Check your locking Jaws!!!!

Especially when it’s brutally cold when you’re hooking up.

 

Pull the trolley handle and tug against the trailer before pulling off I guess. Lol I thought everyone already did that?
Apparently not.

 

Any driver that doesn't look under his truck to make sure the fifth wheel is closed is not doing his job and deserves what they get. Out of force of habit, not only do I look underneath, but I lock the trailer wheels and put it in low gear and tug at the pin, takes 2 seconds and sounds corny but could save a life.

 

Every. Time. I may be paranoid. Possibly. But it paid off in Minnesota. Didn't lock in extreme cold, saved myself a huge headache. It's the simple things that save you major headaches.

 

i always hook, then rehook a couple of times when cold cold. i also push in brakes, give it a few seconds and pull knob out. i do that a couple of times too

 

If I leave the truck I visually check
When I hook I visually check.
I tug test.

It’s all based in my fear of being in here in a crash thread and then you sum bishes realizing it’s me. LOL

 

Had that experience once but luckily I was tugging it to test it when it came off, not all the way but it made me realize after the comments here. Now I get under the truck make sure it’s locked and still do a tug test.

 

In my experience, if it fails to wrap around fully, you’ll notice the pull arm still out more than it should be. In my experience, tapping the pull handle inward with a BFH will cause it to go back into the locked position and get the jaws to wrap around the back side of the kingpin like it should [assuming you’re still backed up against the kingpin]

 

And in reality, it could only partially wrap around before gumming and binding up, making a minor tug-test seem successful, but it will surely come out sooner rather than later at the first real test of the connection [like in a pulling turn] if the jaw doesn’t snap back into place first, which it may or may not do, depending on how grimy and cold the grease may be