In-cab 5th wheel release

Hey I'm gonna come work for your company! Sure beats getting greasy and muddy getting at the fifth wheel release handle!

 

well I never said theyt "worked"....


most of the time you hit the release and have to rock back and forth befor they break loose.

 

Oh sounds like its a tough job. Maybe I will just stay where I am. I dont mind the mud that much, its the grease that kinda gets hard to take!

 

What I'm talking about is that once-in-a-blue-moon alignment of the planets sort of thing... i.e. a mechanical failure or computer glitch that causes the 5th wheel to either release, or have the ability to release.

I used to work for Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems. We made steering components for GM, Chrysler, Toyota, etc. One of the systems our wizard engineers came up with was Quadra-Steer. I remember thinking to myself at the time, "Well there's a lawsuit waiting to happen."

Quadra-Steer, for those of you who have never seen it, is a four-wheel steering system they put on a select number of full-size Chevy and GMC trucks--the truck's computer steers the rear wheels. The concept is that it supposedly making parking easier and helps high speed stability.

Now I don't know about you, but I believe steering components are one of those things that should NEVER be controlled by a computer--and the same goes for the 5th wheel release. As they say, "Poop Happens", and when it happens to computer-controlled steering at 80 mph, the consequences could be fatal. I'm sure you can relate if you've ever tried to drive your car backwards at a high rate of speed--eventually one little slip of the wheel causes the car to spin. We used to call it a Rockford turn-around... so named after the tv show, The Rockford Files. Imagine if you will, your truck doing the same thing at highway speeds. Can you say crash? Sure... I knew ya could.

I've never seen the mechanics involved in an in-cab 5th wheel release but I would suppose it's operated by an electric or air-powered solenoid that pulls the latch. That being true, it's not a matter of *if* a trailer gets released under the wrong circumstances... it's *when*.

 

My goodness I have never seen them in the cab....but thats a good idea....

 

That falls under the act of GOD thing. I will take the chance.

I was an Air Force pilot for 8 years, all the major systems in aircraft are computer controlled. Just not by Microsoft software.

Like most things run by the truck, its air powered.

Any thing mechanical is going to fail. that is the cost if business.

Mark

 

If the cost of doing business involves a gasoline tanker slamming into a bridge, the cost may be too high.

I would respectfully disagree that there is a need for an automatic release in highway truck. If an automatic release increases the odds of an accident even .0001 percent, the cost is too high. The old K.I.S.S. method works reliably, I see no need to increase the complexity just so a driver doesn't have to get a bit of dirt on his hands.

 

I LOVED My InCab 5th wheel release, they have Idiot Controls on them.... 1st your tractor has to have the parking break Set, second you have to flip the 5th wheel release switch, then you have to pull out a Release knob on the dash to release the 5th wheel...

I Loved my 5th wheel release it keeps you from getting dirty, and its faster to drop a Trailer, pull the 5th wheel release drop the air in the bags dolly down and pop off the air lines.... its quicker i think any way

 

I'm an old guy. I'll stick to the old way on this one. Don't want no automatic transmission either. If I get too old to pull the lever, or the gear shift, then it's way past time to retire!

 

- we have the 3 square inches of sheet metal riveted to the dash as our "idiot" control....


seemed awfully dangerous when they first showed up on the scene - and the company would not have gone ot the trouble to modify the switches had an accident not happened somewhere at sometime recently...