Gatormade trailers still gets C grade

[Builder]

I wish my state had inspections... If it did there would be A LOT of trailers off the road, and it would be much safer.

In Kentucky, they don't have inspections for vehicles, and there is a lot of junk running around on the roads, and some loud junk without mufflers.

I'm really surprised there are states that have no safety inspections. Of course they're no gaurantee of accidents from imporperly maintained equipment, but it helps.

Would you get on an airplane that wasn't safety inspected? Why would anyone have trouble understanding that a crashing vehicle can kill innocent people just like a crashing airplane?

Why would anyone want to have a uninspected truck barreling down the road behind them trusting the brakes have been properly maintained by the owner?

 

[MESSMAKER]

What length is it ?

18' Is what he said. I have not seen it yet.

 

[mjncad]

Yes, you have it right. There are no standards set forth. Its a shame Gator Made has fallen off. We have sold a few of the trailers they made and I would put them up there in the top 10%. If anything, I would like to see a set of standards put forth by a orginazation of major trailer manufactures then give other manufactures a stamp of approval.

Chris

Isn't there an NTMA (National Trailer Manufacturers Association)? If so, do they do anything useful, or do they just take members money like so many other organizations do and provide little if anything of value in return?

 

[mjncad]

In my state, we have vehicle safety inspections to hopefully catch trailer lights or brakes that aren't functioning properly. That helps cut back on the incidents you mentioned above. That wouldn't help the buyer from buying a poorly made trailer, but by the time the first inspection rolls around, if any of the wiring fails, it would have to be fixed to pass inspection. I find most cheap wiring jobs on trailers quickly get rewired.

Colorado hasn't had safety inspections for cars and pickup trucks for about 30+ years now. But we do have emissions testing to steal our money from us.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Isn't there an NTMA (National Trailer Manufacturers Association)? If so, do they do anything useful, or do they just take members money like so many other organizations do and provide little if anything of value in return?

If they do the do not do anything. We just got a trailer in and it was fine until the boat was placed on it and when towing it wore tires bad and we heard a ting ting ting every time we hit a bump. After many hours and head scratching we found 7 of the 8 U bolts were lose. The deal is they have a torque setting of 75 ft lbs. With no load on the trailer or it jacked up and weight off the axle they were tight. Once the load was placed on the trailer or off the jack it flattened out the leaf springs and the nuts were loose, I mean really loose, light hand tight at best.

Called the manufacture, by the way they are one of the top 3 in the boat industry. They said they do not torque anything, they just use a impact. He said if I was to look at the fine print in the owners documents it states its the end users job to check all nuts and bolts including the lug nuts every 100 miles. Come on, who does that? Not me and I am **** and do check the lug nuts 3-4 times a year with a torque wrench.

Chris

 

[JohnDeere4300]

If they do the do not do anything. We just got a trailer in and it was fine until the boat was placed on it and when towing it wore tires bad and we heard a ting ting ting every time we hit a bump. After many hours and head scratching we found 7 of the 8 U bolts were lose. The deal is they have a torque setting of 75 ft lbs. With no load on the trailer or it jacked up and weight off the axle they were tight. Once the load was placed on the trailer or off the jack it flattened out the leaf springs and the nuts were loose, I mean really loose, light hand tight at best.

Called the manufacture, by the way they are one of the top 3 in the boat industry. They said they do not torque anything, they just use a impact. He said if I was to look at the fine print in the owners documents it states its the end users job to check all nuts and bolts including the lug nuts every 100 miles. Come on, who does that? Not me and I am **** and do check the lug nuts 3-4 times a year with a torque wrench.

Chris

Whats the name of this boat trailer ?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Tennessee Trailer is the manufacture of the boat trailer. They are very large and used on many boats including Sea Ray, Ebbtide, Caravelle, and many others.

Home

Chris

 

[slowzuki]

I can't believe the prices people are getting the cheapy trailers for. I can't buy a pair of braked axles with rims and tires for less than 900$ here.

 

[Builder]

I'm beginning to think they're imported and equipped with chinese tires, wheels & brakes and sloppy wiring.

All that could cut costs dramatically.

90% of the time you get what you pay for.

 

[Scooby074]

I'm beginning to think they're imported and equipped with chinese tires, wheels & brakes and sloppy wiring.

All that could cut costs dramatically.

90% of the time you get what you pay for.

I agree. you have to watch these things. THese trailers could come from china with a piece not welded, then that piece gets welded in the US. Bingo...Made in the USA

I know this happens because there was a local company making rail cars. Cars came up from mexico, missing a few pieces. Pieces were welded on locally (i think it was catwalks or railings or something minor like that) then the box car magically became made in canada.....

And Selling a NEW trailer with used tires and rims? Not painted on the bottom? Crazy.

You'd think these companys would be worried about liability issues selling new trailers with used equipment?