Anyone ever make this mistake?

Did that once, fortunately on gravel.

When hooking/unhooking get in the habit of always doing things in the same order and always double checking.

And never interrupt anyone when they're in that process.

 

Guilty, plus have done one better, was dropping a trailer (empty) and got distracted when another driver came to talk to me. I already have disconnected the airlines and pulled the pin and we started talking. After a few minutes on shooting the bull..... I got in the truck pulled away and the trailer dropped on the frame on top on the tires...... oops ..... forgot to drop the landing gear. No one hurt (just my pride), no damage.

 

there are still times now, at my current employer, where we park at our doors at the warehouse, we get so much drifting winter snows, that us guys drag our trailers out, if we ever have to drop our trailer, and take our trucks in for service.

so yeah, (in a way) i still do that. but then too, most all our loads are under 10,000 lbs.

 

In the 70's I worked as a forklift mechanic in a paper mill.
Guy loading in dock got his paperwork and pulled forward to close the doors,
only problem was the noon whistle blew and the forklift driver loading him left forklift in the trailer
and went to lunch. As you know there is no rear suspension in a forklift - it's on bushings and just pivots, and when it fell about 4 feet it destroyed everything under there. Kept me in work for the better part of 2 weeks just getting everything replaced and put back together.
So, yeah, it wasn't a good day for either of these guys at the dock.
The trucking company ended up paying for it; they said he should have looked in first B4 moving?
I always thought the forklift driver was the problem, as he should have gotten out of the trailer?

 

i'd go with blaming the forklift driver first, the truck driver second. unless the doors to the warehouse were locked, and he could not enter to physically check in his trailer.

i have been known, to try and take a peek under the trailer at the dock plate, to see if anything is in the way. many stops i have had over the years, if there isn't any red/green lights at the docks, you don't know if the dock plate has been removed. at my current situation, the lights turn green when the dock plate is removed, it is all automatic. as the trailer lock is also retracted.

 

That's one odd habit I have, I always check. Even when the light turns green I'll go take a look before moving.

 

yeah, we have had red lights, and were told to go, something was messed up with the trailer bumper locking device. so i still look.

very often i can see inside a part way into my trailer thru the dock door weather pads.

 

8’ is no record distance to drag a landing gear

 

MSGahir: Thanks for sharing! If I ever did something like that I surely would not tell anyone. No harm no foul. Now if you tell everyone and the landing gear screws up they may want to take it out of your pay or knock your safety bonus.
I will share this one that might make you feel a little better. When I was a lad working with a had full of wrenches I was set on a service call. It was a large national company the hired a lot of new drivers. The report was the front trailer wheels were getting hot and sparks were going off of them. Some of the older trailers had a piece of pipe through the bottom of the landing leg with a steel wheel on each side. He thought you did not have to raise the legs because they had wheels on them.
A lot of good advise posted. Do all of that and check the pull handle also. Lots of jerks out there anymore. Be safe and good luck.

 

Oh your comment makes me mad as hell. Not at you or the OP. Mad because I shall we say inherited a trailer that had been done this way. Yep at a place up in New York while loading water my landing gear gave way..