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PSA: check your trailer deck boards before a long haul, learned this the hard way
Last month I was hauling a mini excavator from Boise to Salt Lake City and about 80 miles in, I heard this loud crack. Turned out one of my crossmembers had rusted through under the deck and a deck board snapped clean in half. Lucky the machine was strapped down tight or it could've been way worse. I pulled over at a truck stop in Twin Falls, jacked up the trailer, and used a spare 4x6 oak board I carry to patch it up until I got home. Took me 2 hours but it held fine. The shop labor to replace all the bad crossmembers ran me $1,400 though. Has anyone else had deck boards fail mid-haul on older trailers, or do you just replace them on a set schedule?
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jake98621d ago
How often do you actually inspect the underside of your trailer versus just the deck surface? I made that mistake too, ended up with a crossmember snapping on I-84 near Pendleton. Now I crawl under there with a hammer and tap every crossmember before any trip over 200 miles, you can hear the difference between solid and rotten metal real quick. Also started keeping a piece of 1/4 inch steel plate and some Grade 8 bolts in the toolbox, that'll get you home without having to mess with a temporary wood patch.
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