As a mobile maintenance and truck/trailer repair operation I can count on plenty of available work as maintenance, breakdowns and repairs are consistent. I came across an unbelievable amount of problems by a trailer builder of flatbed & specialty trailers.
With new equipment, it is reasonable to expect trailers to operate with certain common parts with out any major problems early in it’s life. I came across a fleet of 2 year old trailers with a case of bad engineering and workmanship. I noticed several serious issues affecting the fleet.
Problem #1 Air Hoses
Trailers left the factory with air hoses touching each other showing deep rub marks causing many failures. This problem affected most of my customers trailers of the same make. (Check back soon for pictures)
Problem #2 Brake Issues
30/30 brake chamber threaded rods were backing off of slack adjuster clevis’s either correctable by re-tightening or replacing because they were stripped or disconnected from slack adjusters all together. This problem affected about two thirds of my customers trailers of the same make. 
Problem #3 Premature Air Bag Wear
Airbags sit on an over sized base with 90 degree sharp edges cutting into air bags every time trailers deflate (when 
parked /or no service air supplied). The safety concerns from loss of air from a bag rupture and downtime of equipment for a company with dedicated runs daily and no extra units available for their operation is sure to cause problems for them. This problem affects ALL of my customers trailers of the same make.
At this point I’m not releasing the name of the manufacture as the company attempts to get the problem resolved. Here are some pictures of the air bag issues affecting a fleet of 40 trailers manufactured in Feb/March 09 . Note that there are 4 bags on each trailer all of which are wearing out the same as shown (unless replaced with new bags, but the replaced bags are already wearing prematurely also from the sharp mounting bases).
Click picture to expand and return with back button.
