What to Look for When Buying a Used Enclosed Trailer?

What to Look for When Buying a Used Enclosed Trailer?  This Is Why Regular Maintenance Matters

Small Enclosed Trailers may be the most neglected item of equipment, in spite of the fact that they open up vast horizons of adventures, or allowing us to continue our work or hobbies.

Since many small cargo trailer owners are not blessed with that share of luck necessary to compensate for carelessness, we will list a few spare parts, safety looks outs and quick systems checks that will help assure trouble-free and worry-free way when buying a used trailer.

Your Future Do not Buy Checklist:

Enclosed Trailer Frame: 

The trailer frame holds everything else together, so a thorough inspection is a good place to begin. Check every inch of the frame for buckling, cracks, or corrosion damage. Pay special attention to any welds, and the attachment points for fenders, bunks and rollers and the winch. If you find rusted areas, you will have to grind them down to bare metal with a brass wire brush and paint them with a corrosion-inhibiting primer. 

U-bolts and coupler:  

Check the U-bolts and nuts which hold the axle or axles in place. An enclosed trailer having an axle work itself loose on the freeway is very bad. Take a look at the trailer coupler, make sure the locking lever is in good condition, and it should always be lubricated with light oil. If the coupler is badly rusted, you will have to consider replacing it, which is cheap insurance against a disconnected trailer.

Enclosed Trailer Hubs & Bearings:

Hubs are the spinning assemblies to which the wheel attaches, consisting of the bearings, seal, flange, lug nuts, grease, and dust cap. Poor maintenance, heavy use, and water intrusion cause hubs to wear out. The so call “EZ Lube” means that the owner still needs to add oil or grease to the hubs; because a lot of owners probably never add kind of grease or oil to the axles. 

Wheel bearings are tapered roller bearings that permit the trailer wheel to spin freely on the hub. They get hot while the trailer is being pulled, and if it’s raining or has rained then the cold water will cause issues if the trailer has not been maintained. The cold water causes rapid temperature change cools the air inside, producing a vacuum, which pulls water into the bearings. The water contaminates the grease, which eventually produces unseen corrosion, causing the bearings to seize up and fail. The best solution is to install bearing protectors, which maintain positive pressure inside the hub, displacing air from inside and keeping water out.

Replacing the axle bearings is a messy job, but replacing the bearings is much cheaper than replacing the hubs. It requires jacking up one side of the trailer, removing the dust cap which protects the bearings from road dirt, removing a large cotter pin, removing a large axle nut, and pulling apart the bearings and hub. After cleaning off the old grease and inspecting the bearings, you replace the seal and inner bearing, the hub and wheel, the outer bearing, and the nut. After adjustment of the axle nut (not too tight, so the bearings bind, but tight enough to remove side-to-side play), replace the cotter pin and dust cap. 

When on the road: Take a moment to check the wheel hubs each time you stop for gas. If the outside of the hub feels hotter than normal, the bearings should be inspected before resuming your journey. Removing a wheel at a gas station or rest area is much easier (and safer) than beside a freeway with cars whizzing past at 65 mph.

Check Tires for Wear and Pressure

Statistics show that most enclosed trailer problems happen because of flat tires or bearing problems, so inspecting your tires is critical. Inspect the treads for wear, and you will need to replace the tires if the wear bars are visible. Check the sidewalls for spiderweb cracks, which could be an early warning of a potential blowout.

While checking the sidewalls, note some important information stamped there. Each tire has a Recommended Inflation Pressure, which is usually around 50 to 65psi (higher than a car's recommended 32 to 35psi). Also, stamped on the tire is a Maximum Load Rating, the total amount of weight, including the boat, trailer and all gear, which the tire can carry. If your tire is rated at 600lb (0.27 ton). And your trailer has a single axle, then 1200lb (0.54 ton). This is the rated total payload.

Use an accurate pressure gauge and inflate the tires to the proper level, and check your tire pressure before every trip. Check the pressure when the tires are cold because a few minutes of driving can raise the temperature and cause an inaccurate pressure reading. Do not rely on visual inspection; trailer tires have thicker sidewalls than automotive tires and can lose up to half their pressure without appearing to be under-inflated. Underinflated tires can overheat quickly, which can cause the plies in the tires to delaminate and lead to a blowout.

Inspect the Light System

Checking the lights requires connecting the tow vehicle to the trailer. Ask a helper to work the controls for the turn signals, taillights, and brake lights. Before hooking up, take a look at every inch of the wiring harnesses, and make sure any loose sections are secure to the trailer's frame with wire ties or cable clamps. Inspect the wiring plug at the coupler end, check to see it if the contacts are clean.

A common cause of light system failure is water or dirt contamination. Contamination causes short circuits, corrosion of the connections and sockets, and thermal shock, where the hot bulbs come in contact with cold water

Check the Safety chains: 

Connect the chains correctly by crisscrossing them below the trailer tongue, so they will support the front of the trailer above the roadbed if it disconnects. The S-hooks should be attached to the tow vehicle's trailer hitch receiver with the open end of the hook facing up, so they will not bounce off.