Cargo Frame Awareness from our Service Department

Hat ChannelHat Channel

 

For this week's issue of "The Ozark Trailer Sales Service department", we want to raise awareness of the heartache that can be caused by cargo trailers with inferior frame material. We had a customer bring in a 7x14 tandem axle cargo with a pretty well known brand name on it. The customer stated that his tires were rubbing the fender. So our first thought was that the torsion arm on the axle rolled; which is rare, but not unheard of. We pulled the tires and inspected the axles; all torsion arms were exactly where they were supposed to be. While we were inspecting the axle, we noticed some pretty concerning cracks in the mainframe. We told the customer we would have to pull the floor up, grind out the cracks and re-weld the affected areas fish platting when necessary. 

When we pulled the floor up we noticed that the entire wall had broken free of the hat channel crossmembers all the way down the left side of the trailer, and started to break free on the right side. So we replaced the hat channel with 3" channel, jacked the side wall back in place and welded it through. Then fixed the 3 cracks in the frame. Bottom line: make sure your cargo trailer is made out of square tube, NOT hat channel or Z post.......
On a completely unrelated note did we mention that our Cynergy Cargos are constructed with square tube throughout.
Until next time.....
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