Double check those 5th wheels

I always visually check the pin when dropping and hooking and atleast the handle if I have been away from the truck. Cranking up a loaded trailer in the yard (or anywhere) at 2am is no fun

 

We had a high-hooked trailer go 50 plus miles over a windy country road & 30 miles of interstate highway before the trailer came off while coming down the cloverleaf off-ramp.

 

It amazes me that we still use a system that even a 7 year old brat can figure out if he's looking for trouble
You never know who might be mad at you or your company
I check it anytime after it's been out of my sight
I've seen a lot of dropped trailers as drivers were leaving a truckstop

 

Wouldn't ya just love to catch someone doing that?

 

Was going to say something similar. A high hook can potentially travel a fair distance. I recall a safety meeting at a past employer where they showed us pictures of a tanker that had been high hooked and didn't come off until a rail crossing when the driver tried to turn onto the road running parallel to the tracks. Oops. Tug test doesn't always cut it. Gotta do that visual inspection to be completely certain.

 

That's amazing. Where did these events occur? Were you in the truck when they happened?

 

I had a casual moment once at a brewery picking up 45K lbs of adult beverages, and got into that high hook condition. What a pain that was....once was enough.

I also had a moment when I did the tug test, checked the locking jaw was in place, pulled out and something awful happened and the trailer broke loose. It slammed down on my frame and I stopped real fast so it stayed on the truck frame, didn't crash onto the asphalt. Only took 1/2 hour of really serious exertion to get it cranked up high enough to re-hook. Once was enough of that, too.

I tug both ways now. Check the jaw with a flashlight. It really does only take 20 seconds. Still, one thing about trucking, there's no way out of the "stuff happens" probability. Stuff does happen, correct, move on, learn.

Note: this "stuff happens" category does not apply to keeping a case of wine in your truck, drinking beer in your truck, smoking hippy lettuce in your truck, or enjoying pain meds in your truck.

 

yup visual check every time no matter what I learned that lesson a long time ago when I was in a hurry on a nasty winter day I high pinned my trailer at home hauled butt for the windy city got out at 1st pickup and seen this big air gap between trailer and 5th wheel plate - have not rushed a trailer hookup since- oh yeah about 270 miles and rolled thru michigan and Indiana scales

 

One of them I don't remember where I was. I'd had a little beef on the highway with a hothead driver. He probably did it when I was in the restaurant..
The other time I was at the independent truck stop in Lincoln Alabama. That one I was asleep in the truck. I thought I'd heard or felt something during the night. Some smart alecs with nothing better to do.