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

[Ford960]

Sounds like someone did a bandaid fix on that trailer and is trying to get rid of it. The thing to remember is that trailers aren't build out of high tech materials or heat treated to preclude doing weld repairs to the structure. The proper way to fix that trailer is to replace the entire beam that's bent and rewelded. Possibly replace both beams so that they are equal and the price would have to be right to cover the steel and labor.
Wish that I could find a trailer like this as I would fix it in a heart beat and tow it anywhere. Also if I were to fix it there wouldn't be an easy way to tell that a repair had been done.
The trailer may have been in an accident while loaded legally where the truck came to a sudden stop and the trailer momentum bent the hitch down tube and neck arms.

 

[cp1969]

I'm not sure that the DOT is paying much attention to little trailers. It seems that any yahoo with a welder can get in the business of making them and as long as they have a VIN permanently marked somewhere, anything material or construction technique goes.

I have looked at some remarkably poorly constructed single and tandem axle trailers. On some, there is nothing that even resembles a frame rail underneath--they rely on the stiffening action of the pipe sides that are welded on top of an angle iron perimeter frame and the lumber that makes up the floor. I would guess that isn't the highest grade of pipe, either. Brakes seem to be optional. Wiring is just loose, not run in conduit, just waiting for ice or brush to tear it off.