10
What to Check and How to Check
Reporting Safety Defects
If you believe that your vehicle has a defect which could
cause a crash or could cause injury or death, you
should immediately inform the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) in addition to notifying
the trailer manufacturer.
If NHTSA receives similar complaints, it may open an
investigation, and if it finds that a safety defect exists in
a group of vehicles, it may order a recall and remedy
campaign. However, NHTSA cannot become involved
in individual problems between you, your local dealer.
To contact NHTSA, you may either call the Auto Safety
Hotline toll-free at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-
9153) or write to: NHTSA, U.S. Department of Trans-
portation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington,
DC 20590
.
You can also obtain other information about
motor vehicle safety from
http://www.safercar.gov.
Checklist - Before Your First Trip
•
Tire Pressure and Tire Condition
•
Wheel Lugs*
•
Bearing Lube and Tightness
•
Burnish Brakes (See page 6)
•
Brakes/Brake Controllers
•
Breakaway Battery Charge
•
Hitch
•
Safety Chains
•
12V Running Lights
•
Distribution and Security
•
All Jacks “Up” in Travel Position
* Check lug nuts for tightness before initial trip, at 10
miles, 25 miles and 50 miles. Recheck every 3 months
or 3000 miles.
Your local Dealer, in all probability, checked each of
these points before you took delivery. However, these
are key things you should recheck before taking your
trailer on the road for the first time.
Tire Pressure
Proper air pressure for your tires is printed on the
sidewall. Check pressure while tires are cold. Do not
raise or lower pressure to meet load. Pressure other
than recommended pressure will lead to excessive tire
wear or tire failure. Balancing recommended. Preferred
balancing method is to center off of stud holes, since
13” through 16.5” wheels are not hub piloted.
Wheels
Check wheels for hole elongation or “out of round”. This
condition can be caused by lug nuts not being tight or
being too tight. Trailer wheels can be damaged by
chuck holes or curb jumping. You may not be aware of
the road shock to the wheels without periodic checks.
Replace any wheel that is bent. Replace any wheel if
you see elongation of the bolt holes.
Wheel Lugs
Wheel lug nuts must be tightened with a torque wrench.
Refer to the chart below for proper torque
1.
Start all bolts or nuts by hand to prevent cross
threading.
2.
Tighten bolts or nuts
following sequence at right.
3.
The tightening of the
fasteners should be done in
stages. Following the recom-
mended sequence, tighten
fasteners per wheel torque
chart below.
4.
Wheel n
u
t
s
/
b
olt
s
s
ho
u
ld
b
e torq
u
ed
b
efore fir
s
t
ro
a
d
us
e
a
nd
a
fter e
a
ch wheel remov
a
l. Check
a
nd
re-torq
u
e
a
fter the fir
s
t 10 mile
s
, 25 mile
s
a
nd
a
g
a
in
a
t 50 mile
s
. Check periodic
a
lly there
a
fter.
Wheel Torque Requirements
1
2
3
4
5
TORQUE SEQUENCE
WHEEL
SIZE
1st
Stage
2nd
Stage
3rd
Stage
15"
20 - 25
50 - 60
90 - 120
9.801-301.0 Operator’s Manual, Trailer - Kärcher TRS-3500-S
