Reefer unit hours record

Carrier, 38K+ hours. One compressor, fan shaft and gear drive. Other than that just normal repairs.

 

When I got rid of my old carrier it had 28k on it.

 

37,000 hrs on a TK SBIII reefer. Thing sounded like it was about to jump off the trailer under a frozen load in the summer

 

49,364 engine hours TK MD-200 truck unit. customer still uses it for deliveries and it runs 24/7 365 on cycle sentry. finds it cheaper to use it as storage than to rent warehouse space. it starts and stops every 10 minutes as he puts the bulkhead 4 feet from the evap and cracks the bulkhead to "turn" a single temp into a multi temp. Motor mounts once a year, clutch once a year, belts every 4 months, starter every 8 months, on its 2nd engine and compressor, 3rd micro, 2nd condenser, it's had a rough life. I can not wait for the day when he buys a new unit with electric standby and hopefully a multitemp. Definently a moneymaker for the shop.
62k engine hours TK SB-ii trailer was the highest engine hours on a trailer unit I've seen. wouldn't cool below 45 degrees, defrost drain heater was bypassed so it couldn't haul frozen, he hauled produce so not an issue. almost every sensor was bypassed just to keep it running. the owner ended up buying a used SB-iii because we couldn't source many of the parts anymore, still ran when retired.
I still have customers running around with TK sentry units and they are in service, the unit featured in Smoky and the bandit, I have some big piles running around in SW FL lol!

 

It's amazing how those engines hold up. I've seen around 34000 hrs in our fleet of the older trailers.
As older the equipment gets, as harder the engines need to work.
Aging compressors and loss of insulation value on the reefer body are the enemy of the engines.

 

If you re ever up in the Scranton area and pick up from Kane and Able, they still have some Carrier Thunderbird and TK Sentry units. God knows how many hours and noisy those things are

 

Those units aren't in service any more. They were purchased used, and mounted on uninsulated van trailers at the request of a key customer. The customer dropped their requirement for temp control shortly thereafter, and the trailers were relegated to shuttle and storage duty. None of them have been started in at least the last 4 years that I know of.