Dropping a Trailer Properly

I am including myself in this statement.

 

the "school" i went to was a company sponsored one for 2 weeks. their only purpose was to get me dot qualified. the company trainer was suppose to teach me how to drive.

 

The only time I drop my bags while hooking is right after I had a PM done and have fresh grease on the fifth wheel.

And, believe it or not, the procedure I follow of dumping the air when dropping....was taught in a Swift school.

 

One thing I just recently figured out (after almost 20 years of driving) is that if you come upon a trailer that is too high, get out and lower it BEFORE backing under it. Waaaay easier than hooking up to it, and then fighting the air suspension. I.e, for every 1/16" you crank the legs up, the suspension takes up the slack, and you fight the weight of the trailer all the way.

Do it beforehand, and it's not nearly as difficult! Still a PIA, though.

 

Can I ask? What is an auto dump? and how does it work/dump air? It must be weight sensitive I am guessing? I should just google this!

 

It air pressure activated...You shut off the air to the trailer and it automaticly dumps the air out of the bags.

 

Makes sense, but what happens if your under a load and set your trailer brakes for the night (like at a truck stop), does It hurt your suspension to have those bags deflated? If this is a dumb question just ignore it.

 

not sure how others do it--but i never set my trailer brakes unless i am dropping the trailer--or it is getting work done to it
it wont hurt your suspension when you are parked with trailer bags down--but if you pull both buttons out at same time it will preload the suspension--and you will notice a jump when you put buttons in--best to set trailer brakes--and then truck brakes

 

The other thing we may want to add here is, IF, for any reason, you have to drop a trailer on asphalt in the summer-----customer has no concrete pad etc., you should probably put 2x4's under where the landing gear "shoes" would normally touch the ground. This is to prevent the landing gear from sinking into asphalt.

i haven't yet had to do this, so maybe the experts can chime in and give more detail.

2) Regarding auto dump: We do alot of drop and hook and i notice that when we drop trailers, the trailer eventually creeps forward a few inches. This is generally ok as the dockplate will still extend far enough to meet the trailer, but sometimes this will leave a gap between the trailer and dock door seals (big vinyl uprights). What can be done to remedy this situation?

 

No...It doesn't hurt anything.

I never set my trailer brakes unless I need the bags down for some reason. (like loading at a dock)