Dropping and hooking trailer do's and dont's.

Crank the landing gear to where its within a inch of touching the ground dump the air bags pull up to where my frame is still under the trailer inflate the bags and get out to make sure the landing gear is holding and not sinking and if the air bags on the trailer can be dumped do that first

 

You never know what a school will teach new drivers. l tried my hand at teaching and got fired for teaching the students to shift without the clutch. l have driven two sticks aka 4x4, shifted both sticks at the same time and l never step on the clutch unless l am coming to a complete stop.

 

My truck has the highest fifth wheel in history... so trls I drop will be too high for the next guy. I try my best to drop it as low as possible but... on the other hand hooking up to a low trl when its loaded is a b!tch! Oh well.

 

if I had that going on, I’d dump the bags before dropping the gear.

 

Oh, the bags are dropped. Every time. But the truck is set up for tankers. So the front sits higher and you unload every single drop of product that way.

 

I always just lowered gear to where it touches pavement then stop. As I pull out of it I can see the trailer drops maybe half a foot after it clears my 5th wheel.

I Always get the air lines first, then the landing gear, then I pull the release arm last.

When hooking I line up in front of trailer, hit the utility lights (its usually after hours in evening or early morning) then check so see if its lined up. Then try to back into it slowly. Automatic can make it tricky sometimes. I have slammed a couple of them over the last 2 years or so.

Finally checking the locker with a flashlight to make sure it is all the way locked.

2 months ago someone hooked to a trailer but it wasnt locked all the way. Trailer drops in middle of yard as driver was heading for the exit. Big mess and damage. 5 hour clean up.

 

Why not simply just lower landing gear so it just touches the ground and slowly pull away? Why dump bags and such?

I ask because my truck doesn’t have switch to dump bags.

 

We do it because it is easier on the truck and trailer when hooking back up you can back under it with no weight on the truck or having to try to force the truck under a loaded trailer then you can pick it up with air and not kill yourself trying to crank it up

 

I rarely see anyone dumping bags where I go, I usually hear big ol boom’s like trailer hitting the ground.


Maybe they where not taught the dumping of the bags step or told if switch for bags don’t exists just get landing gear to touch ground before pulling slowly away to allow trailer to settle softly.