RenoHuskerDu
Senior Member
PJ were great trailers, family owned, and a lot of thought went into their design. I have two of them. My 2016 14k tandem dovetail is a workhorse and has never given me any trouble except normal wear on the brakes.
My 2019 21k triple axle lowboy dump has been trouble since I drove off the lot. PJ put in a 5" hydraulic dump cylinder that it would only lift 5 tons instead of the 6" cylinder I paid extra for. PJ forgot parts. Welds are sloppy. The powdercoating has numerous bad areas, the dealer spent 2hrs touching it up before I even saw it. The brakes were weak, would not even lock up unloaded on a dirt parking lot. It turns out that the wiring harness was damaged when installed. There was grease smeared around randomly, like somebody wiped off their hands on the trailer. Many nuts and bolts were only finger tight, including grease nipples which would have fallen off the first time I towed with it. The handle to crank the gooseneck jacks hit the tarp shaft every turn, making it very slow to crank up or down (see pic below). The dump doors would not lock open. There was daylight and booger welds under the bed. The center pin on the dump gate bent the first time I tailgated a load of gravel. The extended bed side stakes fit poorly in the pockets, and several cracked within 3000 miles of use. I had to reinforce the stakes with angle iron. The welds on the front corners of the dump bed are cracking too. I never overload, the quarry gives me a weight ticket for every load.
The new PJ trailer has been nothing but trouble. I was amazed at all the assembly errors. What the heck happened to PJ quality? I decided to ask around, and do some internet investigation. I found sites where employees rate their companies. Many employees seem to dislike PJ intently. I found that PJ pays workers by the piece, not by the hour. The faster they work, the more they make. But then I found the real reason why PJ quality went downhill, talking to other trailer companies.
So, what happened? Two words: Mitt Romney.
Romney's vulture capital firm is named Bain Capital. Bain bought PJ and Big Tex in 2016. Vulture capitalists cut costs, lay off senior workers, outsource parts and jobs overseas, then sell out a few years later, at a profit. The R&D budget goes to Marketing instead. PJ has some great Marketing about quality, but that quality is gone.
I knew I'd never buy another PJ. So I investigated other high-end trailers and found Diamond C Trailers, family owned and innovative. I just picked up my new 40' 26k tandem dual hydraulic dovetail.
PJ doesn't let anybody post to their FB page, so I made a PJ Owners group and it's getting big.
Now there are Facebook groups for both PJ and Diamond C owners.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/510567116153442/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/186243235983115/
My 2019 21k triple axle lowboy dump has been trouble since I drove off the lot. PJ put in a 5" hydraulic dump cylinder that it would only lift 5 tons instead of the 6" cylinder I paid extra for. PJ forgot parts. Welds are sloppy. The powdercoating has numerous bad areas, the dealer spent 2hrs touching it up before I even saw it. The brakes were weak, would not even lock up unloaded on a dirt parking lot. It turns out that the wiring harness was damaged when installed. There was grease smeared around randomly, like somebody wiped off their hands on the trailer. Many nuts and bolts were only finger tight, including grease nipples which would have fallen off the first time I towed with it. The handle to crank the gooseneck jacks hit the tarp shaft every turn, making it very slow to crank up or down (see pic below). The dump doors would not lock open. There was daylight and booger welds under the bed. The center pin on the dump gate bent the first time I tailgated a load of gravel. The extended bed side stakes fit poorly in the pockets, and several cracked within 3000 miles of use. I had to reinforce the stakes with angle iron. The welds on the front corners of the dump bed are cracking too. I never overload, the quarry gives me a weight ticket for every load.
The new PJ trailer has been nothing but trouble. I was amazed at all the assembly errors. What the heck happened to PJ quality? I decided to ask around, and do some internet investigation. I found sites where employees rate their companies. Many employees seem to dislike PJ intently. I found that PJ pays workers by the piece, not by the hour. The faster they work, the more they make. But then I found the real reason why PJ quality went downhill, talking to other trailer companies.
So, what happened? Two words: Mitt Romney.
Romney's vulture capital firm is named Bain Capital. Bain bought PJ and Big Tex in 2016. Vulture capitalists cut costs, lay off senior workers, outsource parts and jobs overseas, then sell out a few years later, at a profit. The R&D budget goes to Marketing instead. PJ has some great Marketing about quality, but that quality is gone.
I knew I'd never buy another PJ. So I investigated other high-end trailers and found Diamond C Trailers, family owned and innovative. I just picked up my new 40' 26k tandem dual hydraulic dovetail.
PJ doesn't let anybody post to their FB page, so I made a PJ Owners group and it's getting big.
Now there are Facebook groups for both PJ and Diamond C owners.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/510567116153442/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/186243235983115/
LOL!!!!!!!!
