flatbed car hauler brake trouble and bunk sealing?

My 18' Carson trailer was bought new in 2004 and we've been to hell and back. Probably close to 30,000 miles on this thing.

Anyway, I haven't done anything with the bunks or floorboards this entire time.

I am looking at it thinking I should seal them and after looking around online I saw one comment saying Thompsons is about the worst product out there and another person said that oil and diesel is a pretty good preservative. Good for me that I've had plenty of leaking vehicles on this thing.



I was amazed at how nice my jacuzzi looks after 1 coat of minwax with absolutely no prep work other than applying with a rag.

Any suggestions? At the rate it's going I can probably ride it out a few more years before the bunks decay and rot. They are strong as can be and the only warped bunk is shown in the photo it's been like this since nearly the beginning.

 

[Burns]

We use oil and diesel on our trailers and it has done us good.


We mop it on with a cheap mop from the dollar store. Just put the oil in the bucket and dip and go lol


we also use a garden sprayer to apply diesel eveynow and then

 

[Dannyboy]

excellent Mr. Burns

I got the bunks sealed, although after getting up close and personal I realized how thrashed the wood is, it's a splinter machine.

Sponged on a good helping of diesel thinking I would only have enough for a think coat, then decided to dump the rest of the gas can on the trailer. It was enough for a 2nd pretty healthy coat. I think the neighbors were calling the cops for an arson in progress seeing a guy on the side of a house walking back and forth dousing a trailer with a gas can.


I'm going to change the title of this thread. Realized I do have another issue with this trailer.

It has electric brakes. In my Super Duty I have the built in trailer controller. When traveling every few minutes it beeps and "trailer disconnected" flashes on my message center. I assume there is a bad connection/ground on the electric brakes.

Just curious if anyone knows about the aux battery on trailers w/elec brakes? Or where else can I checK short of rewiring the entire thing?

 

[FireZapper]

How far in do you push the connector? I had the same problem when I got my 08. Turns out if you just push it in to clear the tab, then pull it back out against the tab it works great. I use to push it in the whole way with the 01.

 

[Stic-o]

Sounds like a ground issue, which are always a pain

at least you trailer has all of it's boards, I'm missing half of one, and may have to replace them before next run. They are super brittle I steped on one and it broke :EEK:

Use motor pil on the boards, thats what we used on our horse trailers, and there aint nothing harder on them then stomping hoofs and piss!

 

[Dannyboy]

How far in do you push the connector? I had the same problem when I got my 08. Turns out if you just push it in to clear the tab, then pull it back out against the tab it works great. I use to push it in the whole way with the 01.

wow, again this forum amazes me. Driving 8 hours constanly hitting reset or turning up the music is getting old. Futhermore explaining to the woman that "No the trailer isn't really disconnected, it just says it's disconnected on my dash board so don't painc".

Was your 08 Ford giving you the "Trailer Disconnect" warning on your message center? My brakes and all appear to be working just fine.

 

[FireZapper]

Yep or I would loose 1 side brake light, trailer brakes or just the running lights. Pull it out against the tab and I've not had problems since.

 

[Dannyboy]

Thanks for the tip...I hope it works because

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

If you are using the standary 7 pin connector, take a look at the inside of the trailer connector. I tore apart my camper due to a lost left rear stop/turn signal only to find out that the two plates that go over the spade of the truck connector had spread a little bit. A quick poke and readjustment with a small flathead cured my connection problem. Now it's the first thing I check.

 

[Dannyboy]

yeah, I've been down that road a few times. One thing that really impresses me is how well the 7 round plugs are labeled. Both on the back of the super duty and inside the trailer plugs when you take them apart. Almost no need for a tester.

This trailer is sitting pretty ready to haul ass to Moab Kevin. Spent about 2 hours getting it all ready to go last night. I picked up a nifty spare tire bracket for $9.99 at Bass pro, installed the new tongue jack, greased all the bearings and inflated all the tires. It's ready to go and I'm a week out. It's almost too easy this year, usually these items are being addressed right before I'm supposed to leave town!