Mobile Trailer Repair

Trailer repair is a different job from tractor work, mostly because trailers spend so much time parked somewhere without a truck under them. Neuman Truck Service handles semi trailer repair on site at drop yards, customer docks, terminals, job sites and shoulders across Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Nobody has to hook and haul a trailer with a bent landing gear leg or a dead marker light anywhere to fix it.

Dry vans, refrigerated vans, flatbeds, step decks, dump trailers and lowboys all wear in their own ways. Vans take a beating at the doors and floors. Flatbeds wear at the crossmembers and rub rails, and dumps wear at the hoist and tailgate. Every one of them depends on the 7-way plug, the slider pins and the brakes. You get an estimate before work starts and a 12-month warranty on the repair. We answer the phone around the clock.

Trailer Problems We Fix On-Site

Most trailer write-ups and breakdowns come from the same short list of parts.

• Landing gear: We repair or replace bent legs, stripped gearboxes, broken crank handles, damaged crossover shafts and missing sand shoes. Then you can drop the trailer and hook it again safely.
• Tandem slider pins: Pins that won't retract or won't seat, seized release handles and worn slider rails all stop you from setting axle position for weight.
• 7-way plug and lighting: We repair corroded nose boxes and receptacles, broken pigtails, shorted harnesses and dead marker, clearance and stop lights. Where it makes sense, we convert lights to sealed LED.
• Trailer ABS faults: A trailer ABS lamp that stays lit usually points to a wheel speed sensor, a damaged tone ring or a wiring break. A diagnostic tool can trace all three.
• Doors and hardware: We fix swing door hinges, lock rods, cam keepers and seals, plus roll-up door springs and cables. These parts keep loads secure and weather out.
• Floors and crossmembers: We patch and weld cracked or rotted crossmembers and broken floor sections so a forklift doesn't go through the floor.
• Wheel seals and hubs: We catch leaking hub oil seals, low hub caps and dragging bearings before they cook a wheel end.
• Upper coupler and kingpin: We inspect and repair worn kingpins and cracked or warped upper coupler plates so the trailer couples tight to the fifth wheel.

How Semi Trailer Repair Works When You Call

Tell us where the trailer is, the trailer number, what type it is and what's wrong. If it's at a customer's dock or a drop yard, tell the site that a service truck is coming. Also tell us whether the trailer has a load on it. Photos of a bent landing gear leg or a cracked crossmember help a lot.

The mechanic inspects it, gives you an estimate, and does the work right there. Trailers don't need a tractor attached for most repairs. That makes it easy to fix a unit while the crew loads or unloads it. The welding gear on the service truck handles floors, crossmembers and brackets. For bigger structural work, see mobile welding and frame repair.

Brakes, Air and Electrical on the Trailer

Trailer brakes take more abuse than people give them credit for. Spring brake chambers, the emergency relay valve and the gladhands all live out in the salt spray. When you hook a trailer that sat for weeks, you can find seized slack adjusters or a cracked diaphragm. For chambers, drums, shoes and adjustment, see truck and trailer brake repair.

Electrical is the other big one. The 7-way plug carries power for lights, ABS and sometimes a liftgate charge line, and salt gets into every connection. Chasing a short in a trailer harness is slow, careful work: a meter, a wiring diagram if one exists, and patience. Bigger wiring jobs fall under truck electrical repair.

Dump trailer hoists and liftgates run on hydraulics. For blown hoses and leaking cylinder fittings, see hydraulic repair.

Spring Load Restrictions and Trailer Setup in MN and WI

Every spring, as the frost leaves the ground, both states restrict weights on roads that can't take full loads. MnDOT sets spring load restrictions by zone on state and federal trunk highways. They start in early March and end between mid-April and mid-May, depending on the zone. County roads and city streets can have their own limits. In Wisconsin, WisDOT restricts about 1,400 miles of Class II state highways during the spring thaw.

That's when slider pins that seized over the winter become a real problem. If you can't move the tandems, you can't shift weight between axles to stay legal. Common spring calls are freeing and replacing slider pins, rebuilding the release mechanism and checking trailer air ride. Our suspension repair page covers the bags and height control valve. The same goes for a trailer in a yard near Superior or at a dock in Stillwater.

How Much Does Trailer Repair Cost?

Trailer repair cost depends on what's broken and what parts or special equipment the fix needs. A landing gear leg, a full set of slider pins, or a roll-up door spring each carries a different parts cost. Labor, travel to the trailer and after-hours calls also affect the total. So does any time spent tracing a wiring short.

You get an estimate before any work begins, so you know the expected cost up front. All trailer repairs carry a 12-month warranty, and you can pay by credit or debit card.

Where We Provide Trailer Repair

Trailer Repair is available 24/7 from our Pine City base to every town below, across Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Pick your area for local highways, fleets and contacts.

Minnesota

• Pine City, MN
• Mission Creek, MN
• Hinckley, MN
• North Branch, MN
• Sandstone, MN
• Mora, MN
• Cambridge, MN
• Wyoming, MN
• Forest Lake, MN
• Moose Lake, MN
• Blaine, MN
• St. Paul, MN
• Minneapolis, MN
• Cloquet, MN
• Maple Grove, MN
• Stillwater, MN
• Woodbury, MN
• Elk River, MN
• Eagan, MN
• Bloomington, MN
• St. Cloud, MN
• Burnsville, MN
• Duluth, MN
• Hastings, MN
• Lakeville, MN
• Shakopee, MN
• Faribault, MN
• Red Wing, MN
• Brainerd, MN
• Owatonna, MN
• Virginia, MN
• Grand Rapids, MN
• Hibbing, MN
• Willmar, MN
• Rochester, MN
• Mankato, MN
• Albert Lea, MN

Wisconsin

• Grantsburg, WI
• Siren, WI
• Danbury, WI
• St. Croix Falls, WI
• Spooner, WI
• Dairyland, WI
• Hudson, WI
• New Richmond, WI
• Minong, WI
• Superior, WI
• Rice Lake, WI
• Hayward, WI
• Menomonie, WI
• Eau Claire, WI
• Chippewa Falls, WI