Good Night From II

I dunno — seems like a lot of the older trailers I’ve picked up lately have been refurbished and are actually pretty decent.

I did however take a 2010 heavy haul trailer from Sumner to an auction lot a few weeks ago and that thing was a complete turd.

 

Ritchie Brothers right? And then Sumner steals your empty and you have to drive 6 hours with the planners jerk you around to find an empty. DM been bugging me to help as surge for Sparks Walmart, how is that place? Are you able to sneak out to shop?

 

It’s not bad if you don’t mind running the area from Fresno to Salinas to southern OR. I’ve run out to the Bay Area once and around Sacramento. Overall it’s not terrible. You’ll run your 14 out almost every day and I think this is primarily a refrigerated/grocery dc.

As far as shopping - if you have time left you can run in to the store at your last stop and shop while you’re there.

 

How does that even work? I picked up a 082xxx trailer that had a 2014 sticker from wabash placed over the original 200x sticker. And the trailer and it’s parts still looked original

 

Usually the refurbished/prettied up junk trailers begin with 99xxxx. They are the old T series trailers and a few really old MS Carriers trailers. The 082 trailer you referred to isn't refurbished and about 5 years ago it would have been a happy driver hooked to it.

Some of those old trailers are fairly decent. Last year I pulled a MS Carriers trailer loaded with used tires from Richmond, VA to Phoenix. It tracked straight, the brakes were good and the tandem release and slides were perfect. The trailer I pulled from Phoenix home to Laredo was brand new; I hauled the first load. It was so dogleg I had to swerve to see down both sides in the mirrors and I had to bungee the mudflaps so I could bounce it off a curb to get the tandems to move.

Frank

 

Swift is selling anything 2001 or older. The old 54XXXX (except 547XXX and 548XXX) trailers are being kept road legal, but that's about it. They will likely be sold in the next few years. The 50XXXX trailers were "refurbished" recently by the Phoenix prison inmates. Now the prison is starting work on the 08XXXX trailers. I've seen a few of those completed ones around. When the prison works on a trailer, it generally gets a new ICC bumper, new brakes and brake parts, a "floor restore" kit applied, and new door seals. It's not a complete rebuild.

There are a few trailers around that have been completely refurbished, and those are numbered 10XXXX. They hold the honor of being the only trailers in our fleet with no ABS system, and they are also the only trailers older than 2001 that Swift is keeping.

 

I'm not 100% sure about this, but it's possible the VIN plate had been damaged and was replaced in 2014. It is required that the VIN is legible on a trailer, so if the original plate had been scratched or simply fell off, then a new one would have to be ordered.

 

Good to know, since many customers require that trailers be no more than 10 years old.

 

Yep, I'm sure a lot of drivers see a 10XXXX trailer and assume it's a 2010 model. But think about this- a 2010 model year trailer would have come out in mid-2009. We were in a very deep recession in 2009. Swift wasn't buying new trailers then. They were cutting costs and trying to survive a harsh business climate.

The trailer number is a good indication of the model year, but not 100% accurate in every case.

For new-to-Swift drivers who may be reading this:
540XXX-546XXX; these are old. Avoid these trailers if possible. I hate working on them, as they are often a complete disaster.
50XXXX; not as old, these usually range around 2004-2006. Most of them have had minor refurbishing by the Phoenix prison. Still, avoid if possible.
547XXX and 548XXX; these are 2007 and a few early 2008 model year trailers.
08XXXX; Mostly 2008 model year, a few are 2009. They are at a stage where a lot of things are going wrong and often need a considerable amount of work. But overall, they are still pretty solid.
09XXXX; very very few of these. I believe they were specialty trailers bought for a particular account. I've only seen 2 in the years I've been mechanic-ing for Swift.
10XXXX; as mentioned, very old trailers that have been completely refurbished by the factory. They are often in quite good condition, but remember 2 things- they are old and they DO NOT HAVE ABS!!!
11XXXX; 2011 model year.
12XXXX; 2012 model year.
13XXXX; either 2013 or 2014 model year.
14XXXX; these trailers are 14' tall, not the standard 13'6".
15XXXX; 2015
16XXXX; 2016
17XXXX; 2017
18XXXX; 2018

I've not seen a 2019 trailer. I was told earlier this year that Swift has no plans to buy new trailers this year, so unless they change their minds, there won't be any 19XXXX trailers.