Buying my own trailer

What kind, van, flat. refer, stepdeck,bullwagon

 

Check for:

Damaged / Missing Cross Members
Brakes - shoes and drums
Hook up your tractor and air lines to check for leaks, etc...
Hook up pig tail ( ask dealer to provide one, they are making enough profit off you buying a trailer, might as well get them to throw in a pig tail )
Hook up pig tail and check all lights ( replace any ones that are out ) Check flashers, etc...make sure all is working well
If buying from a dealer it should have a current DOT sticker
Check the Bushings - if they are bad you will eat up a set of tires more quickly.
Check if there are any wet spots inside trailer indicating a roof leak ( maybe the plywood will be wet )
Try and get one with "good" produce vents or doors - there are many out there and it gives you the option to have Vented Van loads as well as just Van loads. First trailer I bought I didn't think about that, then had to buy a good set of reefer vent doors later when I could have just bought a trailer with them in the first place.
Do you need a translucent roof or aluminum roof?
Check the doors for rust and to make sure the open close properly and the box is still "square".
Check the deck plate to make sure it is still secure to the floor
If it comes from a dealer it should have new DOT Tape - if you buy it later you will think you are buying gold for the price of it.
It should have a straight DOT bumper - they're are enough 53' Vans for sale for you to get one with a straight bumper.
Check the floor boards for any damaged ones.
Do you need plywood lined or not?
Check the tandems to make sure they aren't a PITA to adjust forward or backwards
Try and get an idea of the dry weight of the brand you are looking for to make sure you will be within range of what you want.

I am sure others will chime in with additions to the checklist but these are the items that I would look for. Hope this helps!

 

Great items. I would also check door seals and make sure the trailer is aligned. There s nothing worse than going down the road with a dog-legging trailer (Wabash especially). Make sure they transfer the out of state title to your state, it could be a pain trying to get the registration for it

 

whats he price range to register a trailer in Texas??? 53 dry van

 

Also I say get a trailer that has more used up tires on it if you find it, you are much better of starting off with new rubber than hoping the old set that is on there is going to last. If you buy one that has "good" rubber on it you need to check the dates on the tires to see when they were manufactured, it is not uncommon to see a trailer out there with "good" tires that are 10-12 years old and have been doing a lot of sitting, and even though they dressed them up with some baby oil to make them look better, once you get out on the road with them, they will start coming apart on you and can seriously damage the trailer.

Also check your brakes, the condition of the pads, drums, S-cam bushings, slack adjusters and the air cans.

A lot of dealers will throw a new set of pads on a trailer and throw it on the lot so you will look and see new pads and think the brakes are good only to find out later that the bushings on the S cams are shot, that the S-cams themselves are wore out, or that the air cans are leaking.

Another thing that has often been an issue on trailers is the valve on the air tank, the one that releases the MGM's and on some it also inflates/deflates the suspension when you hook up the service line. This valve over time will get full of crud, and eventually will stop functioning properly, when this happens what can happen is your trailer will start to set the brakes up going down the road, which in mild cases will drag the brakes and suck fuel, in extreme cases will set the trailer brakes on fire. (I know this from experience)

Also it is a good idea to inspect the 5th wheel plate, take a cheap putty knife and some blue nitrl gloves with you and scrape the grease away around the king pin, look for cracks and bulges in the metal, if something don't look right, walk away this is very expensive to fix.

Also inspect the slides for the tandems, look to see if anything has been welded or repaired, it is not uncomon for a guy to drag a trailer over the top of something and rip the axles out from under it, then take it to a shop, weld it back up and put it up for sale, and then someone buys it not knowing what happened to it or how badly it was damaged.

The condition of the wiring harness and lights is also a big deal, pop the tail lights out and see if the harness looks good, or is it a mess of butt connectors and wire nuts electrical tape? Fixing up a wiring harness can get expensive in a hurry, I know when I bought a brand new trailer in 2006 I still threw another 600.00 into it in electrical parts alone, it can add up fast.

Also check out the condition of the marker lights, ever had to change a marker light on top of a trailer while you are on the road with no ladder? You want that stuff to be in good working order and the harness for it not to be hacked, if you do have to repair it use dielectric grease and heat shrink splices, and don't burn the wire insulation when you are heating them.

Also the condition of the landing gear is a big deal, look to see that it is straight, hook up to the trailer and look at the bottom of the feet and see if there is any evidence of the trailer being drug with the gear down, this happens a lot more than you think, and it can really cause unseen issues inside of the gear, if it has you need to check out that the gear will run up and down in both speeds and that it moves freely.

Aside from that you need to consider what kind of freight you are hauling? Do you need the tracks for ratchet straps installed in the trailer, or can you just stuff it full and slam the doors.

How about lights inside the trailer, do you need them? Do you want them? After all now this is your trailer and you are going to be spending time in it. Personally I like working with the lights on.