Drivers leaving landing gear crank sticking out...

the problem today is the fact that completely wrong answers are said often enough until people believe them to be true
IF THE LANDING GEAR ISN"T TOUCHING THE GROUND YOUR A LAZY ROOKIE

 

I guess the second statement there is an example of the first, huh?

 

Agreed. On an empty or light trailer, leave the landing gear about an inch of the ground, dump the suspension, and roll. When the next guy goes to get it and it's loaded, the pressure will be taken of the landing gear when he backs underneath it and it lifts that trailer up.

 

Twice this week, I've had to get out and crank the trailer up because it was too low. Once I got it hooked, got out to check everything, I could stick my boot under the landing gear, and I have a pretty big foot. I watch some of these guys drop their trailers and it's kinda like, why even lower your landing gear at all. I guess I just get frustrated after a long night of craziness of working the dock.

 

The problem with such strong declarations, aside from the fact that they are insulting and resort to name calling, is that they leave no room for nuance based on individual circumstances. On spring ride trucks, yes, I'll crank the legs all the way down. I don't advocate for slamming trailers to the ground. But we have fancy new equipment in the 21st century on most trucks that allows for the truck to gently set the trailer down. I work at a company where the average amount of experience is around 20 years. There are ZERO rookies where I work, and none of our drivers could be considered lazy. Dropping the landing gear a little off the ground is standard practice except for the few who drive our spring ride single axle tractors. Call those guys rookies and you'll have a fight on your hands.

If you dropped an empty with the legs touching the ground when you didn't need to, and it was subsequently loaded heavy, the next driver picking it up would be cussing you in your absence, perhaps calling you stupid and inconsiderate. Can't we all just get along?

But seriously, the air suspension dump valve is there for a reason. And the reason is not to get under low bridges.

Do we need to take a poll on this topic?

 

I agree. Equally frustrating. I've heard this is a big problem at FedEx Freight where they have a bunch of mismatched equipment with different ride heights (from American Freightways, etc.). Sometimes that can also happen if the trailer is dropped somewhere that isn't level and is later moved by a yard truck.

 

how about our 10 identical trucks with 3 different fifth wheels so they are different heights
I have little respect for many drivers
I watch them slam trailers everyday
bobtail down the road with rusty 5th wheels
I am sure we all see that
so when even the true professional driver say it is the right thing to do
the steering wheel holder takes it and runs with it to the extreme

can anyone tell me they dont drop and hook and have grease all over the front edge
driving isn't rocket science mostly common sense which is lacking

 

When I have a freshly serviced truck with a newly greased fifth wheel, I will dump the airbags so as to not scrape off brand new grease when I first back under the trailer. Then air it up. But people running with rusty fifth wheels are a whole other story. There's something else going on there. A lack of maintenance, obviously, probably coupled with a long trip as a bobtail.

Once the grease is spread and in the channels of the fifth wheel, a slightly lower trailer is not going to scrape it off when hooking up any more than how going down the road with a trailer squeezes some to the sides. It is thick, heavy grease, but only a very thin layer remains regardless of what you do. My point is that no trailer nose is anything like a knife edge, so you don't have to worry about scraping off all the grease.

By the way, we are in agreement about slamming trailers. If using the dump valve method, one should always give the bags a little time to deflate and lower the trailer.

 

You are assuming am the tractors are sitting at the same height, which they aren't. Also, a lot of drop yards are so uneven you might drop it in one place where you were an inch off the ground but by the time it's moved by the yard dogs and put someplace else it's either to high and you high hook or it's way to low even if you dump the airbags.

Now not sure if this is correct or not, but I was trained that if the landing gear is down you leave the crank dangling so that way if the next driver has to adjust it to get under the trailer it's not stuck or jammed in the holder from being dropped by the yard dogs after loading or unloading. Once you drop the trailer, that crank can get jammed and hard to get out of the holder especially if you let the trailer drop about an inch.