Is there a certain way to drop a trailer?

Crank the gear down until you can just get your toes under it. Dump the air and drive out from under it.

Most drivers will crank it down until it hits the ground. With air ride trailers, it will pivot on the gear when the air is dumped, and the nose will rise up even higher. Spring ride trailers do the same thing when they're dropped empty and then loaded - the rear of the trailer drops under the weight of the load, and the nose and kingpin rises up.

Also, trucks with widebase singles ride lower than trucks with dual tires. So if you have singles, you're going to see a lot of trailers that are high.

 

Carry some 4X4 blocks with you. Dump your air and put your frame under the nose of the trailer. Stack the blocks on your frame, then inflate your air suspension. Now you can crank the gear up with no load and then drop it lower to hook it.

edit: this also works with trailers that are dropped or have sunk so low that your tires hit the underside of the trailer before the 5th wheel picks it up.

 

Likely either an uneven ground and the trailer got moved from when the driver dropped it, to where the yard dog dropped it.
Then there are 22.5 and 24.5" tires. Different 5th wheel heights.

No, if lowering the trailer, even full, is causing you problems you need to start writing up and refusing to pull the trailers that have bad landing gears.
And if thee is a yard dog around, ask him to pick the trailer up and then roll the legs up a few inches....

 

Genius !!!!!!!

 

When dropping trailers, lower the landing gear until they are a few inches from the ground. Drop your airbags and pull out from the trailer. Sounds like the guy who dropped the trailer never bothered to think about the next driver.

 

You mean a few centimeters, not inches

 

No, inches. High enough that you can slide your toes under the sand foot.

 

Have fun grabbing one of those in one of these stupid autoshifts.

 

You get the job done first, THEN write up the bad trailer. Refusing a loaded trailer would cost me money. I don't do things that cost me money.