Repairs, the Right Way!
At Badger Utility we have a vast list of trailer service capabilities. We do everything from DOT inspections up to rebuilding and trailer fabrication. We have been at this since 1976, and our repair procedures and quality standards are second to none. Simply put, “we stand behind our repairs”.
We have seen it all
The benefit of having best practices, across all 5 repair locations, and a breadth of capabilities, means our customers know we can handle the job. We don’t take short cuts. We identify other repair facilities’ mistakes right away when troubleshooting or inspecting a trailer in need of repair. A couple of recent mistakes were on reefers, where a reefer trailer came in that had a bottom rail replaced by another repair shop. The repair shop used a blind fastener instead of a buck rivet, and the fasteners loosened to the point where the panel was wallowing out at the fastener. The black ring around the rivets was a sign of this movement at the panel. Left alone, the panels would ultimately need replacement and it may have led to a catastrophic failure in the long term.
The other issue with this reefer repair was they didn’t use mylar tape between the bottom rail and the steel cross member end clips. Mylar is commonly used to prevent electrolysis and corrosion between dissimilar metals. The corrosion had built up enough to push the rail out at each cross member, and in a few cases, made its way through the aluminum already. Our Service Department made the proper repairs to the trailer at a significant additional cost to the customer. Using OEM fasteners and mylar tape will extend the life of the trailer to its traditional life expectancy.
We also see small things most repair shops don’t consider important, coming into the shop. A perfect example of this is welding techniques for installing a replacement wing plate on trailer prop legs.
Video doesn’t lie
In the video below, we take a look at a repair that was done at another shop on a trailer prop leg wing plate. The trailer came to us because the wing plate had been replaced but was already failing in places it shouldn’t. Immediatly we found meaningful mistakes in the replacement, and identified where the problem was. Our Sales Operations Manager, Todd Scheffler, describes the mistakes the other repair facility made during the previous repair and how it should be done properly.
Get what you pay for…
The problem in trailer repairs, as with most things, is you really do get what you pay for. Cutting corners on trailer repairs will only cost more in the long run when the trailer has to be brought in and done correctly. We write all our estimates for repairs so the job is done correctly, and we stand behind our repair methods.
