February 6, 2010

To: Bruce McConnell at Featherlite Trailers,

and Mark Lee, Featherlite Grass Valley, California

From: Russell Dobkins, PO Box 249, Gila, NM, 88038

575-535-2905 russelldobkins@yahoo.com

Bruce McConnell,

Bill Nichols and I, Russell Dobkins, bought a 16 foot, Featherlite Stock Trailer, model # 8107 from Dustin at Reno Featherlite, on June 10, 2010. Bill picked it up from Mark Lee, at your Dealership in Grass Valley, and hauled it over to your affiliate dealer in Reno, and paid for it there. I'm an “Outfitter” in Southwest New Mexico. We needed a 16 foot trailer to haul horses to the end of the roads, at the edge of the Gila Wilderness, to go horse camping. I bought that model because it had the size and weight capacity we needed. Bill brought it out to me here in New Mexico. I inspected the trailer for the first time, when I got it here, and found several problems. I was quite unsatisfied and wanted to return it. The problems were serious, and the trailer as it came from the factory, was unsatisfactory for hauling horses. I called the dealer in Reno, Dustin, to tell him we had a problem with the trailer, and that it was not going to work for us, and that we wanted to return it for our money back. Dustin refused to take it back. He told me to call the manufacturer, and gave me the name and number. I called and talked to the representative at Featherlite, Bruce Mconnell. He was not at all helpful, either.

The problems with the trailer were:

1. The doors rattled so loud, 90-95 decibels on a paved road, (I measured it with a decibel meter) that hauling stock for more than a couple hours would cause them to go deaf! I have good horses, and I want them to be comfortable and safe when riding in the trailer.

2. The next problem was even more serious. We took the trailer down a dirt road, and I rode inside it. The noise was terrible, over 100 decibels, but even worse, the dust from the towing vehicle's tires was sucked into the trailer under the front side door. The trailer became a dust storm in less than 2 minutes! I couldn't stand it, and waved the driver to stop. When Bill came back to open the side door, the dust poured out, and I staggered out, gasping for breath! Such conditions would cause dust pneumonia in livestock. We drive dirt roads, out here, and this just wouldn't do. I looked at the side door, and noticed there was a ¾ inch gap all around it. The dust was just sucked in under and around the bottom of the door. Also, the back door had a 2 inch gap under the door, where the dust came in, as well.

3. There were sharp edges, places where horses could get cut, and the door handles had sharp edges, where hands could get cut. This made it a dangerous trailer, for man and beast!

After looking it over again, and thinking about it, I called Dustin at the Reno dealership. He again, refused to take the trailer back, and told me to call the Featherlite factory representative, with my complaints. I got no satisfaction or help from either of them. I threatened to sue! Then a few days later, Bill suggested we call Mark, at Featherlite in Grass Valley, where we picked up the trailer, to talk with him about it. I did. Mark has a practical, can do mind. He told me that our satisfaction was paramount and that he would work with us to fix the problems. We talked about the problems of the noise and dust, he offered to send various materials to seal the leaks, and stop the doors from rattling. He told me that Featherlite would cover the cost of repairs. I decided to try to fix the trailer. I have a welding shop. I build steel trailers, horse drawn wagons and farm machinery, woodstoves, saddles and packsaddles, and all kind of other things. I looked at the problems, and figured out why the doors rattled so badly, and why the dust came in. In an attempt to stop the dust, I put foam weatherstripping around the front door to stop up the cracks. Then we took it for a ride, down a dirt road again. That stopped the dust problem. Then, I found that the noise problem with the front door was because it was not mounted square with the frame, as the stops only touched at the top, not at the bottom, so it rattled, badly. I took it to a shop and paid to fix this by welding an aluminum piece, for the door to stop up against, all the way around the bottom, and half the way up the sides of the door frame. Next, I used a rubber gasket to seal between the door and the frame. That worked perfectly. It stopped the dust and the rattling. I'll send you pictures of how I did this, because you can use my improvements to improve your trailers!

The back door was harder to fix. The sliding door was loose, rattled, and dust came in all around it. There was also a two inch gap around, and under the door. I took the door off, and into the welding shop. I took the sliding door off the back door. I cut the slider down to the size where it would fit snuggly into the hole in the main door, and tig welded it in, solid. I also had a rounded piece of extruded aluminum, welded to the bottom of the door, closing the gap under it. This worked real well. It stopped the rattling and kept dust from coming in under the door.

Next, I removed the center divider gate, and moved it forward to form a front tack room. I bolted it to the wall, on a slant, just behind the front door, slanting forward, over to the other side, and bolted it just behind the nose cone brace. I used the metal I cut off the rear sliding door, to extend the center gate, to make it long enough to cover the extended width, as a slant. I used the same hinges the door had, to attach it on the door side, and made some 60 degree aluminum angle brackets to bolt the other side solid to the wall, but removable. I used silicone to seal the gate to the floor, to keep urine from the livestock area, from running up into the tack room.

This configuration works so well! I can load four horses, comfortably in the back, on the slant, and get all the saddles, packsaddles, saddle pads, pack boxes, panniers, bridles, halters, feed, shovel, axe, campstove, ice box, and a box of firewood, in the front tack room.

Next, I noticed a potential problem with the back bumper. It is made of 5”angle, and has a 5” unsupported edge handing down at the back bottom of the trailer, right where it could drag and catch on anything, rocks, curbs, tree stumps, a bump in the road, and drag, catch, bend, break, or rip it off! It is a nice thick piece of aluminum, 1/4”, which supports the whole back floor and sides of the trailer. But, it is vulnerable! After considering this potential problem, I thought a roller would be good, like you see on trucks and trailers where you want to load something, rolling it up and on. But, for strength, I decided to use a piece of square steel tubing, 1x3 with rounded edges, to reinforce this back bumper, on the bottom, inside edge. I unbolted the rubber bumper stops, and welded tabs to my steel tubing, and drilled the holes in the tabs, to line up with the bumper holes. I painted the steel with rustoleum industrial paint, and then bolted it on, with the same bolts that hold the rubber bumpers on. I used silicone between the steel and aluminum. That came out real nice, and adds a lot of protection and strength, to that whole back bumper.

The other problem I found is that there are no running boards on the outsides of the trailer, to climb up on, to look inside, to check on the horses. Also, the fenders are not well braced, and are vulnerable to catching and bending or breaking from hitting anything, in cornering or backing. On all my other trailers, I make running boards which are tapered in the front and back, to deflect any obstacles, like fence posts, trees, stumps, gate posts, etc. Also, it is great to have something to stand on, to look into the trailer, and also to be able to reach in to the horses, to check the ties, and retie, if necessary. I haven't done it yet, but I plan to make some steel running boards, and bolt them on. The fenders need protection, and I need something to stand on to check the horses. Such running boards would also be good to tie a bale of hay on to. So, that's next.

Mark Lee told me that Featherlite would be good for any expenses we incurred in getting this trailer functional. I've spent $750 so far, fixing this trailer. The noise, dust, and sharp edges are from design flaws. I suggest you get your engineers to ride in the trailer, and take them for a ride down a dirt road for five minutes. That'll get them to thinking about how to do a better job of designing and building a functional stock/horse trailer! I bring these flaws to your attention, to let you know how to make a better trailer. I suggest you take my design ideas, and implement them into a new line of trailers. You could call it “The Outfitter Series”. A no frills, solid, tough enough to take it, light but strong, and reasonably priced, horse trailer. If you really want to see how to do it, how I did it, bring your engineers out and come see what I have done with this trailer!

A couple months ago, I got a letter from featherlite, asking for my feedback on how I liked the trailer. I sent this letter in, but got no reply, so here I send it again. I suggest you show this letter to your engineers.

If you want to see the pictures of what I told you about here, just email me, and I'll send them to you, as an email attachment.

russelldobkins@yahoo.com

Quote..  Featherlite 8125 Problems and fixes.....Bill Nichols and I, Russell Dobkins, bought a 16 foot, Featherlite Stock Trailer, model # 8107

Which trailer did you buy? The 8125 or a 8107? They are- open stock trailers, going to be noisy and dusty and as you can see, neither model has running boards. Maybe you should have bought a HORSE trailer.... That 8125 is more of a HOG trailer, being as it is only 6'6" high.

http://www.fthr.com/bumper-pull_livestock-trailer/model8125/

http://www.fthr.com/bumper-pull_livestock-trailer/model8107/