VIN (trailer) question

[712edf]

I have an 18' steel deck tandem axle car hauler that I bought in 2009. The VIN or SN is only 10 digits. Everything I find seems to point to trailers made after 1980 should have a 17 digit VIN, same as autos.

I can't picture this thing being that old. It came from Oklahoma where trailers less than certain cap. don't have to be registered. I only got a handwritten Bill of Sale. The seller was a municipal employee (fireman) & seemed legit.

Doesn't look homemade. It has been repainted at some point & the factory decals were just painted over, but I can't figure out by their shape what they said. The trailer resembles a Kearney brand trailer in many respects, but not entirely.

Any idea how to figure out what I've got?

Thanks,

Bucky

[MoparFreak69]

Sorry I dont have much useful info for you but, here in Idaho trailer VIN's can be any length of digits the manufacturer sees fit. When you build your own trailer you get a state assigned VIN that is usually 8-10 digits long. Back in the day it was common place to use the owner's/builder's SSN in the digit combination. I think I remember my old man having a trailer around not too long ago that had his SSN as most of the VIN. Not the best practice in this day and age though.

[Gsmith]

Can you carefully put paint stripper on the decals you're talking about? Maybe you can remove one layer of paint at a time? Try a tiny spot first. I have a 20' 2009 flatbed and it has 17 digits so that matches what you heard. Any chance the vin is stamped into the frame somewhere? Doesn't your bill of sale say the year?

[712edf]

Can you carefully put paint stripper on the decals you're talking about? Maybe you can remove one layer of paint at a time? Try a tiny spot first. I have a 20' 2009 flatbed and it has 17 digits so that matches what you heard. Any chance the vin is stamped into the frame somewhere? Doesn't your bill of sale say the year?

Since I'm a painter, yep I have some stripper & will try that. It crossed my mind but I never got around to it.

The VIN is stamped on the top of one of the tongue rails about 4' back from the hitch.

BOS only has price & physical description w/o year listed.

I believe there may be a tags on the axle housing that contains info too.

Thanks,
Bucky