Trailer liners improve wear, safety and reduce stickiness

PEORIA, Ill. — Wiegand Liners has put liners in thousands of trailers to improve safety and wear of the floor. The first liner was installed in 1985.

“The reason we originally started this was for safety because we were in the fertilizer business,” said Brad Wiegand, owner of Wiegand Liners. “When you have lime in trucks and you start dumping them, they get tipsy and it’s pretty common for the trucks to roll over.”

With a liner, Wiegand said, the lime slides out without having to lift the truck all the way up.

“It will empty out in about two-thirds of the time,” he said at his booth during the Greater Peoria Farm Show.

“If someone is hauling dirt or lime and they end up having 500 pounds left in the trailer because it sticks, they can’t haul as much,” he said. “The liner reduces the stickiness so there is less haul backs.”

Liners can be installed right over wood floors that are getting weak in grain trucks.

“We can put it in gravity wagons if someone is running high moisture corn and it doesn’t like to slide out or in manure spreaders,” Wiegand said. “We can put the liners any place where you have a sticking issue.

“The other benefit is you don’t wear your floor out,” he said. “This liner will last longer than aluminum.”

A special plastic welder is used to install liners in trailers.

“We weld it solid so no material gets underneath it,” Wiegand said.

The company offers several liners.

“QuickSilver can be used for hot asphalt up to 400 to 500 degrees,” Wiegand said. “Our most common grade is DURAPRO, which is the same grade, but not rated for heat because it’s a recycled material.”

Depending on the truck, Wiegand said, it takes up to a day to install the liner in a trailer at the shop located in Mackinaw, Illinois.

“Most guys drop the trailer off,” he said. “For guys who are coming from three to four hours away, we schedule them to start in the morning at 8 a.m. and we can have them back on the road by 2 p.m.”

Customers have come from throughout Illinois, as well as Indiana and Missouri, to get liners put in their trailers.

“Our main business is repeat customers because with our experience, we get it done right,” Wiegand said. “We have 37 years of experience so we’ve been doing liners longer than anybody in the country.”

Liners are not only installed in used trailers.

“We are putting liners in a higher percentage of new trailers because that trailer is never going to age,” Wiegand said.

The liners also can be repaired.

“If they haul a load of broken concrete that puts a gouge in the liner, we can fix that with our welder,” Wiegand said.

“We can weld the majority of plastics on farms including corn heads, sprayer tanks or gas tanks on mowers and tractors,” he said. “We can repair stress cracks on tanks.”

Wiegand has several colors available to match different brands of corn heads.

“The cost depends on much work is required,” Wiegand said. “A major repair might be $150, but usually it is around $75.”

For more information about Wiegand Liners, go to www.wiegandliners.com or call 800-383-8843.