Maintenance Tips For Your Trailer
How often do you change the oil in your car or truck? How often do you change the filters in your home’s HVAC system? Do you remember to clean out your gutters? What do all three of these questions have in common? That’s easy: they’re all types of ongoing maintenance. Likewise, your trailer has ongoing service needs to keep it in peak operational conditions. Here are some of our favorite maintenance tips for your trailer.
We broke our list of maintenance tips up into four categories: before each trip, monthly, every six months, and yearly.
Before You Head Out
Let’s begin by reviewing maintenance tips for your trailer that you should tackle before each trip. One of the most important things to look at is your braking system. Before each trip, you should thoroughly ensure that your brakes are in good shape. Remember, with a trailer in tow you’ll be transporting more than you’re used to during your daily commute. This means that functional brakes are critically important to staying safe on the road.
In addition, we tell each of our Bigfoot Trailers customers that, before they head out, they should:
- Check their battery;
- Inspect safety chains;
- Take a look at their coupler, hitch, and ball;
- Inspect their ring and pintle;
- Adjust shoes and drums, and;
- Review the condition of their tires (more on this in a minute).
Monthly Maintenance
Overall, there aren’t a ton of monthly items you need to address with a trailer. The biggest one is to lubricate the gate and hinges if you have an enclosed trailer with a door.
Bi-Annual Items
Next, let’s look at a few biannual maintenance tips for your trailer. This list looks relatively similar, if not identical, to the “before each tip” checklist above. While there is overlap, such as inspecting your battery, chains, and brakes, there are a few others that are a little more involved. Those include:
- Rotating your tires, at a minimum every 5,000 or every six months, and;
- Checking your wheel bearings.
Yearly Trailer Maintenance
Finally, let’s review yearly maintenance tips for your trailer. These are meant to keep it in fully functional condition, almost as if it’s brand new and straight off of our lot.
First, replace your brake shoes and drums. Then, grease your jack and drop leg (if you have one). Next, fully review all aspects of the frame. This includes bolts, rivets, and welds. After this, inspect all aspects of your wheel and braking system. This will also include your axel bolts and wheel rims. Finally, it’s a good idea to have your entire trailer professionally inspected to ensure you did not miss any required maintenance.
More Maintenance Tips For Your Trailer
Beyond the maintenance tips we’ve already mentioned, there are a few tire-specific things to keep in mind as well.
For example, be sure to check the air in your tires every time before heading out. In addition, it’s always a great idea to look at your tread wear before each trip and during your every six-month review.
Finally, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Our team is always willing to answer anything about your trailer that you’d like to know.
As a factory-direct manufacturer, we service the entire Eastern United States with locations in Mulberry FL, Jacksonville FL, Tallahassee FL (by appointment only), and Ashland Virginia.
Ready to roll with Bigfoot Trailers? Give us a call or visit our website to see our many different models. FL: (863) 589-7616 | VA: (866) 764-8878
