D.O.T.'s opinion on cracked/rewelded gooseneck?

[tillerkiller]

I just got back from looking at a pretty nice mass-produced three-axle gooseneck, with no manufacturer's name that I could find.

Except for one little thing.

The horizontal channel iron (the part that goes from the uprights on the trailer to the actual gooseneck hitch) was broken and then rewelded. I would not even be thinking about it (it is obvious to the naked eye that this was the weak point in the hitch and it was destined to fail without even approaching an overload, which is odd because the rest of the trailer looks like it was built really well), but when it was rewelded and reinforced it was not set back to horizontal. You would be able to see that it was bent at one time while the trailer was going down the road. Now, this has got me to thinking, what would the Dept. of Transportaion people think about this? They run checkpoints around here on occasion (looking for overloads and things like that), but what would they think about this? The fix looks OK, I probably could have done better myself, and you cannot tell from twenty feet that there was ever a problem, except for fact that the horizontal bars are not quite horizontal.

What do you guys think?

 

[thatguy]

IMHO - as long as it was fixed (or at least the crack was not visible) I think they would not worry about it.. but I could be wrong..

Brian

 

[Builder]

I think I'd walk away from that trailer. Forget the DOT for a minute and think of the safety of you, other people and your equipment.

 

[LoneCowboy]

I think I'd walk away from that trailer. Forget the DOT for a minute and think of the safety of you, other people and your equipment.

me too
trailers shouldn't break
what else is wrong?
and what exactly happened when it broke? (how fast where they going, with what load)
walk away, LOTS of trailers in the world.

 

[Renze]

If you posted this in the "projects" forum, people would come up with remarks such as " potential bargain" and "a challenge" instead of safety

 

[Farmwithjunk]

In Kentucky, trailer laws are about as liberal as anyplace you'll ever find. There's some real JUNK running the roads. Lots of home-made goosenecks hauling hay. Lots of trailers with no brakes, no lights, no license plates (we don't have to license trailers unless they're commercial)

That said, I've seen State Commercial Vehicle Enforcment Officers park a few trailers for shoddy welds/poor construction methods.

Even if you could get away with it, I'd avoid that trailer. If the frame broke and is now for sale, how much previous abuse has it seen? Any more breaks that haven't surfaced yet?

How cheap does a potentially fatal trailer need to be in order to qualify as a bargain?

 

[hudr]

I am with the majority of posters. If they broke the trailer there, I wouldn't be worried about that particular fix, but the other soon to be noticed weak points. Nearly every GN trailer I see around here is overloaded if it has anything on it at all. People seem to forget that there is a weight limit on everything. You don't just stack stuff on a trailer until it "looks" loaded. I know because I am guilty of it myself (11 rolls of 5x6 hay on a trailer w/ 2 7k# axles, behind a 3/4 ton pickup). It does make you wonder what was going on when that broke.

 

[RayH]

I assume that since the trailer is "mass produced" thats its not a "homemade" trailer and is produced by a company, it has passed the DOT standards for the weight it is rated to carry. The engineering and manufacturer processes that went into the trailer has passed DOT standards. As long as the damage has been properly fixed to the point that it is as strong or stronger than from the factory and it tracks fairly well and doesnt drag the ground, I dont think the DOT would see it as a problem.
You didnt say you were thinking of buying it but if you are, I would skip this one simply because you dont know what other damage there may be. If someone overloaded it or treated it badly enough to break the frame, what else is wrong with it?

 

[tillerkiller]

If someone overloaded it or treated it badly enough to break the frame, what else is wrong with it?

After thinking about it for awhile (and thinking about what everybody said), I am going to walk away from this trailer. The price is right, but the fact that it was abused so much has me wondering what else is wrong with it?

I also figured out that it was bent AFTER it was rewelded/reinforced, which means to me that whoever broke it the first time did not get the hint.

 

[pat32rf]

I would rather buy something that is broken at a REAL good price and fix it myself to my standards than buy a unit that has been repaired to someone else's standards just so they can sell it at a "good" price....Doesn't matter much if it is a house, trailer, boat or whatever..