Do *you* check your fifth wheel pin before pulling out?

During pre trip I always do a full visual, release and jaws. when I return to the truck I always peek at the release and give it a tug as I'm rolling away.

I've never had a problem, or even seen one personally. But as important as it is, I probably obsess about it even more then other just as important issues. --Not sure why.

 

Sorry guys, I don't trust anyone. EVERY TIME I'm away from my truck I physically check my 5th wheel to be sure the locking jaw is fully seeded....then also do a 'tug test' before pulling out.

 

If you back up the fifth wheel will re-lock if it is pulled, and you can check your trailer brakes just as good in reverse as forward. You still want to do the tug forward, that checks that the fifth wheel is not faulty.

 

its always a good idea to check your pin

 

With winter upon us, just beware of the weather conditions before you do such a thing. While it might be a good preventative measure on a good, dry, warm night, setting the trailer brakes after a cold, wet drive with sub-freezing temperatures expected overnight could find you unable to leave because your trailer brake shoes are frozen to the drums in the morning. It's far easier to visually inspect the 5th wheel to ensure it is still latched than it is to un-stick frozen brakes.

 

All it takes is to piss off the wrong person on the road, and you may not even realise that you pissed him off, and he wants to take revenge on you so he pulls your fifth wheel while you are in the truck stop.

I used to work with a guy about 12 years ago, really nice guy, he was from South America but many people mistook him for being East Indian becase he had dark skin and in the Toronto area where I was working out of at the time some people don't like them in the trucking industry.

He pulled into a coffee shop one night and someone pulled his 5th wheel release, he pulled away and dropped his trailer. The load on the trailer was about 65,000 lbs and when it fell it broke the landing gear and the company had to have a crane come in and pick up the trailer. All because someone thought that he was East Indian.

 

Ohhhhhh yes i do check it!!!!!!!!! A 5 second check vs big damages and $$$$$.....

 

Back when I was a log hauler, we were stuffing them into a container to ship overseas....landing gear on the container chassis broke and the nose fell to the ground.

Truck boss flat out REFUSED to call a wrecker to lift it up so I could back under it....so we spent the better part of a full day working with a pair of 20 ton bottle jacks and whatever log scraps we could find laying around. Jack up the nose, find a log to block it and use the other jack to continue lifting....then repeat. Raise it up a couple inches at a time, reset the jacks and lift it a few more inches. Wears you out real quick...I would have rather paid a couple hundred bucks to have the wrecker throw a strap around the nose and pick it up....

 

I make it a habit of always checking my fifth wheel along with other things when I have stopped and gotten out of the truck. I would love to catch someone messing with my fifth wheel.

 

with all the technology that is used in the trucks of today, i fail to see why no truck manufacturer has installed an "idiot light" for the fifth wheel for the lazy idiots. at the very least, make it pressure sensitive so that it will alarm as long as the pin is pulled and there is say, at least 1000 pounds on the 5th wheel.

then one asks, what if it malfunctions? have an override switch to disable the audible alarm.