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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
     
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | What are some things to look for, structurally, that people look for when purchasing used LQ's? For example, damaged tanks, propane leaks, etc.?
Thanks! |
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 IMA No Hair Style Gal
Posts: 2594
| Water damage. Check the roof also, look at all vents on top as they will crack with age and will need recaulking.
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  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | Check tire wear. If they are new tires then I would wonder why. Bent axles, bearings wore etc. The LQ part is a different story since things can go to pot no matter how new, old or how well maintained such as the hot water heater, appliances etc. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| Make sure that the trailer has been plugged in. The refrigerator needs to be running all the time. A new refrigerator costs about $1400. |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | check all welds... especially depending on the brand where the gooseneck meets the body (the drop) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| Iv been wondering the same thing. . . So if someone says the trailer has been "serviced" are there still things you need to look for?
Not to mention if it hasnt been serviced. . . |
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It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | Great, thank you guys for the input and keep it coming! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1037
| How often the generator has been serviced
Has it been winterized or drained every winter (water pump will be most likely bust if not and pipes)
Hot water heater serviced? They are expensive to replace
AC coils been cleaned during service?
Propane in working order
Axles, what type of tires are being used (14 ply or higher would be ideal)
LEAKS (around AC, skylight in bathroom, vents)
Speakers on outside can bust easily from wear
Lights that need to be replaced (this can add up more than you think)
Has the septic been cleaned regularly (my previous owner did not and now the sensor doesnt work)
If it has hydrolic (sp?) jack, does it have any leaks.
BATTERIES! have they been well maintained. Very expensive to replace.
Edited by kboltwkreations 2016-06-22 8:29 AM
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 Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | The floor! Look under the mats.
We are in the process of downsizing from a 4H LQ to a 3H LQ (we bought a "new" used one and are putting the other up for sale) and had the owner pull the mats to see what the floor looked like. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 878
Location: "...way down south in the Everglades..." | The water....have them hook it up to a hose to make sure there are no leaks. Thought we were golden until we went for the first overnighter and turned the hose on to it. Water leaking all over the place. Lesson learned the hard way here. |
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It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | Speedy Buckeye Girl - 2016-06-22 8:32 AM The water....have them hook it up to a hose to make sure there are no leaks. Thought we were golden until we went for the first overnighter and turned the hose on to it. Water leaking all over the place. Lesson learned the hard way here.
Ohh good one, I don't know that I would have thought about that! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 747
| Definitely check everything on the trailer! Start the generator, run some water, check the fridge, under the mats in the back, the latches on all the drop down windows, everything! We didn't check the generator on ours when we bought it and when we got home, it wouldn't start. Turns out it hadn't been run in over a year.
Check along the floor in the living quarters to see if you can see any water damage on the wood molding. The water tank is under our sofa and there was slight water damage (hardly noticeable) along the wood that framed in the tank that also supported our sofa. Don't be afraid to ask about anything you want to know about, after all it is a large investment and you don't want to be left in the dark on anything! |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | We drove 900 miles one way to get our LQ used trailer. We bought from NRS. We bought site unseen. They are top notch to deal with. It was plugged up, had water running to it when we showed up. They did everything mentioned as far as looking at the underside, tanks, every light, etc. if you are going to buy used I would go straight to them. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| Keep in mind if you are buying from a dealer, not all of them are top notch! |
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Member
Posts: 35
| Check the roof for leaks! I bought a camper, no signs of water damage, everything looked great. The first time we had to go somewhere we ran into a huge rainstorm, stopped to check everything and the thing leaked like a sieve! It was soooo bad  We were going to be staying in that camper until we found a place to rent and it was awful. (not the living in a camper part, the horrible leaking!) My husband finally had to get a bucket of tar and tar the whole roof to get it stopped. Never want to deal with that again! If we ever buy another trailer I will run a hose on the roof and make sure it doesn't leak. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| Thats a good idea. . . lol Make it rain! |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| I would honestly find a trailer or RV service place would will check it over for you. I do the same thing with vehicles I buy and take them to mechanic and horses for a vet check. Trailers can be just as big a money hole if you buy a bad one so I think it's money well spent. I can see obvious issues, but some not so obvious ones may take someone who knows what they're doing. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| OhMax - 2016-06-23 7:33 AM
I would honestly find a trailer or RV service place would will check it over for you. I do the same thing with vehicles I buy and take them to mechanic and horses for a vet check. Trailers can be just as big a money hole if you buy a bad one so I think it's money well spent. I can see obvious issues, but some not so obvious ones may take someone who knows what they're doing.
I agree, that is a good idea, but my question would be if you have to drive a long ways to look at a trailer and decide to buy it, where do you take it to get checked out in a strage city? If you buy it, bring it home and then find out it has issues, your screwed! |
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It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | horsiace1025 - 2016-06-23 7:37 AM OhMax - 2016-06-23 7:33 AM I would honestly find a trailer or RV service place would will check it over for you. I do the same thing with vehicles I buy and take them to mechanic and horses for a vet check. Trailers can be just as big a money hole if you buy a bad one so I think it's money well spent. I can see obvious issues, but some not so obvious ones may take someone who knows what they're doing. I agree, that is a good idea, but my question would be if you have to drive a long ways to look at a trailer and decide to buy it, where do you take it to get checked out in a strage city? If you buy it, bring it home and then find out it has issues, your screwed!
Yes this is what a lot run into I think. Especially those of us that live in the middle of nowhere and have to travel a good ways to look at anything decent!
Thank you everyone for the tips! |
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 Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | TwistedK - 2016-06-22 6:53 AM
check all welds... especially depending on the brand where the gooseneck meets the body (the drop)
This especially!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  |
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 Life Saver
Posts: 10477
Location: MT | Really pay attention if it has slide-outs. My folks bought a new camper trailer and had heck with the slide-outs not working right and leaking around them.
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| SmokinGirlie - 2016-06-23 8:10 AM
horsiace1025 - 2016-06-23 7:37 AM OhMax - 2016-06-23 7:33 AM I would honestly find a trailer or RV service place would will check it over for you. I do the same thing with vehicles I buy and take them to mechanic and horses for a vet check. Trailers can be just as big a money hole if you buy a bad one so I think it's money well spent. I can see obvious issues, but some not so obvious ones may take someone who knows what they're doing. I agree, that is a good idea, but my question would be if you have to drive a long ways to look at a trailer and decide to buy it, where do you take it to get checked out in a strage city? If you buy it, bring it home and then find out it has issues, your screwed!
Thank you everyone for the tips!
If you drive a long way to look at a horse how do you find a vet to check him?
It's one thing if the trailer truly is in the boonies, but Google and a little planning will generally find a reasonably close service center.
A friend of mine bought her daughter a little 3H 4' shortwall to college rodeo in. They've owned a number of LQ trailers and her husband drives for a living, they looked it over and thought they got a good deal. They've now put more than they paid for it (it wasn't a steal) into it because of issues they've discovered along the way and if they were to sell it they won't get their money out of it. It's made me extremely hesitant and skeptical when looking at LQ trailers and was actually one of the reasons I ended up buying new. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | 3canstorun - 2016-06-22 11:41 AM We drove 900 miles one way to get our LQ used trailer. We bought from NRS. We bought site unseen. They are top notch to deal with. It was plugged up, had water running to it when we showed up. They did everything mentioned as far as looking at the underside, tanks, every light, etc. if you are going to buy used I would go straight to them.
NRS is great to deal with as far as purchasing a used trailer goes. They do check EVERYTHING on the trailers and have a great trailer service center. I don't like their tack and clothing or their prices compared to the other stores close to me (You all know by now I'm a die hard Teskey's fan lol) but as far as trailers go, they at least have that figured out!  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| OhMax - 2016-06-23 11:47 AM
SmokinGirlie - 2016-06-23 8:10 AM
horsiace1025 - 2016-06-23 7:37 AM OhMax - 2016-06-23 7:33 AM I would honestly find a trailer or RV service place would will check it over for you. I do the same thing with vehicles I buy and take them to mechanic and horses for a vet check. Trailers can be just as big a money hole if you buy a bad one so I think it's money well spent. I can see obvious issues, but some not so obvious ones may take someone who knows what they're doing. I agree, that is a good idea, but my question would be if you have to drive a long ways to look at a trailer and decide to buy it, where do you take it to get checked out in a strage city? If you buy it, bring it home and then find out it has issues, your screwed!
Thank you everyone for the tips!
If you drive a long way to look at a horse how do you find a vet to check him?
It's one thing if the trailer truly is in the boonies, but Google and a little planning will generally find a reasonably close service center.
A friend of mine bought her daughter a little 3H 4' shortwall to college rodeo in. They've owned a number of LQ trailers and her husband drives for a living, they looked it over and thought they got a good deal. They've now put more than they paid for it (it wasn't a steal ) into it because of issues they've discovered along the way and if they were to sell it they won't get their money out of it. It's made me extremely hesitant and skeptical when looking at LQ trailers and was actually one of the reasons I ended up buying new.
Iv really been contemplating in my head if it would just be better to buy new for this reason! To me it is kind of like a car. You either pay for new and (hopefully) dont have to worry for years to come, or you buy used and pay for repairs. Its just the way it is. However, I do believe if you found something that has been well takin care of and not abused then you can still come out ahead buying used, but that is hard. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| horsiace1025 - 2016-06-23 11:52 AM
OhMax - 2016-06-23 11:47 AM
SmokinGirlie - 2016-06-23 8:10 AM
horsiace1025 - 2016-06-23 7:37 AM OhMax - 2016-06-23 7:33 AM I would honestly find a trailer or RV service place would will check it over for you. I do the same thing with vehicles I buy and take them to mechanic and horses for a vet check. Trailers can be just as big a money hole if you buy a bad one so I think it's money well spent. I can see obvious issues, but some not so obvious ones may take someone who knows what they're doing. I agree, that is a good idea, but my question would be if you have to drive a long ways to look at a trailer and decide to buy it, where do you take it to get checked out in a strage city? If you buy it, bring it home and then find out it has issues, your screwed!
Thank you everyone for the tips!
If you drive a long way to look at a horse how do you find a vet to check him?
It's one thing if the trailer truly is in the boonies, but Google and a little planning will generally find a reasonably close service center.
A friend of mine bought her daughter a little 3H 4' shortwall to college rodeo in. They've owned a number of LQ trailers and her husband drives for a living, they looked it over and thought they got a good deal. They've now put more than they paid for it (it wasn't a steal ) into it because of issues they've discovered along the way and if they were to sell it they won't get their money out of it. It's made me extremely hesitant and skeptical when looking at LQ trailers and was actually one of the reasons I ended up buying new.
Iv really been contemplating in my head if it would just be better to buy new for this reason! To me it is kind of like a car. You either pay for new and (hopefully ) dont have to worry for years to come, or you buy used and pay for repairs. Its just the way it is. However, I do believe if you found something that has been well takin care of and not abused then you can still come out ahead buying used, but that is hard.
Agreed, we went and look at a couple used ones for sale by owner and when we pointed out pretty obvious issues (why are all the window bars missing on the rear side? What's up with those wires dangling underneath? Not kidding.) we got a runaround about how they hadn't noticed that, it had been like that, yadayada. It really left a bad taste in our mouth and feeling unsure if we were qualified to determine if we were getting a quality trailer. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| Yep, I drove 8 hours one way with a check in hand to buy a trailer from a DEALER and when I got there, not only had the trailer not been inspected, but it was down right dirty, the light bulbs were blown, the generator(located in the last manger) exaust pipe was wired up to keep it from dragging the pavement and the back door latch was broke off! You really have to be careful. Its pretty depressing. |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | I have bought every single one of my LQ trailers used. I bought all of them from individuals except for one that I bought at a trailer dealership. The one I bought at the dealership was the only one I got screwed on. It had water damage so bad, I had to have the whole LQ gutted and redone, both tanks had frozen and were broken and had to be replaced, among a lot of other little stuff. I would recommend buying from an individual and ask for service records. I have them on all my trailers where I've had them winterized and serviced; so should the seller. If they don't have them, there's probably a reason. I also only buy really good brands, for instance, 4 Star, Elite, Platinum, etc. I've found people tend to take better care of the more expensive brands, and they tend to be built better as well. I also will only buy trailers that have Outlaw Interiors. I've found that every time I buy some other interior, I'm not happy and I have issues. Outlaw costs more, but there's a reason. They're built better. |
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Used LQ's