Blog

Trailer tires after the drop

Trailers live a different life from tractors. They sit. They get dropped. They get hooked by a driver who did not walk them yesterday. The tires age in a yard, then they are asked to run legal weight down a highway with a tractor that may have been checked and a trailer that was only kicked. That is how a fleet with decent power units still loses tires on the back of the combination.

The film treats the trailer as part of the same job. Trailer installation is very similar to the truck. The handheld is marked for trailer positions 1 through 4, beside truck positions 1 through 6. A wireless transmitter on a dual equalizes pressure between those tires and monitors low and high pressure. The cab display stores the date and time of a low-pressure, high-pressure, or temperature problem, which matters more on a trailer because the driver cannot feel a rear trailer tire the way a steer tire announces itself. By the time a trailer tire is obvious, it is often already a stop.

Safety for the combination is balance, not a healthy tractor alone. A trailer dual that is split puts the load on one tire, builds heat, and can take the truck to the shoulder with freight still on the deck. Single wheels, where the trailer uses them, are in the film too. Pressure maintained on every position is what lets the truck drive balanced. Leaving the trailer off the system means you bought the visible half of the product and kept the old risk on the axles that fail out of the mirror.

Security is the driver knowing which trailer position spoke up, and when. A dropped trailer that sat for three days can lose air before it is hooked. If the display has the time, dispatch and the shop share one account. If it does not, the driver is blamed for a pre-trip that could not see the future, and the yard is blamed for a trailer nobody owned that morning. The Pre-trip control on the handheld is there so the check includes those four trailer positions instead of a wave at the doors.

Value is the trailer tire you do not buy on the road, and the appointment you do not miss. The film’s time is about five minutes a sensor and about forty minutes for the truck, with the trailer very similar. Fitting a trailer is not a different product and not a different story. The kit is the sensor bar on existing hub bolts, curved and straight fittings, repeater, antennas, power lead, handheld, cabin display, and an optional chrome cover. The website’s all-in-one and built-in-the-USA lines are claims on the site. The film shows one box and a similar trailer install. The 104 PSI and 53°F reading is a frame, not a rating.

Every trailer needs this for the same reasons every truck does: safety, security, and value. A fleet that only asks about tractors should be asked about the trailers those tractors pull. Send both counts if you have them. Someone replies about your trucks. If the form cannot send, the page keeps the message and points you to customersupport@truckstpms.com.

When a trailer comes back from a drop lot, do not assume the last driver left it at the pressure you like. Sit time is its own leak test. Hook, then give the four trailer positions a real look on the handheld before the combination goes to the scale. If one position is missing, the trailer is not on the system yet, no matter how clean the tractor cab looks. Tell dispatch that a trailer without learned positions does not leave. That rule is worth more than a speech about tire care. The freight does not care which company owns the tractor. It cares that the tires under it are equalized if they are duals, watched if they are singles, and named so a problem at mile 40 is a position and a time, not a burned casing found at the receiver's dock.

Related

Tell us about your trucks

Every truck and every trailer needs the Greenbox for safety, security, and value. Send a note and someone replies about your trucks.

Request info