more people adding to it I am sure.
Speaking of greasing wheel hubs, bent axles, and worn tires..... My trailer is a good ol trailer... 7x14 with 3200# axles. Its borderline heavy enough for what we are doing (definately not with tanks full) plus we average 100-150 miles a day on the road.
This year Ive blown a hub out 50 miles from home at 6 in the evening. Without parts available we came on home on 3 wheels.... Which im sure is what caused the leaf spring to break a week later! I was looking at my nice fairly new 8ply tires earlier and there is no doubt the axles are bent. Im pretty sure you can look at the trailer on flat ground the frame actually looks a little off kilter.
But this is what happens when you buy something for work. I looked at upgrading to a heavier trailer last winter and will be able to justify it now. On top of that Ill have a great 4wheeler trailer.
I am looking at a new trailer for later on this year with the 5200 or 6000 pound axles (2) so that way I will not have to worry about bending any more axles, I have bent 2 of them already.
The way the trailer repair guy mentioned it to me, the up-and-down action like when you drive over a speed bump or hit a pothole is what usually bends the axles even if you are under the max weight. He told me that the weight is actually amplified somewhat when it goes up then down. I try very hard to drive slow over the speed bumps and watch out for the potholes.
That is why my next trailer will have larger capacity axles, right now the axles on the trailer are rated at 3500 pounds each so going to the stronger axles will not only let me put a some more equipment on the trailer but I will not have to worry that much about the axles like I do now.
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Superior Power Washing Chris Chappell 361-853-2513 Cleaning Shingle and Tile Roofs in Corpus Christi Texas No Pressure Roof Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas Texas Certified Roof Cleaner
i also make sure all my equipment is in tact and fully operational before we head out to a customers house. There is nothing i hate more than down time to fix something that should be fixed at the shop.
The Chit is making repairs on the job. Makin sure that doesnt happen is awesome.
Yeah Chris next time around Im going with a HEAVY trailer 5k axles at least. Pipe top with diamond plate fenders. We have a big tex dealer up the road who has fair prices on them.
We also have speed Humps on the hilly streets of Little Rock. I swear Ive ran up on them and slid over them with my brakes locked up! Oooops!