question on hooking to an empty

Might need a couple extra load bars to get that past the scalehouse! :^)

 

Having worked at Schneider for 4 1/2 years, yur durn tootin' I check it out BEFORE hooking to it! I don't like them kinder surprises!

 

I dump my air, back up and see where my tires come up to the front lip. When my tires get far enough back for my fifth wheel to be behind the front of the trailer and in front of the kingpin, I raise the air. If my suspension pressure doesn't rise, I know the trailer is up too high. My airbags dump down quite low, I've never had an issue getting under a trailer. At worst, my wheel would hit the lip of the apron. Which, in almost six years, has yet to happen.

 

nope dont look at it. i know where the trailer lip needs to be to hit the fifth wheel. I mainly haul the same trailers and only 4 trucks and all the same height. i check the lights and tires. but even if it has a flat i run it back to the yard to fix it. we haul light anyways so one or two flats as long as its not on the same hub and we are still legal with DOT. i look at everything though lights tires and what not..just get it back to the yard to be repaired.

 

I pull up get square, back up, pull the brakes and get out and check the height and the pin, get in back up hit it, get out, hook up my lines and pretrip the trailer. Kinda sad but I do it every time specially since the trailer's parked at a truckstop. Only takes one smartarse teenager to get a wild hair up their arse and slap a kingpin lock on my trailer or decide to crank my gear down and scrape every bit of grease off my 5th wheel. Better to take the extra minute to get out and look than damage something.

 

I drive for PAM and I pre-trip if I got empty options to hook up to. I'll thump tires check tread and how tire look and I'll check lights and mud flaps. I check to make sure my tractor is secure before going anywhere. Some of those trailers we have are something else.

 

Of course I hook up to it first. I don't work for some run of the mill outfit with 2 million empties and 1 million 1 month wonder drivers destroying all their equipment. I turn on the lights and flashers and charge the air then i get out to inspect it.

 

Empty or loaded you should check it in and out load or no load 1 its your safety 2 its your driving record if something were to happen

 

Is that just a matter of how far the landing gear was lowered or is it more complicated than that? I thought that you would just lower the landing gear until it touches the ground?