advice about trailer i found. low hrs

I wouldn't plan on ice cream in the summer.

They sell good stuff. Bought my dry van there last July.

 

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not surprising to have low hours like that. Especially if it's had a reefer unit replaced as it claims.

I only had 9000 hours on my 2003 I bought in Feb.

I personally just don't like the idea of a wabash trailer. But the pictures show a 98 Utility.

What does it weigh?

Have you walked inside it with the doors closed? There should be NO LIGHT at all expect where the drain holes are in the four corners.

Look at the bulk head too under the reefer unit. There should be NO bulges as well. Yard dogs like to smack the front wall and it will destroy the front bulk head. I looked at 8-9 trailers that had damage in that location bad enough that the rivets were popped on them.

 

What MN said, plus:

Underneath: inspect the brake hardware (s-cams, bushings, slacks, not just the shoes) and the slider hardware. Look over the cross-members and frame rails for cracks or anything loose.

Inside: Be suspicious of a floor that isn't totally flat. The wood underneath the aluminum can rot out. Not anything that a forklift will fall thru immediately, but the aluminum will flex under a load and eventually crack. Another area to look closely at is the door seals. Especially on the top where you can't just look. Get a ladder or a mirror on a pole. Doors should shut securely and seal tight. A temp gun can help find problems if you crank it up and let it chill to -10ºF for a while. The unit ought to be able to drop at least 50ºF within a half hour or so with an empty van.

Reefer: Carrier dealers will charge around $150-200 for a diagnostic evaluation. Don't hand over a check without getting this done. Ask them to look closely at the blower clutch and drive bearings. That's about a $650 - 1500 repair, depending on what breaks and how. Usually at around the 12-13,000 hr mark.

About the only thing negative I've heard about Wabash trailers is sourcing of less than common parts. For example, 90% of van trailers have one of two popular chassis under them, Hendrickson and can't remember the other. I've been told Wabash frequently uses other than those two, making parts a little harder to source. Just a rumor, since I have not owned one to know if that's true.

The only other Wabash trivia that I'm aware of is that they supposedly pioneered, or at least were an early leader with sectioned wall construction. Concept is that if a wall gets damaged (forklift spear, tree, whatnot) they only have to replace a 4' section versus a more expensive repair to a larger panel. You can see it in the rivet pattern. A zillion out on the road, so not hard to spot one.

I read an interesting article on the history of Wabash a while back, just can't remember where.

 

start the reefer and listen for an exhaust tick. It's a sign of a leaky exhaust manifold or something there. It's noticeable.

Check the belts on the unit as well.

We had a carrier at 10,000 hours have the condenser crack. I guess it's been rather common. About a $2200 repair is what I was told. You can help prevent that by defrosting it manually or setting it to defrost every 1 1/2 hours.

Check the landing gear for proper operation too. Nothing like going to hook up and it doesn't work.

 

I saw your other thread on that. I have two carriers, on an '02 vintage and the other an '04. Neither have had a condenser crack and they're both well north of 10k hours. The '02 did have a vibe absorber leak last summer at around 14k. I'd suspect that and the condenser crack had more to do with corrosion and vibration than how you run the defrost cycle.

Not really getting how frequent defrosting would extend the life of the condenser or any other part of the refrigeration system for that matter. A frozen evaporator will only make the output less efficient by blocking airflow. It won't make the condenser heat up any more than it would under normal operation. The expansion valves will regulate that no matter what's going on with the airflow over the evap coils.

 

not sure either. Just something that was recommended to us by the shop. I know when I am doing a lot of loading/reloading and such, I hit defrost when I get out. Some days have more condensation than others.

 

Like the ultima units biggest carrier made at the time. Trailer being older will not hold temp as well so expect higher fuel costs probably don't have solar guard roof which would be nice to have in wabash trailer as noted before check floor and crawl underneath and look at plastic liner above cross members for any rub threws on it from cross members and be a lot less headaches if it has airpin puller.