Dropping a Trailer Properly

Ok, I always everytime when I got out of the tractor-trailer at school set both brakes. Everyone in the class did. I did notice tho...when the instructor parked the tractor-trailer for the night he only ever set the tractor brake(yellow). Again this is so informative for so many .....this must be why they say forget everything you learned in school that was to just get your CDL.

 

I always thought you had to set both tractor and trailer brakes. I heard you dont set the trailer brakes when they might freeze.

 

MGM's are the spring actuated brake cans, they are what you have on your trailer, they are what locks up the brakes when you pull the red handle.

 

I also would do this when using my ramps, it made the trailer one heck of a lot more stable when loading equipment on and off. It also lowers the angle of the ram slightly making it easier to drive up.

 

That is one thing I enjoyed, I had a teflon 5th wheel. Didnt have to grease it.

 

I've never had an autodump trailer, but with a regular one, back in to where you want to be. While still having your foot on the brakes, lightly that is, let the clutch out a bit, just enough to hold you to the dock, then pull your brakes. I've had to do this a lot when on an nonlevel surface slopping away from the dock.

 

ok just wasn't familiar with the term. Thanks.

 

That is bass ackwards.

When it is cold and slushy outside, or when there is a lot of water on the road and it is close to freezing and getting colder, setting up your brakes can cause them to freese because moisture between the brake shoes and the drum can freese thus locking the brakes in the setup position.

If I was going to be droping my trailer in the winter id drag my trailer brakes a bunch of times to get them good and warm as I was pulling in to burn off the moisture. If they do freese up a good whack with a hammer on the drum is usually enough to free them.

I have seen first hand what can happen when you miss this step, when I was running for the oufit I had started with, I had a trailer I was assigned to, I wound up having to swap trailers with him because he didnt want to get up and go, so I had to take his and make a run from montana to seattle and get it delivered then reloaded, he took mine and delivered it in billings.

Just before they had us swap they put 12 new virgin tires on my trailer. The guy made 1 run to the coast, came back, rolled into his house in belgrade MT, it was cold, snowy and slushy, he pulled in, set up all of the brakes, went inside and went to sleep.

The next morning he was supposed to meet me at the yard in Livingston so we could swap back. About 11 when he didnt show up we started calling, turns out he had gone out that morning was running late, didnt pretrip his truck, the center axle was all froze up, he wound up tearing up all 4 tires because he got off going down the road and they would slide a way on the ice, then drag on the bare asphalt. He made it about 10 miles before discovering what was wrong.

 

Square tires! They have these yellow tabs Gardewine was using last winter.

You attach them to a lug nut and they protrude about 2 inches past the tire. You can see if the tires are turning really well. They figured it saved them $100,000 in tires last year.

You should also allow the brakes to cool of before setting in the winter. Crawling under a trailer to hammer on brake drums when it is -40C is not fun.

 

Ya, but those flags only work if the driver cares!