Trust Your Gut And Instincts

I don't know how it happened, but I recently found a set of trailer dolly legs which caught my eye.

During pre-trip inspection, I noticed obvious recent repair work (brand new Grade 8 fasteners) on the dollies.

But...note the dolly leg diagonal supports...on one side of each leg only.

It all seemed sturdy enough, but I figured that the trailer manufacturer puts diagonal bracing on each side of each dolly leg for a reason.

I'm pretty dumb, and I don't know much about trailers, but I somehow notice when things just don't look right.

I decided this situation deserved further investigation.

I took some pictures and contacted my supervisor and suggested that the repair shop should be contacted to find out what was going on here.

-Did this trailer somehow get out of the shop (and back into service) before repairs were completed?

-Is the repair shop calling this job "DONE?"

-Will these dolly legs pass DOT inspection?

-Is the trailer "good to go" as is?  (I had my doubts)

Turns out that the trailer got put back into service before the job was completed correctly.  Two more braces needed to be attached.

I tagged the trailer Out-of-Service, and possible disaster was avoided.

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Moral Of The Story

The prudent driver should trust his gut and instincts.

Check other people's work.  Trust but verify. 

If something strikes the driver as somehow odd, the driver should do a double take and look things over more closely.  

Don't ignore your gut.  

It's trying to tell you something. 

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UPDATE 

In the interest of honesty and fair-play, I think I owe you all some additional information on this matter.

The repair shop told my supervisor the dolly legs were fine.

I was skeptical, and I told my supervisor (in no uncertain terms) that I thought the shop was trying to play us for fools.

Earlier this week I was doing a pre-trip inspection on a trailer of the same make and vintage as the one in question in this story.

I noticed almost immediately that it also did not have forward-facing diagonal dolly leg bracing.  The dolly legs on this second trailer looked to be original equipment and had no provisions for forward bracing as did the first trailer.

 

I was most likely wrong about the first trailer missing its forward facing supports.

Although the first trailer had provisions for forward bracing, I think this is because the repair shop scrounged an old set of dolly legs and retrofitted them to the first trailer.

I am now fairly certain the first trailer originally never had forward bracing on its dolly legs.

I apologize for slagging on the repair shop and for presenting wrong information.