Food Trailer Repair in Colorado

A trailer is not a truck with the engine removed

The kitchen inside a food trailer is much the same as the kitchen in a truck, and we repair it the same way. Everything underneath is different. A trailer has no engine to warn you when something is wrong; it has axles, bearings, brakes, a coupler and a jack that get no attention until one of them fails on the highway, usually with a full load of equipment and water on board. A trailer also disconnects from its power source every time you unhitch, so shore power inlets, generator boxes and battery systems take more abuse than they do on a truck.

Our shop in Woodland Park builds food trailers from the frame up, which is why trailer owners from across Colorado bring us the ones somebody else built. If you want to see how a well-built trailer is put together underneath, the walkthrough below of a 16 foot commissary trailer we delivered to Boulder shows the generator box, the shore power connection, the ventilated propane cages and the gas lines run under the floor, which are exactly the areas that fail on trailers that were not built that way.

Running gear: the repairs that keep you on the road

Wheel bearings. The single most common trailer failure we see, and the most dangerous. A food trailer sits for days, then gets towed loaded up a mountain grade in July. Bearings that were never repacked run dry, overheat and seize. If a hub is hot to the touch after a short tow, or you hear a growl that changes with speed, stop towing it. We repack or replace bearings and seals and check the spindle for scoring while the hub is off.

Brakes. Most food trailers over about 3,000 pounds have electric brakes, and most owners have never tested them. Corroded magnets, broken wires at the axle, a breakaway switch with a dead battery and a controller in the tow vehicle that was never adjusted are the usual findings. We service the brakes, test the breakaway and set the controller with the trailer loaded, because an empty trailer brakes very differently from one carrying a griddle, two fryers and 90 gallons of water.

Axles and suspension. Bent axles from a curb strike, broken leaf springs, worn equalizers and shackles on tandem axles, and axles that were simply undersized for the equipment that was added after the trailer was built. A trailer that pulls to one side, wears tires on the inside edge or sits low on one corner has a suspension problem, not a tire problem.

Coupler, safety chains and jack. Couplers that no longer latch fully, chains that have been cut short to fit a new hitch, and tongue jacks that have bent from being dropped loaded. These are cheap parts and we replace them rather than repair them.

Frame and body. Cracked welds at the tongue and around the axle hangers, rust where the floor meets the frame, doors that no longer seal, and water getting in around the service window. Frame cracks get cut out and rewelded with gussets, not just welded over.

Weight is the problem nobody measures

Almost every trailer repair we do traces back to weight. Trailers leave the original builder with a certain axle rating and then gain a second fryer, a bigger fridge, a larger water tank and a generator. The pancake trailer below, a 16 foot build we delivered to Denver, carries a 36 inch griddle, a steam table, a full size upright fridge, a nine pan hot box, a 40 gallon fresh tank and a 50 gallon grey tank mounted under the floor. Full, the water alone is about 750 pounds. We spec the axles and tires for the finished, loaded trailer, and we position the tanks so the tongue weight stays where it should be. Trailers that were not built that way are the ones that come to us with bent axles and worn bearings.

If your trailer has gained equipment since it was built, bring it in and we will weigh it on the axles and the tongue. Sometimes the fix is moving a tank; sometimes it is a heavier axle set, which is a much cheaper repair than a failure on I-70.

Kitchen and utility repairs on trailers

Shore power and generator. Inlets that have been pulled loose by a cord left plugged in while the trailer moved, generators mounted on the tongue with no box so they get soaked and stolen, and battery systems that were never charged properly. We repair the wiring, replace inlets, and if you want the generator in a locked, insulated, ventilated box like the Boulder trailer above, we can build one onto your existing trailer.

Propane. Cylinders in a cage that does not vent, lines run inside the trailer where they can be damaged, regulators mounted where road spray hits them. Any gas repair on a trailer ends with a pressure test before you leave; we do not release a trailer with an untested gas system.

Water. Tanks that were strapped under the floor with plumbing tape, fresh tanks with no vent, pumps mounted where they freeze, and grey tanks sized smaller than the fresh tank so the sinks back up before the day is over. On our own builds the grey tank is always larger than the fresh tank for that reason, and we can re-plumb a trailer that was built the other way round.

Hood, suppression and cooking equipment. The same repairs we do on trucks: hood fans, baffles, suppression nozzles that no longer cover the cook line after equipment was moved, griddle and fryer thermostats, refrigeration that cannot hold temperature at altitude. Trailers built at sea level often arrive in Colorado with gas appliances that need a high-altitude adjustment before they will run properly.

Repair and compliance in one visit

Most trailers that come in for repair also need paperwork before they can work an event. We do the annual LP gas pressure test for $350, the fire suppression inspection and retag for $300, and hood cleaning and certification quoted by hood size, all in the same visit as the mechanical work. The details of each, and why fire departments ask for them, are on our gas testing, suppression inspection and hood cleaning pages; all three apply to trailers exactly as they do to trucks.

When the trailer is not worth fixing

Some trailers arrive with a frame that is rusted through, an axle set that cannot legally carry the equipment on board, and a kitchen that was never built to health code. We will tell you if the trailer is worth the money. The honest answer is sometimes to move the equipment that is still good into a new shell, and we can price that against a repair so you can decide with real numbers. Our used and refurbished trucks and trailers are the other option.

Trailers we have built for Colorado operators

Trailer repair customers like to know we build the same thing we repair. Recent trailer deliveries in the state include the 16 foot commissary trailer in Boulder with 75 gallons of fresh water and 90 of grey, the 16 foot pancake trailer in Denver, a 16 foot taco trailer for Aurora with two fryers and a char broiler, a 16 foot Indian food trailer and a 12 foot vegan trailer for Colorado Springs, a 10 foot trailer for Pueblo, and a 14 foot ice cream trailer for Aspen with air conditioning and a soft serve machine. All of them are on our YouTube channel if you want to see how the underside is put together before you bring yours in.

Frequently asked questions

My trailer cannot be towed. Can you still help? Tell us on the call what has failed. A seized bearing or a broken spring can often be dealt with so the trailer can be towed to the shop safely; we work out the logistics case by case.

Do you repair trailers you did not build? Yes, and a good share of our trailer repair work is on trailers from other builders or bought used out of state.

How do I know if my bearings need service? If you do not know when they were last repacked, they need service. Hubs that are hot after a short tow, grease on the inside of the wheel, or a growl that changes with speed mean stop towing and call.

Can you add electric brakes or a breakaway kit? Yes, if the axles are brake-ready. If they are not, we will quote an axle set that is.

Do you work on food trucks too? Yes. Engine-side and kitchen repairs on trucks are on our food truck repair page.

Call 719-722-2537 to book a repair. Bring the inspector's report if you have one, and if the trailer has gained equipment since it was built, tell us so we can weigh it while it is here.