A Wabash Trailer Can Save You Thousands Over its Lifetime Compared to lower cost Competitors

Wabash National invented plate trailers in 1995. Their engineers and manufacturers then patented the DuraPlate® panel designs, and built a plant to manufacture them in the USA. It is 100% North American made. DuraPlate® was designed for the toughest conditions to avoid damage and maintenance, and is the gold standard for plate technology in transport trailers.

Competitor trailers import panels from Taiwan, from Xxentria, and some may assemble them in Mexico, to avoid higher labour costs in the USA. Some manufacturers then put the customers’ trailers on the rail and import them to Canada, where they could experience significant rail damage before final delivery to the customer. They have a history of bad corrosion and poor damage resistance in our environment. Their design also has to avoid the Wabash panel patents, so they have to reverse the rivet design, creating several issues of added cost and reduced resale value to customers. With all the cost of repairs, replacing panels, fighting corrosion, and lesser resale values, these competitor plate trailers cost you at least $1,500.00 per trailer more over its life, just for these reasons, than owning a DuraPlate® trailer.

Wabash DuraPlate® panels are designed with a patented connection to posts. This ensures our trailers have a smooth aluminum rivet head on the outside to make decals look great, and a bucked rivet end on the inside that is recessed and protected from being sheared from damage to eliminate repairs and maintenance.

Competitor panels are designed to avoid the Wabash patent, with a lower quality wall design that leaves your trailer susceptible to damage. To not violate Wabash’s patent, they design the sidewalls with the round head of the rivet on the inside, in the cargo area, exposed and susceptible to impact and damage.

Competitors avoid Wabash’s patented connection, by reversing the rivet and exposing the bucked end of rivet on exterior panel. Decals now have to be cut around each rivet, expanding the vinyl, making your logos unattractive and requiring maintenance over time. Your company logos and images don’t look as good as they do on a DuraPlate®!

Wabash DuraPlate® panels are constructed from (2) galvanized steel sheets bonded to a high density polyethylene (HDPE) core. The design was invented and patented by Wabash National in 1995, and is the Gold Standard plate wall design in our industry. Although the panel is at the heart of the DuraPlate® trailer design, all the many additional design features in every DuraPlate® trailer has earned it the reputation as a work horse, as the gold standard in plate trailers, with the lowest cost of ownership design of any plate trailer on the road.

Some competitor trailers refer to their designs as ‘composite’, but they are actually the traditional ‘sheet and post’ design. They have aluminum outer sheets, galvanized steel posts, and interior ‘light’ steel liner – just like ‘sheet and post designs’. They even inject small amounts of urethane foam into the empty cavity between the inner and outer sheets to fill an empty void. This foam provides little structural support and does not prevent damage due to impact to the thin steel sheet on the interior panels. This design is a high cost maintenance design, and will require high damage interior and exterior repair costs over the trailer life, with considerably lower resale value than a Wabash DuraPlate® trailer. After a few years of use, you can see the damage and calculate how much has been spent in repair costs. With a DuraPlate® trailer, we’re confident there would have been no damage to repair.

Wabash designed the DuraPlate® trailer to maintain a ‘damage-free interior’ over the 15 years you will own your trailer; its scuffliner was designed with stainless steel rivets installed on a recessed top flange of the scuffliner, on 8″ centres, ensuring a strong attachment that will not be impacted by forklifts and pallets. And even if you find a way to hit it, the steel fastener will win the battle and not loosen, shear, or be damaged. Even a steel forklift wheel can’t dislodge this steel rivet. And if anything was to happen, there is another tough, steel rivet only 8″ away. You will likely never replace this rivet, and as a result, you will likely never spend any money repairing our scuffliner on a DuraPlate® plate trailer. It’s one of the many reasons, DuraPlate® is the gold standard in plate trailer designs.

Competitor scuffliners may be attached to the lower wall with aluminum rivets on 12″ centres. This is a cheaper, lower cost way to manufacture their trailer, allowing them to advertise a lower selling price to a customer. But the customer experiences the damage from this poor design. When the rivet is impacted by a forklift or pallet during loading and unloading, the force loosens or shears the aluminum rivet, and the scuffliner is no longer attached to the side wall. If not repaired immediately, the loose scuffliner gets snagged, and the damage gets worse, travelling down the scuffliner, shearing the next rivet, loosening up more scuffliner, and so on. Freight is also damaged from the jagged top edge of the steel scuffliner. This cheap, low cost manufacturing method is designed for a lower price up front, but it ends up costing you hundreds and thousands of dollars in repairs – and also reduces your resale value. DuraPlate® trailers are designed properly up front, to be maintenance-free on the inside over the 15 years you will own your DuraPlate® trailer, and another reason why it is the gold standard in plate trailer design.

Wabash designs corrosion out and builds strength and durability in to the bottom rail area. The crossmember attachment is made of steel cadmium plated torque head bolts. This innovative design eliminates corrosion of the fastener, and provides over 2.5 x more sheer strength of aluminum rivets to protect your trailer lower rail from damage from sideswipes. Another example of simple and intelligent designs in DuraPlate® plate vans, that lowers your repair costs, and lowers your total cost of ownership.

Some competitor crossmember attachments use aluminum rivets, primarily because it’s easier to squeeze rivets with a machine during manufacturing, lowering manufacturing costs. Although it is a lower cost for manufacturing, it leaves the customer with base rail rivets that are susceptible to damage. Aluminum rivets have 2.5 times less shear strength than a steel bolt during a side swipe from another trailer, and exposes the customer to repair costs to replace rivets when sheared. In addition, the aluminum rivet fastened into a steel crossmember end clip create a corrosion issue which could cause the rivet to corrode and fail over time. This makes your trailer look tired and worth less on resale. What seems like savings up front in a lower trailer price, costs the customer $100s and $1,000s over the next 15 years.

Some competitors avoid the cost of galvanizing landing gear wing plates to keep their manufacturing cost down. They pass the cost of repair and appearance to the customer who thinks a lower cost trailer is a better purchase. In reality, their wing plates will eventually look like this, cost more in repair, downtime, and reduced resale value, than if galvanization was included in the price up front.

Back in 1997, Wabash designed their DuraPlate® trailer with a stainless steel front apron plate. This eliminates corrosion in this highly visible area of your trailer, as well as prevents damage when impacted. This saves you significant repair costs and increases your resale value considerably. This has been part of the Wabash design from the beginning.

Some Competitor front apron plates and pick up angles are manufactured with aluminum and steel causing a corrosion issue The trailer may look okay when it is new, but over time, it will get damaged when your steel fifth wheel impacts that piece of aluminum, or the carbon steel will start to rust resulting from the impact. In all these scenarios, your lower front rail may corrode, may require repairs, and your trailer will lose resale value due to its worn appearance.

Competitor trailers may have Tier 2 or Tier 3 tires that are lower cost up front, that have lower quality casings, and are of lower quality than Tier 1 Bridgestone. These cheaper tires may only be retreaded once or twice, before you have to replace them. After the first or second retread, the Tier 2 or 3 tires will need a new casing which costs an additional $100.00 more per tire. Based on a tandem trailer, which has 8 tires per trailer, your added cost would be $800.00 per trailer.

Wabash National invented plate trailers in 1995. Their engineers and manufacturers then patented the DuraPlate® panel designs, and built a plant to manufacture them in the USA. It is 100% North American made. DuraPlate® was designed for the toughest conditions to avoid damage and maintenance, and is the gold standard for plate technology in transport trailers.

Competitor trailers import panels from Taiwan, from Xxentria, and some may assemble them in Mexico, to avoid higher labour costs in the USA. Some manufacturers then put the customers’ trailers on the rail and import them to Canada, where they could experience significant rail damage before final delivery to the customer. They have a history of bad corrosion and poor damage resistance in our environment. Their design also has to avoid the Wabash panel patents, so they have to reverse the rivet design, creating several issues of added cost and reduced resale value to customers. With all the cost of repairs, replacing panels, fighting corrosion, and lesser resale values, these competitor plate trailers cost you at least $1,500.00 per trailer more over its life, just for these reasons, than owning a DuraPlate® trailer.

Wabash DuraPlate® panels are designed with a patented connection to posts. This ensures our trailers have a smooth aluminum rivet head on the outside to make decals look great, and a bucked rivet end on the inside that is recessed and protected from being sheared from damage to eliminate repairs and maintenance.

Competitor panels are designed to avoid the Wabash patent, with a lower quality wall design that leaves your trailer susceptible to damage. To not violate Wabash’s patent, they design the sidewalls with the round head of the rivet on the inside, in the cargo area, exposed and susceptible to impact and damage.

Wabash panels are designed with a patented design, with the smooth head of the panel rivet on the outside of the trailer for a smooth, great-looking, long-lasting application of your company decals.

Competitors avoid Wabash’s patented connection, by reversing the rivet and exposing the bucked end of rivet on exterior panel. Decals now have to be cut around each rivet, expanding the vinyl, making your logos unattractive and requiring maintenance over time. Your company logos and images don’t look as good as they do on a DuraPlate®!

Wabash DuraPlate® panels are constructed from (2) galvanized steel sheets bonded to a high density polyethylene (HDPE) core. The design was invented and patented by Wabash National in 1995, and is the Gold Standard plate wall design in our industry. Although the panel is at the heart of the DuraPlate® trailer design, all the many additional design features in every DuraPlate® trailer has earned it the reputation as a work horse, as the gold standard in plate trailers, with the lowest cost of ownership design of any plate trailer on the road.

Some competitor trailers refer to their designs as ‘composite’, but they are actually the traditional ‘sheet and post’ design. They have aluminum outer sheets, galvanized steel posts, and interior ‘light’ steel liner – just like ‘sheet and post designs’. They even inject small amounts of urethane foam into the empty cavity between the inner and outer sheets to fill an empty void. This foam provides little strucural support and does not prevent damage due to impact to the thin steel sheet on the interior panels. This design is a high cost maintenance design, and will require high damage interior and exterior repair costs over the trailer life, with considerably lower resale value than a Wabash DuraPlate® trailer. After a few years of use, you can see the damage and calculate how much has been spent in repair costs. With a DuraPlate® trailer, we’re confident there would have been no damage to repair.

Wabash designed the DuraPlate® trailer to maintain a ‘damage-free interior’ over the 15 years you will own your trailer; its scuffliner was designed with stainless steel rivets installed on a recessed top flange of the scuffliner, on 8″ centres, ensuring a strong attachment that will not be impacted by forklifts and pallets. And even if you find a way to hit it, the steel fastener will win the battle and not loosen, shear, or be damaged. Even a steel forklift wheel can’t dislodge this steel rivet. And if anything was to happen, there is another tough, steel rivet only 8″ away. You will likely never replace this rivet, and as a result, you will likely never spend any money repairing our scuffliner on a DuraPlate® plate trailer. It’s one of the many reasons, DuraPlate® is the gold standard in plate trailer designs.

Competitor scuffliners may be attached to the lower wall with aluminum rivets on 12″ centres. This is a cheaper, lower cost way to manufacture their trailer, allowing them to advertise a lower selling price to a customer. But the customer experiences the damage from this poor design. When the rivet is impacted by a forklift or pallet during loading and unloading, the force loosens or shears the aluminum rivet, and the scuffliner is no longer attached to the side wall. If not repaired immediately, the loose scuffliner gets snagged, and the damage gets worse, travelling down the scuffliner, shearing the next rivet, loosening up more scuffliner, and so on. Freight is also damaged from the jagged top edge of the steel scuffliner. This cheap, low cost manufacturing method is designed for a lower price up front, but it ends up costing you hundreds and thousands of dollars in repairs – and also reduces your resale value. DuraPlate® trailers are designed properly up front, to be maintenance-free on the inside over the 15 years you will own your DuraPlate® trailer, and another reason why it is the gold standard in plate trailer design.

Wabash designs corrosion out and builds strength and durability in to the bottom rail area. The crossmember attachment is made of steel cadmium plated torque head bolts. This innovative design eliminates corrosion of the fastener, and provides over 2.5 x more sheer strength of aluminum rivets to protect your trailer lower rail from damage from sideswipes. Another example of simple and intelligent designs in DuraPlate® plate vans, that lowers your repair costs, and lowers your total cost of ownership.

Some competitor crossmember attachments use aluminum rivets, primarily becuase it’s easier to squeeze rivets wtih a machine during manufacturing, lowering manufacturing costs. Although it is a lower cost for manufacturing, it leaves the customer with base rail rivets that are susceptible to damage. Aluminum rivets have 2.5 times less shear strength than a steel bolt during a side swipe from another trailer, and exposes the customer to repair costs to replace rivets when sheared. In addition, the aluminum rivet fastened into a steel crossmember end clip create a corrosion issue which could cause the rivet to corrode and fail over time. This makes your trailer look tired and worth less on resale. What seems like savings up front in a lower trailer price, costs the customer $100s and $1,000s over the next 15 years.

Wabash designed galvanized landing gear leg wing plates and cross bracing to prevent corrosion in this highly visible area underneath the trailer. Galvanziation is the best, low cost solution in this area, to keep your trailer looking new, from the side of the road.

Some competitors avoid the cost of galvanizing landing gear wing plates to keep their manufacturing cost down. They pass the cost of repair and appearance to the customer who thinks a lower cost trailer is a better purchase. In reality, their wing plates will eventually look like this, cost more in repair, downtime, and reduced resale value, than if galvanization was included in the price up front.

Back in 1997, Wabash designed their DuraPlate® trailer with a stainless steel front apron plate. This eliminates corrosion in this highly visible area of your trailer, as well as prevents damage when impacted. This saves you significant repair costs and increases your resale value considerably. This has been part of the Wabash design from the beginning.

Some Competitor front apron plates and pick up angles are manufactured with aluminum and steel causing a corrosion issue. The trailer may look okay when it is new, but over time, it will get damaged when your steel fifth wheel impacts that piece of aluminum, or the carbon steel will start to rust resulting from the impact. In all these scenarios, your lower front rail may corrode, may require repairs, and your trailer will lose resale value due to its worn appearance.

Our standard tires are Tier 1 Bridgestone tires that have the highest quality casings, and can be retreaded 2 or 3 times. These are the lowest life cycle cost tires you can own.

Competitor trailers may have Tier 2 or Tier 3 tires that are lower cost up front, that have lower quality casings, and are of lower quality than Tier 1 Bridgestone. These cheaper tires may only be retreaded once or twice, before you have to replace them. After the first or second retread, the Tier 2 or 3 tires will need a new casing which costs an additional $100.00 more per tire. Based on a tandem trailer, which has 8 tires per trailer, your added cost would be $800.00 per trailer.