Dollies, Powertorque Workshop, Trailers

Designing Trailers and Dollies

designing trailers and dollies

Haulmark Trailers originate from Brisbane and have been a stalwart of the trailer building industry, specialising in designing trailers and dollies to put up with the rigours of travelling at high masses and at high speeds on the badly maintained roads of country Queensland. Over the years the company has grown, with a presence across the border in the Northern Territory.

Now, there is a third facility in the Adelaide area, more precisely in Edinburgh. The facility opened earlier this year and has seemed to hit the ground running, picking up plenty of trailer maintenance and as well as truck maintenance work at the facility.

Darryl Smith, Haulmark Branch Manager in South Australia was involved from the word go in building the workshop from scratch and now runs a facility employing 18 people. This includes diesel technicians, a trailer technician, boilermakers, parts people as well as the usual admin staff and one manger, Darryl.

The workshop is set up with a full gantry system plus all of the pits and other equipment needed to do full servicing on both trucks and trailers. The pits will handle a full B-double and the facility is big enough to pull a road train into the yard and through the workshop. Last mile access for these trucks was secured when the workshop first opened.

The building includes two Hartex integrated pits including jacking systems to handle the different jobs the workshop will be expecting to tackle. The oil draining system also includes a new oil recovery system. 

 

designing trailers and dollies

 

The facility also boasts the latest VLT loading precision brake tester from Europe coupled with a full axle shaker system. All of these are connected through the wifi system in the building. This a one-man operated system, with the technician sitting in the truck with a tablet and conducting the entire brake test, by themselves controlling everything from the tablet. These reports will also use the wifi to be stored on the facility’s main servers as long term records of testing and conformance. 

There is a full Dealer Management System (DMS) system in the business, an Australian developed system called Titan. This has the capability to integrate right across the business, covering servicing, sales, parts and administration. Invoicing can be automated straight to email when jobs are completed. 

“We are working towards a low administration system in the business,” says Darryl. “It’s a very smart system and our equipment level is probably the best in the state. We also have two 20 tonne cranes designed to reduce the manual labour for our technicians. We can roll chassis over if needed.”

 

designing trailers and dollies

 

There is a wide wash bay under the main roof to enable a full clean down of equipment before major work on large trailers. There is also a large covered bay with a full fuel gantry to facilitate fuel tanker work. It is Safe Load Pass (SLP) certified to be able to handle compliance work on tankers. This contributes to the full tanker repair facility, where periodic tanker testing can all be done on site. This particular part of the facility is unique in SA and rare anywhere in Australia, according to Darryl. 

The set-up includes a ramp system running along the main wall which is air activated, meaning there is no spark when inflammables are on site. There is a gantry which lowers down with a cage for the technician. It will lower down onto the top of the tanker. The tech is fully caged in while working on the top of the tanker. This works well for working at heights but also enables a recovery system for anyone working inside a tank. This system comes from the US where it was designed originally to enable crews to service air conditioning units on trains. 

The workshop has a tripod system, so once the cage goes over the top of the trailer, there is a technician inside on a harness on a tripod. If there is a man down situation they are already connected to some form of recovery system. There is also a person outside of the tanks watching the tech as they go about their task. Sniffers and other gas related monitoring is also vital in this kind of work zone. 

 

 

designing trailers and dollies

 

 

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