Cranking up the trailer ?

I've seen an adaptor that uses a drill might work for you

 

I've post several alternatives on this forum the last few months. I always just thought a little bit of exercise was good.

 

LOL Some of these old trailers we deal with would laugh at a 1 in impact. lol

 

It is great, but I am past that stage period. lol What should take one minute now takes 30. lol
The landing gear we deal with somehow takes a beating, and quite often is beyond exorcise to the point of having to be replaced. It is not uncommon at all to hook up to one with busted and binding or skipping gears, and probably once a month or so, we will get one that just will not work and I have to either switch trailers if possible, or wait for their service truck to swap it.
I don't know if drivers don't write them up, or if the company is just lax, but some of these trailers will go from here to houston and back switching trucks several times along the way, they are always loaded, and unloaded by every body and their dog, with out any tractor under them, I think that is the biggest problem with them.

 

I only run tall rubber on all my trucks and trailers...and generally don't buy hwy stuff but more rugged and extra ground clearance trucks...so if I dropped it off its likely too tall for a hwy truck. Most of the time now i heavy haul and low beds don't have landing gear...all over the yard we have 8 inch square timbers about 20 inches long, just toss one under each frame rail near the front and drive out from under it...when time to hook back up just don't baby it too much, back under quickly enough it just pops it up and into place...flick the switch on the dash to lock it...give it a yank and if locked solidly then get out and do up the glad hands and power wire and wet line, drag the blocks out to each side a bit and good to go. Has to be at least 40 of those blocks laying around the yard. I hand cranked the landing gear on a fuel trailer today, it was not an issue though. Leads me to my pet peeve though, why some people don't get a power locking 5th wheel...and i don't mean to slide it, i mean the jaws. I prefer to just hit lock and then give it a little bit of a tug to be sure before I get out of the truck to connect the trailer. I was driving someone else's truck a few months ago and it didn't have that feature and i wondered why not. People will put in 25 switches and 25 gauges in their dash, but leave it with a manual 5th wheel.
As for building a set of wheel ramps, if you have an old retired logging trailer laying around, cut two lengths out of the reach, then cut about a foot into the end of each at an angle, heat it with your torch and bend the end tab down...excellent ramps for cheap...if you need a picture ask me and I'll snap one sometime for you.

 

I don't guess I have ever seen a power lock fifth wheel.
As for ramps, I have a sawmill, plenty of ramps, all shapes and sizes are easy to come by. lol

 

I'm 62. Got into trucking about a year ago.

The Worse I had cranking a trailer, was last Winter up in Iowa. I've forgotten what the temperature outside was? But it was ###### cold!

My hands and fingers felt like someone pounded on them with a heavy weight ball pin hammer.

I'm a Retired United States Marine. I forgot years and years ago, while going through Winter Warefare Training, I got left out on an OP (Observation Post) and ###### near got frost bitten fingers and toes.

Once your body has experienced extreme temperatures. frost bite, heat stroke. it steps things up a bit to remind you!

 

A couple of week ago I backed under a loaded trailer and hooked up no problem ( it wasn't to high or low - it was Goldilocks) THe problem was when I tried to crank up the landing gear. It wouldn't budge in high or low gear. I figured the load had shifted in the trailer and twisted one or both landing legs. I couldn't raise the front of the trailer with my truck because my bags were full already and I don't carry blocks. I couldn't crank the landing gear up or down. I ended up shearing the bolt off the landing gear axle putting all my weight into it. I'm not sure what to do if I encounter this again. The only thing I can think of is to hookup at an angle ( offset from the kingpin) so when I hit the pin it shifts the front of the trailer releasing any pressure on the legs. But this may result in damage anyway.

edit to add

I'll carry some 2x4 blocks for the future

 

What did you wind up doing?
Did you try letting the trailer air bags air upp and releasing the brakes, if the legs were binding, that may relieve the pressure.
This wouldn't have been your problem, but in the winter it is nooot uncommon here for the legs to freeze to the ground hard enough the jack will not break them free, I hit them with a hammer and it usually does the job. I sometimes have to rock them with the truck on the stubborn ones.

 

I broke the landing gear mechanism. Called mobile service. I was asleep in my truck when they fixed it. I don't know what they did.

The trailer air bags were inflated but I didn't release the trailer brakes. I'll try it next time.