With all the use and mistreatment semi-trailers receive, from the weight they carry to forklifts driving in and out of them, and all the miles they travel, they need regular maintenance to help maintain the condition of the trailer. Drivers often get in a hurry with the busyness of delivering loads on time and may neglect some important routine maintenance items.
Having a semi-trailer repair shop, along with a semi-trailer rental company, we commonly see a few items that are regularly neglected when trailers are brought in for services or returned off rent. While there are several items to maintain on a dry van, there are a few basic ones that should be kept up with on a regular basis that are commonly ignored.
1. Greasing the Trailer
We see a lot of trailers come in that have not been greased. It is important to keep all the trailer’s components running smoothly. The landing gear, slack adjusters, and s cams should be greased around every 12,000 miles or once a quarter. This will help them run more smoothly and efficiently, preventing repairs to the trailer.
2. Checking Trailer Hubs
Depending on which style of hubs you have on your trailer, they will have to be kept oiled or grease-packed. These should be checked regularly to keep them running at their best and prevent them from overheating.
3. Inspecting Trailer Flooring
Always look in the trailer after it is offloaded to ensure that there are not any issues with it, such as a hole. A shipper will reject a load if your flooring is not up to par. Forklifts can easily damage the flooring between loads.
4. Testing All Trailer Lights
Check to make sure all lights on the trailer are working properly. Even if you have added decorative lights to the trailer, if you own it. Just one little light out, no matter how small, will be a DOT violation.
Keep Your Semi-Trailer Road Ready
These are just some of the basic maintenance items that often get overlooked. If you are completing your pre- and post-trip inspections, you should catch most of these. It is important to make sure you have your annual FHWA inspections and keep a DOT compliance checklist with you to check over the trailer between runs and ensure your semi-trailer is road ready.
Contact us today for all your dry van and flatbed semi-trailer needs.
