To startI would do a THOROUGH inspection of the underside, check to make sure brakes are working, no rusted cross pieces holding up the floor. Shackles holding axles to trailer body not ready to break. Same with bolts at spring ends, shackles anchoring springs to trailer. How is the wiring? Cracked coating will short out in wet weather. Hitch lock actually holding onto the ball? Solid chains, that won’t break if pulled?
Then do a check of the inside floorboards, especially where walls meet floor, because moisture collects there, rots wood, rusts out supporting angle iron. We tap a big screwdriver into the floor wood at various places. Solid wood has one sound, while bad wood has a different sound, easier to drive into. Practice with a chunk of scrap wood to learn the sound of solid wood if you don’t already know it. You may need to replace boards if they sound bad. Self-tapping metal screws are what we use to hold down the new boards to the metal cross pieces, angle iron. We get lumber from a sawmill, truly is 2 inches thick. Other folks use treated lumber, hoping it lasts longer.
You could pay the local welding shop to do the metal inspection for you, tell you what they found. They can probably fix the problems for you too. Better to have that done before fixing the wood floor.
Take the wheels off, disassemble the hubs, bearings, to clean and regrease them. Replace bearings if they are worn. Auto shop will help find you new ones if needed. No telling when it got serviced last, or if they they truly did a good job. I have had my trailer greased and serviced at regular service stations, tire stores, if you are not mechanical. Check wear, sidewall cracking on tires while they are off. Replace if needed or aged. I get mine balanced so they run true, wear evenly, last better, saves on fuel. Have a decent spare, wrench that fits the lug nuts, in case you ever need it.
This is an older trailer, so updating parts, metal, wire, plug, wood floors, is needed to keep it safe to haul your horse in. I HATE trailer breakdowns, so we keep a close eye on our 1985 stock trailer to make using it stress free. I want to hitch, check lights, tires, and go. All the above stuff has happened to friends of ours or got prevented from happening by our sharp-eyed service guys during our regular check ups.
We have modified this trailer by adding a short ramp in the rear. Makes it easy to load carriage in there, small tractors, other odd items to haul home. Horses like the ramp for getting on and off easily. It was a huge step down before the ramp, so even long-legged horses had a hard time finding the ground.
We removed that sliding gate, made the back door solid. Husband did that welding work, along with putting on the ramp. The slider had sharp angle iron above, was not real tall, and was VERY noisy in travel. We were afraid horses would hurt themselves on slider header, going thru that little gate, never planned to use it anyway. Here they call them “cattle gates” and aid in controlling cattle while loading or unloading. We added 4ft height plywood inside, under the slats with 3/8" rubber matting glued on the plywood. This serves a double purpose in the reducing sound while hauling. Second reason was horse protection, should anyone kick a wall or slip to bang a hoof on the walls. Can’t put a hoof thru the metal sheeting in the sides now. We did the plywood and rubber over rear door too and center dividing gate.
We have big diameter butt bars for use as a box stall if needed. Big 1"thick, drop-in pins on both ends for total removal when not needed. 3 inch pipe with wood inside to prevent bending when leaned on. Chains bend, pinch, break, stretch when leaned on. No firm resistance keeping horse butt off door if horse sits back on them. I SURE do not want horse putting full weight on the trailer back door to spring the locks, bend the door.
Older trailers can be great to use, but get it in very good condition before using it. Have a plan for regular checkups to keep it in good condition. Parking on dirt, grass, will shorten floor life, rust metal faster, so be religious in getting floor checked, metal floor supports inspected at least annually. We added an LED white light inside, Sure helps with visibility finding things, horses load easily when they can see inside.
We have replaced the floor boards several times over the years, gotten new springs, under floor cross pieces, shackles, brakes, changed to LED tail/brake lights for better visibility. MUCH more visible to anyone behind us tHan the old stype bulbs. Husband did those replacement lights with a trailer kit from TSC, about $30.
Have fun with your new toy!
