question about coupling

yep,yep,yep!!!!!!!!!!

 

If it is high and heavy it cranks down easy. If it is low and heavy..... rut ro

 

yep, saw a driver today didn't tug after backing in (girl in jumpseat)
he pulled out and lost it. spent 15 min jacking the handle to get it up enough to hook it

 

For the most part that is true but having spent so much time at the rail yards I have found that sometimes landing gears aint all that easy trying to get up

 

Sometimes the landing gear squeals like crazy. sometimes it cranks very hard. Sometimes the placard saying which way to turn the handle is wrong. I am not a big fan of landing gear.

 

The way I was taught to drop a trailer is to park it then get out and lower the landing gear untill a little air starts to eacape from the bags then stop unhook everything else Pull the 5th wheel release handle get in the truck drop the bags and slowly pull out untill the 5th wheel is clear sit there for a couple of seconds to make sure the trailer does not start to fall if ok then pull clear and find the next trailer to hook up to.

 

Its my tk.. I want to keep it a while. dont bang. try the ballon test.. be gentle and dont break the ballon.. after you click , gently pull fwd to test the connect.. check for a high hook when you get out to hook up your lines. as you walk past the fifth wheel to dolly up.. stick your head under and check your plate to see if its not high hooked or. not hooked at all.. and yes.. we all make mistakes.. but these can be prevented by opening your eyes. if you live in high country during the winter ice gets in the jaws.. always always always.. check your connection. always. you dont want to live with your death or someone elses because you didnt take 4seconds to check your plate or your pretrip on a trailer.. its not worth alife. work smarter, not harder hollow man

 

stay calm everyone I also think you should do as the teacher says but banging doesent mean locked all I can say is ALWAYS do a tug test grab the spike put it in low and give a small tug than you know you are locked

 

I one time, decided not to put the trailer where I was parking it, and forgot to reset the jaws, Dropped the Trailer on the frame, and found out that those air bags can do a lot of the work for you when there is 45000 lbs of paper in the truck, I got some 4x4s and with the landing gear down as far as I could crank it, I then released the air from the air bags, the truck dropped down enough to put the shims in on the frame, and then I inflated the bags, giving me some more room to lower the gear more, I kept doing this until the trailer was at the right height again to back the 5th wheel under and lock the king pin, Saved a lot of work cranking! But I also learned a lesson!