Do I need tools ?Will I use them ?

Hubcap is a great username for you!!

 

####, mine are all out of adjustment then.

 

I imagine all schools would at least touch on it. The one I went to was very clear on this.

 

I'M BACCCCK!

Hubcap hit on something a lot of drivers O/O, L/P and company drivers miss.

Grease and grease guns!

When I owned my own the best present I got was an air powered grease gun! Every 5,000 miles I was rolling around under the truck on my fold up creeper greasing every zert fitting under that truck with one pop of grease.

A pop was the gun pumping! NOT the sound of the seal on what ever you are greasing popping as grease starts to flow out of it. Manufactures do NOT recommend you "pop" the seals as that lets dirt and other not so nice stuff in to the bearing or knuckle or whatever. Besides that is just more grease that's going to fall to the ground and get on your shoe. Also, there is the cost of the grease that's on the OUTSIDE of the joint (if you pay for your own and do your own grease job) and doing nothing but falling to the ground. Now some ecco friendly tree hugger types will give you their view of the pollution you're causing! No kidding! I was showing a new hire around our yard with the shop foreman and I showed him where the grease bucket was and he said "oh I don't grease my 5ht wheel as it pollutes the ground!" He didn't finish orientation!

OK that's taking off on another tangent! Any way grease is just like the oil in the pan! it's needed no matter if you're a lowly company driver to an Owner Operator!

Now, all of you company and other drivers there is something you should be doing every time you drop a trailer. In your tool box or milk crate you should have a 6" putty knife. I keep mine stuck between a folded piece of cardboard in 2 plastic bags and you'll understand in at the end.

When the truck is serviced you'll notice that the grease on the 5th wheel is always nicely run from side to side in pretty lines. That's a mechanic being artsy! Before I get under a trailer I take my putty knife and smooth the grease all over the 5th so it's completely covered. I thin it out and leave the excess in the center "tray" of the 5th. For once I can't give you a technical name of that spot but it's around the slot where the pin goes and where the jaws are. I also scrape around the lip of the 5th and put the "old" grease on top of the 5th and smooth it in. Yes it has "dirt" in it but all the weight and grinding that "dirt" turns into powder and here we go, it will NOT wear out the 5th wheel! That thing is SOLID steel so what little amount of dirt and sand that gets trapped in between the plate of the trailer and the 5th wheel doesn't matter! It'll be powder in no time!

By cleaning the grease off the sides of the 5th it isn't falling down on the frame and front axle or in your driveway so you can track it into the house for your wife to have another reason not to give any lovin and or biting a big chunk out of your sitting part of your body! And you could track it into that nicely clean tractor that I've told you how to clean somewhere in this forum!

I know you know why the 5th is greased? Right? Well you know I'm going to tell you anyway!

It helps in turns so the trailer will "slide" on the 5th wheel and not "bind or stick". It also keeps the steers from wearing down to fast also. It helps in control as you're driving down the road and you can tell the difference on rainy days if you want to test it!

The grease will also keep the dirt in suspension on the 5th. Now, the next time you drop the trailer or at least once a week, I always pull the putty knife out and spread grease around, clean the edges off and I also put grease down on the jaws where they slide on the pin! And if the tractor is sitting in front of the trailer I'll take a little grease and spread it onto the pin on the trailer. I've also walked over to a dropped trailer and "stolen" the grease that's all up on the bottom lip on the trailer. I'll scrape it off with my trusty putty knife and trot on over to my tractor and spread the new grease onto my 5th wheel. Free grease is free grease!

Now onto another touchy subject. Getting under another trailer. Mainly without scraping all the grease off the 5th wheel!

You've gone through the motions of greasing your 5th and getting it ready and you go to back under a trailer and it turns out you're picking up behind a lazy driver! You know the one. He's one of those that thinks dollying down to where the dollies are inches above the ground or just touching the ground and pulling out because they just don't have the strength to turn the handle a few more times until they hear a little air start to escape from the suspension. For some reason they think dollying down to inches above the ground, jumping into the cab and hitting the suspension switch and droping and I mean litterly droping the trailer and leave so that the next guy, YOU, who took the time to grease the 5th scrapes all of the grease off the 5th as you slide under that trailer that's sitting inches to low! This is even AFTER you've dumped YOUR air from the suspension! I REALLY hate lazy drivers like that! I've even had arguments with these Billy Big Riggers that say and yes it's true, it's easier to dolly the trailer up if it's loaded! Yeah, it is, if you didn't drop your drive shaft trying to dog your arse under that thing! Quit being lazy and work some of the fat off your butt and work just a tiny bit! Dolly it down till it hits dirt and several more turns till you hear air hissing then you can stop! It really won't even cause you to break a sweat! That's an average height for most tractors and all the next driver has to do is pull under, make contact and then dump his air and slide under and flip the switch and the trailer is up and then finish sliding under the trailer! (this does NOT work with tractors with tall rubber as you know!) You have all that grease between the trailer and 5th wheel doing what it needs to be doing and not rolled over the edge of the 5th or on the lip of the trailer. It might take a couple of harder turns on the dolly handle then it's all an easy job to finish dollying up!

TIP: The trailer is to low: keep the air in the bags, back up until the trailer is just on the 5th wheel and the truck almost stalls. Dump your air. Back up more. If the truck is to high, stop, set brakes flip the switch and air the air suspension back up lifting the trailer up.You'll be able to get the doilies down till they touch ground again but because it's loaded don't try to turn the handle or you'll be dropping something and I don't want to be around to hear THAT scream of pain!

Get back in the truck dump your air again and back up gently until you are almost to the jaws on the 5th and get out and look at how much space is between the 5th and the trailer. If more than 1/2 inch air the tractor back up and finish backing up and listen for the jaws to lock. You will not scrape but a little of the grease over the front of the 5th wheel, if that, as you would have been under the trailer but only inches from a hook up. If you're a rookie and if it hasn't been told to you, if the trailer is to high you could have a "high hook or lock up" and this means the king pin (or pin) is actually sitting on top or half way in the locking jaws and if you don't do your get out and inspect the position of the jaws from under the trailer or look at the space between the 5th and bottom plate of the trailer your next fun time is, you'll be tearing the rear cross member off the tractor and dropping the trailer onto your drives or even onto the ground! You've NEVER lived untill you try to dolly a loaded trailer up off the ground or your drives which you might have eaten a few chunks out of when the trailer slid across them or even have to pay the going rate for a wrecker to come out and lift this trailer up so you can hook up! OR the worse that can happen is the truck and trailer stay hooked until you get on the road and hit a bump or go into a curve and they decide they don't want to be together and come apart and that trailer with maybe 45,000 pounds of high dollar freight slides down the road into that family of 5 and kills them or a few of them and sends the rest to the hospital with life threatening injuries!

OK enough id this! GOAL not only works for backing into holes and docks!

Now you're finished with the putty knife so you put it between the folded cardboard and in the plastic bags and keep it in the milk crate in the side box with your cleaning supplies, hoses, jumper cable and vice grips and rubber rope and rags! Grease stays covered until the next time you need it!

Another post with my inclosed rants!

Good luck
Rollover

 

I drive an orange company truck. More times than not, when I'm picking up a loaded trailer, the problem is that the dollies are cranked down to far! It's just as hard to crank 'em down as up. And naturally most of them have the tandems slid all the way back, putting way more of the weight on the dollies. I've seen drivers not GOAL before they back under a trailer. High hooking and getting the kingpin stuck in front of the fifth wheel is a day ruiner! Seen it happen more than once.
Way back in the early 70's riding with my Dad, we went into a yard and found a wrecker sitting there trying to lift the nose of a trailer so they could pull the old White out from under it when the guy not only high hooked it, but buckled the dolly braces when he backed into them!
The big orange doesn't spec their tractors with dump valves for the suspension or trolly brakes. So dumping the air just isn't an option we have. When I drop a trailer, I dolly down until they just start to touch the ground. It's usually about right.

 

RTO
I like that you give tips. It's what should be done. Experience should be passed on. Good Job. One item I'd like to add to company drivers or any drivers for that matter. At the end of your day drain your air tanks. I know the air dryer is there to remove water but alot of times it just doesn't do the job well enough. It's one thing to own your own truck and know it inside and out but a company driver may drive a different tractor once in awhile and not know. It's just better to be safe.

 

Yes you'll use them. Or wait, n' wait, n' wait on the company garage, or a TA or whatever. For minor stuff, there's nothing like getting on with it and gettin' rollin'. You aren't getting paid if the wheels aren't turning. You don't need all of this at once, but start acquring stuff as you go.

Duct tape, cable ties, spare light bulbs, electrical tape. This stuff can take care of a wealth of problems until you can get to a garage. Don't forget spare fuses, and an inexpensive multimeter if you know how to use it. If you know how to do simple wiring repairs, a variety of terminals, splices and a crimping tool. And air-line glad hand seals.

A small flashlight for in the cab - its handy if its attached to you. A larger one thats REALLY bright. LED flashlights have come a long way, and I really like mine. You'll definitely need this for pretrips and inspecting trailers in the middle of the night.

Slip-jaw pliers, a set of vice grips, a variety of screw drivers, a wrench set, a fairly large crescent wrench. Truckers air gage, and a air hose you can hook to the tractors emergency line. Tire billy - we have an inflation system on our trailers, so thumping a tire does have an advantage here; its also a nice personal security appliance. A hammer or mallet is in order too. Some things work better if they get a little pounding. Like frozen brakes.

And definitely what RTO said. The more you know about your equipment, the better off you are.

 

OK so I will be starting with Watkins and Shepard on the 27th and am in the process of putting together a tool box for my truck.....I'm the type of guy that carries a tool box full of parts and tools in my pickup.

This is what W/S says to have:

9/16” wrench
Flat screwdriver
Phillips screwdriver
Vice grips
Heavy hammer, claw type
Pliers
Knife
Duct tape
Tape measure – 25’
Crowbar-optional

Anything you would add?

I was thinking:

Electrical Tape
Crimp on connectors
Wire Cutters
Crimp/Wire Strippers
WD40
zip ties
100Ft tape measure






American Trucker