Unlocking a fifth wheel that has accidentally tripped shut......

I was thinking the same thing.... what driver is getting in his daily exercise by overcranking the landing gear. lol

 

Yea you still need to look at the height but hardly any adjustments will be made.

 

I would high hook his van, and with no air dump he would attempt to go through the headache rack on my flat if we didn't get out and look first...

 

Hang on, I was meaning what I posted should be what drivers should be doing all the time.

 

Hehe... sorry....

 

It happens works out lol

 

There is an easy fix for this. Pull and HOLD the 5th wheel handle out for about 5 seconds. The springs will cause the jaws to open up. I drove 10-12 years and never learned that. I always scrounged around for wood or used my pin puller to pray the jaws open. It was unnecessary. Sometimes when your king pin is too high it will push the jaws closed, but the kingpin isn't inside the jaws. Kingpin could be sitting on top of the jaws or on the 5th wheel plate.

Pull and HOLD the 5th wheel release handle out for 5 seconds. A mechanic showed me and the jaws stayed closed for a moment and then "open sesame" they slowly moved back open.

 

Im gonna have to try that.

 

Pull SLOWLY away from the trailer and let it settle on the tractor frame and then the ground. If the landing gear feet are touching the ground before you separate truck & trailer, you left the trailer too high. Look at the space between flat 5th wheel and top of tractor drive tires. leave about 1/2 or 1/3 of that space between landing gear feet and the ground. Next driver backs under the trailer and ALL of the trailer weight slides onto tractor and you can crank up landing gear with one finger.

MOST OTR drivers drop their trailers too high. But because they have fled the scene of the crime they never hear about it, so they keep doing it.

 

There really is no foolproof way to drop a trailer. I have seen yard guys moving trailers place then in different places that effect the landing gear height. The biggest gripe I had was lazy drivers that if confronted with a recalcitrant landing gear will actually drop it and it drops 12 sometimes 18 inches. You CAN NOT get under a trailer dropped like this. You either have to crank it up or get a yard dog driver to get under it so you can try to get it down.