Need Some Advice before I buy

[jdog3622]

Hey all, need some advice before I buy a trailer. Cut me some slack, I'm pretty new to it all lol. Anyways here are the details... 2008 Great Dane, 53', ThermoKing Reefer with 17k hours. The outside looks nice and clean, inside is the same and I jumped around inside and felt no soft spots, also has a roll-up door. Tires look nice as well, and stainless steel around the rear lights. However, the leaf springs (yes, it's not air ride) look like they have surface rust, is this a big problem? The Reefer also throws out code 25 (alternator) and 61 (low battery voltage). There are a couple other issues as well in the pictures below, there are a total of about 4 or 5 holes in the insulation on the underside of the trailer. outer crossbeams are steel and the inner ones are aluminum. The current owner doesn't know much about the trailer, he acquired it recently when he bought a piece of property (he has the title to the trailer).

All this for 12.5k, is it a good deal? And what sort of repairs am I looking at for the above issues?

 

[1984Sideways]

Those look like underfloor framing. IF thats the case and they are as twisted as they are... I dont want that trailer at any price.

The problem lies with the steel suspension entirely.

I have spent a few years hauling a great dane 53 with the thermoking reefer and 100 gallont tank on FULL AIRRIDE. The airride is the saving grace against cargo damage and OSD.

It goes without saying the alternator will have to be replaced, your batteries replaced and hopefully thats the end of the codes. But with that many hours on it Im just waiting for the high side to fail and require thousands more in work.

Your interior wall looks too wavy for my taste. Seems to me the forklift man does not give a damn and just slammed the pallets against the walls. Why should he care? YOU should care. It will cost you a certain amount to fix that.

In the end my heart sank when I saw the underframing. And the idea that you are on spring suspension back there.

In today's modern era of trucking its vital for airride back there. (And up front too) for reasons too many to list. Unfortunately the steel springs will just convey the shcoks of bad road straight to the reefer and you in your tractor as you get slammed. There is a reason I do not drive spring ride anymore. A disk called T10 broke in my spine. Healed on it's own with degenerative nerve damage. We scan it every few years with MRI just to keep a eye on it.

It will cost you more in cash to pay the trailer shop to rebuild that to factory like new again ready for service. Than the whole trailer is worth used. I see it as scrap value. Harvest the parts you can off it.

 

[1984Sideways]

Part two.

At the shop, yank all the trailer wheels and tires off there. All of it.

There should be a set of wheels around the brake pads on the four wheel positions. Almost like a giant bell sorta on each of those four wheels. I am hoping those metal where it is shiny from brake working to stop the rig is shiny. NOT CRACKED AND GLAZED. IF they are cracked and glazed then that means the owner operator abused the trailer with the trolley bar to save a dollar on his tractor brake maintenance needs. In any way you should be able to get 300,000 miles out of tractor brakes without issue if you have a Jacobs braking in your engine.

Your bearings and axle ends will tell you if the trailer has been slammed around against curbing etc. Or it has been TLC and kept nice. Fromt he looks of that underframe and saggy walls I expect that trailer has been abused. The one greatest abuse you can inflict on any trailer is to belly load freight in the center. Slap 50,000 pounds in the middle as a single block. You can break a trailer so fast doing this.

 

[jdog3622]

Not the news I wanted to hear, but what I needed to hear. Thanks for the advice, Might have to pass on this one then. That was the only beam that was twisted like that, but it was near the tires in the back.


Oh, it was a former Wal-Mart trailer too

 

[BIG R GUY]

Not the news I wanted to hear, but what I needed to hear. Thanks for the advice, Might have to pass on this one then. That was the only beam that was twisted like that, but it was near the tires in the back.


Oh, it was a former Wal-Mart trailer too

I would keep shopping. Too much damage,and all the things 84 pointed out, would have me running in fact.

 

[ABF381]

I would keep shopping. Too much damage,and all the things 84 pointed out, would have me running in fact.

How fast do you run? I'm betting 4.6 mph....i saw you trying to catch up to me in my errr....mirror...lmao

 

[seabreeze]

I would keep shopping. Too much damage,and all the things 84 pointed out, would have me running in fact.

Spend all you want to put the trailer in first-class shape and you still have springs.
Some brokers will not load a spring trailer with certain commodities.
Air ride is the way to go.

 

[SMOKESTACK]

Honestly I think you may not be able to haul freight in it and sadly I'm sorry to even have to suggest this but it may be suitable to use as a portable morgue . I have a friend that has leased his 10 refers out for that . Sad but true . You probably could make your money back as long as the refer unit do as not fail . Let's see what the guys here say .

 

[runawaytrain]

All this for 12.5k, is it a good deal? And what sort of repairs am I looking at for the above issues?

When something is to good to be true it usually is. There’s a reason he’s trying to get rid of it. You’ll never get the truth. The price is a red flag IMO… A good quality reefer would be much more.

The current owner doesn't know much about the trailer, he acquired it recently when he bought a piece of property (he has the title to the trailer).

Right! Red flag.

 

[1984Sideways]

Honestly I think you may not be able to haul freight in it and sadly I'm sorry to even have to suggest this but it may be suitable to use as a portable morgue . I have a friend that has leased his 10 refers out for that . Sad but true . You probably could make your money back as long as the refer unit do as not fail . Let's see what the guys here say .

I dont have a problem with that. I was under Tier two for years which is allowed to run bodies along with farm harvest and a couple of other things I forget which.

Frozen bodies in a leased trailer reefer humming away outside of the funeral home seems to be a thing. The fuel bill however keeps the local fuel dealer busy.

I would buy and fix that trailer one time instantly if I knew of a paying lease for such work. Storing bodies. I would stay up at night nursing that reefer with that kind of hours on it though. I would hae a reefer shop replace everything one time that possibly could break in service. Thawed bodies are not something you want.

 

[Cerberus_Kelpie]

Spring Ride = Beater Ride.
It's okay for City moves but NOT Long Haul.

I suggest You Drop Your Tractor Air Bags and do a short move to "get the Ride idea".

Roll Up Door works fine till one cable snaps or some Rollers go a.w.o.l.

Air Ride, Endorsed by Your Spine and Lower Vertebra!
CHEERS!!