Can a bent wheel rim prevent the trailer tandem pins from going in when knob is pulled?

Preface to thread: Whenever I use the word tandems on this thread, I am referring to the trailer tandems, not the drive wheel tandems.

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About a month ago I was at a shipper that would not let me inside their gates to pick up my load until I slid the trailers tandems back. My trailer had the little bitty (new-fashioned) knob that you pull back to slide the tandem pins in, not the (old-fashioned) big handle that you pull back to slide the tandems back. So my company hired a mobile mechanic to come out to fix my tandems so that they would slid back. The mechanic made it so that the tandem pins went in so that i could slide the tandems back. I asked the mobile mechanic how he got the tandem pins in, and he told me that he used a bungee cord to pull real hard on the knob to get the tandem pins in. The mobile mechanic recommended that I get the bent wheel rim repaired too, but I turned that down because I was trying to be fast.

When the mobile mechanic left he told the guard that I had flat trailer tire due to a bent wheel rim. THe guard wouldn't let me inside until I got the wheel repaired. So I had to go to a truckstop and shutdown because I was out of time on my 14 hr clock. When I tried to slide the tandems forward again, the tandem pins would not go in. So I had to drive to the truckstop with the tandems all the way to the rear.

My company hired a mobile mechanic to replace the bent trailer wheel rim. After that, none of my trailer tires was flat. ALso, after the mobile mechanic replaced the bent trailer wheel rim, the tandem pins would slide in when I pulled on the trailer tandem release knob, and i could slide the tandems forward and backward again. So I appears to me that fixing the wheel rim made it so that the trailer tandem pins would go in when I pulled on the tandem release button knob.

Can a bent wheel rim make it so that the trailer tandem pins won't go in when one pulls on the tandem release button knob?

 

Then why did the tandem pins never go in on the trailer when I pulled the tandem release knob with a bent wheel rim, but the tandem pins always went in when I pulled the tandem release knob with a good wheel rim?

 

I would like to at least get a second opinion from someone else here. If you agree with Long FLD that my bent wheel rim had nothing to do with the fact that the tandem pins would not go in, please answer the question I asked in post #3.

 

The trailer tandem did have what my company calls auto-inflate on them. There are hoses going from the wheel hub on the trailer to the inner trailer tires. The bent rim and flat tire was on the innner tire.

 

I don't remember what make trailer it was. It was the inner tire. I don't remember if the bent rim was on the front axle or the rear axle.