Cracks in reefer floor !!

We have had to do that with a few of our reefers. looked a few times to make sure it wasn't it wasn't one of our old ones.

Heavy loads and forklifts flying in the trailer will kill the floor over time.

Once it starts cracking out, it will keep going unless they repaired the surrounding sub flooring as well.

Consider this trailer disposable and should be priced accordingly.

 

I have learned much on this thread and thank all contributors, cause if I ever would have gone to purchase one, I'm most certain I surely would have been taken.

 

I wont have this trailer even if owner offer it for free. I have had trailer with cracks but it's was repaired very differently. Looks like nothing left under aluminum. Cross members probably rusted out. Have seen one O/O in NC cucumber farm got trailer floor side fall down when forklift put last pallet.
This trailer is junk.

 

No its not a problem. A friend of mine had a similar type of patch and he had the trailer for 6 years or so. You mentioned you are getting a deal. What type if trailer, reefer unit and hours?

 

Are you paying $5 a gallon for reefer fuel? I had an old reefer never spent that kind of money. Even on days over 100 degrees I never used a whole tank of reefer fuel even running at -10

 

I haul almost exclusively frozen. My 2005 Utility 3000R with a 2009 Carrier 2100a was burning $80 to $100 a day the last two years I ran it. Now granted, those summers were ####ing hotter than Satan's balls... 95 degrees every day, from April to October. I also exclusively run the south, multi-stop so the doors are open for a good portion of the day, unit running full tilt.

My new trailer is a Vanguard with a Carrier 7500. I just averaged my last four fuel bills and it came out to 49.5 gallons per week... so approximately $125... for the whole week.

So let's take the conservative figure of $80 per day for my old, paid off trailer. That's $2480 per 31 days, just for fuel, no maintenance cost added in.

Now take my new trailer...
$1081 payment
$300 insurance
$553 and some change for fuel

That's $1934 for the month. In addition, the new trailer won't need anything other than an oil change or two, maybe a set of 4 tires and one axle of brakes possibly, in the 5 years I'll run it. It has an automatic lift axle so the front is in the air most of the time due to the light freight I run.

No worries of if the unit is going to crap out or the slightly worn chassis eating tires like candy.

Edit: and yes, I realize after sitting down to do math with actual fuel bills, it's not $1500 a month like I was hoping when I fueled it up that first few weeks I had it in November and the pump would click off at some crazy number like $11.

 

I've seen many reefers with stress cracks in that particular area that hauled heavy loads and they didn't slide their tandems when getting loaded/unloaded. I even saw one reefer tail end break off at that same spot that had already been welded a few times when they were unloaded with the tandems forward.

If you don't slide your tandems back at a dock, it's just a matter of time before this happens. Don't be lazy, slide them back.

 

Another problem with that type of repair, is it's very hard to pull pallets to the rear with the clamp and chain if they dont have a dock.
Palllet will hook the raised repair every time.

 

But its interesting to hear the guy on the motorized pallet jack go screaming into the trailer and launch it off of one of the plates.

His return trip is always much slower for some reason.

 

Ok. I don't haul frozen as much as I used to. I haul chilled 90% of the time now. On start and stop I go 3 weeks before I put fuel in it with the current temps. I run south as well, but I have multiple picks and 1 stop. My new trailer is an 18 Great Dane super seal with a Thermo King C600. My old trailer was an 07 Utility 3000R with a Carrier Ultima. When I had it I was running LTL with 5 to 7 stops in Georgia and did a lot of -10. I always ran start and stop unless I had ice cream. The 07 had 22k hours when I sold it. I never fueled it more than once a week even in the summer. I have a bulkhead though.. If you don't know if you have one, they are excellent for LTL. I am glad your new trailer is working out for you.