Back up before you pull off.

another good thing to check is your tandems. Make sure no azzhat has pulled you slider pin. Some jerk did that to me at a TA in Indiana when I drove for Celadon. I got in to Indianapolis when I had to brake check quick cause some jerk cut me off and my Tandems slammed to the back of the trailer. Thankfully I didnt lose the tandems.
I had checked the 5th wheel but not the tandems, a buddy of mine thinks it's funny that I do walkarounds as much as I do but once bitten twice shy.

 

I was told stories in school about former drivers being pissed off at whatever company they no longer worked for, and pulling pins on their trailers to get some kind of revenge. I'm lucky that this stuck in my head and it's been a habit of mine since day one to check every time the truck stops.

Worked with a guy who had his pulled in the middle of the night, then didn't check it on his PTI. I heard it hit the ground, and it has to be one of the most horrible sounds I have ever heard. Took him a couple hours to get it straightened out, and luckily there was no damage.

 

Definitely check you 5th wheel, check your tandems, check you air lines, glad hands, etc. There are all kinds of stunts that will get pulled by some bonehead, either in revenge or just for a laugh. My dad warned me of all of them when I started driving. It was very helpful to have a father who was a driver to give me a head's up on things like that.

 

I almost lost a trailer in our terminal once. It slid off the fifth wheel, but i stopped in time. no damage. since then i always go under the trailer to look if the latch is closed.I check it at every stop when i return to the truck. guess im gonna start checking the trailer tandems from now on also.

 

No spike in a tractor? Never knew such a thing existed.

 

And these jokers call themselves professionals.

It amazes me that they think this is funny. I realize that they don't intend any harm most of the time but it can ruin a drivers lively hood or cause someone their life. Not to mention that if something went wrong like landing gear collapsing and trailer falling onto some innocent bystander walking past the trailer. Or other drivers on the road when the tandems come out from under the trailer when on the highway.

They may think that they are hurting the company but in reality they are hurting an innocent driver worse than the company. If I ever caught someone there would have to be a serious beat down.

 

ding ding ding.... Bingo

 

That's what I do.

 

I saw a Swift dvr that hooked a beer load(heavy) and took off with it and got right in front of me and dropped it HARD, drove the landing gear up into the trl! Then instead of sending a wrecker they sent out a kid with a bottle jack and some pieces of wood! All this time I'm sitting there blocked in, shot that day hell