Tug test EVERYTIME u start rolling

What about two tug tests? Means they double checked!


Asking for a friend.

 

After 5 years of being VERY careful about 5th wheel connections (visual test AND tug test), I finally had a failure even I couldn't avoid. I was at an automotive parts consolidator dock picking up a mixed-load of various parts for the Camaro/Firebird plant in Ste. Therese, QC. The trailer was loaded, so I dropped and hooked, visually checking my connection, did 2 tug tests (always 2!), drove forward, turned right, turned right again right in front of the docks at lunch hour, and at that very moment, the jaw broke on my tractor, followed by a 5mph full decoupling (and, of course, a round of applause from the peanut gallery..).

A good habit to get into is to do a PUSH test first, THEN a tug test before you pull out EVERY_SINGLE_TIME. Once, I could hear my jaws "click" when I did my push test at a slimy truckstop in New Jersey.....

 

Slide in. Listen for the latch. Pull. Back. Pull. Back. Raise legs. Roll forward and use trolly bar to lock up trailer brakes. Roll forward and use trolley bar. Take off.

If you don't hear the latch. The jaw is already closed and needs to be opened again.

 

I do both a tug test and a visual inspection of the king pin.

 

Don’t understand what that had to do with not doing a tug test. King pin or fifth wheel pivot tower, or sliders may have broke. If it’s a Jost it is highly likely the plate broke off at the pivot point and stayed perfectly latched.

 

Can’t be to certain.

 

I would expect nothing less from a driver trainer and millon miler.

 

Flashlight. Don’t be lazy or cheap. Buy a professional flashlight like a streamlight and go under and look at your pin to make sure it’s locked.

 

I tug test every trailer I'm hooked to, sometimes multiple times a day. Only time I don't is when I'm on live load/unload and I never leave the truck, otherwise, I always do it, peace of mind.