I haven't been an owner operator for a long time so I'm still learning things so pardon me if my question sounds stupid. Are you supposed to do a PM on a trailer? I know inspection is supposed to be done every year but should you service the trailer? Thanks
Grease all the zerk fittings, check conditions of air bags for cracking/dry rotted. Shocks for leaking. Brake pad thickness. Brake measurements.
Your trailer need grease as often as the truck does, for one thing. Gets you underneath it if you do it yourself and you can see if any other problems are developing, like wheel seals,, etc
Get the tandem rails and pins well lubed every few months. Nothing like getting stuck at a dock and not being able to slide the tandems because the rails are dry or a pin is stuck.
I grease+check brakes once a month, but I’m lazy and don’t drive much, and if you have to start wrenching on auto slacks it’s time to throw them away
Walmart has inexpensive grease guns and grease tubes. I buy the red. Every 10k - 15k miles I go underneath the cart and apply the grease into zerks and as needed to the landing gears. I never applied the grease on the sliding rails but sprayed it with WD40. But maybe I'll try to give it some grease too. Lubing the trailer gives an opportunity to see brakes and hear air leaks too. I think Speedo charges extra for this simple effort. Since I've started doing PMs at Sapp Bros, it is included. I did PM there yesterday and paid $270 with a trailer lube included. I still lube the trailer in between PMs.
Unhook and check the king pin and bolster plate. Make sure they are not loose or rotting thru. Tap around on it with a hammer but dont ding up the pin. A welders chipping hammer works good for this on the sketchy looking rusty areas to see if it breaks thru the steel. Leaky vans and flatbeds well rot from the topside under the floor. You can’t easily see it. A friend of mine had the pin welds come loose from the plate on his old aluminum flatbed that spent it’s early years in the rust belt. Everytime he came to a stop he felt a push and when he left from stop the trailer would tug. Got bad enough to see the difference in the mirrors.
