# What sort of routine trailer maintenance do you do?



## My Salty Pony (Jan 1, 2022)

Keep wheel bearing's packed, clean my floor after a haul,I pull mats and wash it out and let air dry before the mats go back in, I park my trailer's nose tilted up/high so that when it rains it will drain so no water is sitting , trailer floor is Aluminum so I make sure theres no pitting going on. Since my trailer is Aluminum I dont worry about any wood rotting. Keep my hitch and trailer jack greased. Theres more but I cant think of anymore to do, lol. I do check my lights and clearance lights to make sure they are all working and no light bulbs are burn out.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Here in So Cal I don't have to worry to much about rust, but I take good care of my handy dandy custom trailer. Once a year I have my mechanic do the check of the wheels, brakes, lights etc. and do what ever is needed there, I always purchase new tires when replacing them, and every so often I have a trailer guy go over the floor. 

Routine maintenance, I just keep it clean. If it gets peed in I hose it out and just lift the mats with some stuff that I keep for that.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

We have our bearing checked each year and packed every other year and do a trailer maintenance check every other year at a dealers. They check the frame, brakes and flooring. We use warm soap and water to clean the inside of the trailer about once a month during riding season to clean pooh off the end wall, slobber from the front wall and any fly specks off of the ceiling. I pull matts once or twice per year and pull them for the winter and set them flat under the trailer so the floor can air out when it is stored over the winter months. We check roof seals every year and make sure escape door hinges are oiled as well as the drop down window hinges. My trailer is not parked outside and is fully enclosed so we wash the outside a few times per year with regular car wash soap. My trailer is galvaneel (sp?) so we can also wax it. We check tire air pressure once per month and rotate tires once per year.

My trailer is driven approximately 200 - 300 miles per week most weeks during the summer with a few longer trips thrown in each year - we do standard checks before longer trips (tire pressure, tire wear, lights etc) My trailer is a 2007 and looks very new.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

So does anyone ever wax the interior of their trailer? I feel like @horselovinguy mentioned that in the other thread...


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I don't but knowing that a freshly waxed car water sheds off and bug guts wash off a lot easier....so poop splatted on walls might be easier cleaned ?? 
Just be very careful of where that wax goes as slick and slippery is not what you want where a body needs traction and minimal slippage to keep upright...
🐴...


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

ACinATX said:


> So this was promoted by another user's post. I didn't want to derail her thread, so I'm asking here.
> 
> What sort of routine trailer maintenance do you do to keep your trailer in good shape? Like, to keep rust away for instance? Or to keep wood from rotting?
> 
> ...


I think it also depends on how much you use your trailer.

Mine is all aluminum. I do NOT hose mine out after every use. (That's what too time consuming and too much work, LOL) However, I keep tons of shavings in mine so that it will absorb most of the urine if they pee. I do clean out the dirty shavings and droppings after every use. 

Do you put shavings in yours? If you don't, then that might be a good reason to hose it out every each use, so that urine isn't sitting (and drying) on the floor.
Do you have a wood floor?


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I do use shavings, and I do use a ton of shavings back there for that very reason. I very carefully shovel out shavings after each use, erring on the side of removing too much shavings rather than too little waste.

I do have a wood floor, but it's pressure-treated wood so hopefully it won't rot at the first sign of moisture. I will say, however, that the interior cladding of the trailer is steel, so I do worry if something gets in past the mats that cover the walls it could damage the steel part. But I guess that isn't too likely.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I have a steel trailer and an aluminum one and treat them both the same. Nose high when parked. I scoop any waste after we get home, then give the mats a quick hose down to get the rest out, leave it open to dry. I pull mats every couple of months to scrub them and to check the flooring in the trailers. We do wheel bearings yearly, check brakes yearly unless there's a reason to think they need it more often. New tires all around when they need replacing, we do it all at once. Ditto for the battery on the big trailer, just replace it every couple of years, that way I don't get stuck with a trailer stuck on my truck. I have a winch on the steel trailer, after a while, the ramp gets really heavy because the wood in the ramp gets wet and weighs it down. So, that winch needs to be serviced yearly too. I change the springs on the ramp yearly, they'd last longer but there's nothing more frustrating than having a spring break in the middle of lifting that ramp to close up the back. HOLY COW it gets heavy when you're minus a spring. Grease tongues and hinges and touch up any paint chips yearly. My steel trailer is over 20 years old and still looks fairly new, the aluminum one is slightly newer and it's been well taken care of too. Oh yes, acid wash any aluminum that's looking grungy.


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