In-cab 5th wheel release

I'll take a stab at this one being a newbie.

We were told that whenever we stop at a truck stop or anywhere for that matter to always double check to make shure no one pulled our 5th wheel release. Otherwise, when we drove off the trailer would fall to the ground.

With a release inside the cab, it could prevent someone from pulling the release and having a real mess on your hands.

 

A couple good reasons...

To reduce back/muscle injuries from drivers not pulling it correctly. Another one is you wouldn't have to get under the front of the trailer and get mud,rain,snow,etc on you.

 

Hey I want one!

 

Most yard dogs have one!

 

Yea, I really like those, but be careful! Make sure you have it in the right position, LOL. I saw one driver drop his trailer on the ground because he flipped the wrong switch and bam. (Most are right close to the inter-axle button).

 

Yep, I used to drive a road tractor that doubled as a spotter/yard dog, and it not only had a hydraulic 5th wheel, but also an air release. One thing, even with the air release, most trucks will still have a 5th wheel release handle, so you still need to make sure that some joker didn't pull it when you weren't looking.

And yes, even though you have to get out to unhook air lines and dolly down, having the release is handy, because like was already said, you don't have to squeeze between your drives and trlr to pull the handle. BUt one more word of caution, on that road tractor, the release was a big (3" diameter) button that was positioned dangerously close to the right hand armrest, meaning that if you weren't paying attention, you COULD hit it rolling down the road. The kind that wiseone described tend to have some sort of 'safety' on them, to keep from accidentally releasing it.

 

i've got one of these-i like it. no reaching in between drive tires and trailer,don't get dirty.truck is an old USX (2002) with a big black knob on the dash-kinda hard to mistake for anything else. pull it out-hear the latch release-your gone. great for when it's raining.

 

If I had one of those long days that ya just feel tired no matter what you do I would tape something on it to remind me until I got used to it!

 

Using a 5th wheel puller solves these problems.