Dropping a trailer-stupid question

Thete are kingpin locks along with the trivial easy to get around glad hand locks.

King Pin Locks

 

The 'Enforcer" king pin lock.

 

Get The Enforcer lock. Don't waste time with the thirty dollar donut shaped kingpin locks from the truckstop. You can open those with a screwdriver.

 

I have taken the dolly handle off if I can get the nut and bolt off.

 

This is one of the problems with today's trucking logistical operations. No matter the product used you can not with 100% certainty secure a load or trailer once dropped. You can do things to make it harder and maybe the thief will see an easier target somewhere else. I once heard a story where a load of expensive wheels was taken by a crook on a large forklift using an air tank to disengage the park brakes. He took the trailer to another place and cut the locks off the trailer and moved the wheels into another vehicle. This is the same dynamic at play when someone parks an expensive car in a low secure area engages the club or that ignorant device that pushes the brake pedal down. Both can be defeated in mere seconds. It is what it is.

 

Its not such a silly question it happens all the time one does drop a trailer at ones own risk and yes if there is no secure locking device on the king pin any clown can come along and steal it. The only other way would be to remove the air connections that'll give them a big surprise. and they won't be towing that trailer very far at all.

 

Without a pin lock or glad hand lock, nothing really. You know, years ago, we never thought someone would take your trailer. It's just something nobody did. Guess it shows where that went. Pin locks and glad hand locks work pretty good, it will slow them down, but the cheapest and most effective way, is like silverspur sez, take the dolly handle off. Unless they have another handle, I doubt they will mess with it and move on.

 

It is an unfortunate fact that unless the said trailer is parked in a well lighted and manned drop lot with guards that notate trailers in and out, at some point someone is going to take a load. All you can do is slow a thief down with gladhand and king pin locks. The problem with taking the landing gear handle is if you are dropping for a repower the driver picking the load up won't be able to lift up the landing gear, and if you make it a habit what are you going to do with the handles? You can take the handle if you are planning to come back, but honestly most of the time this is not going to stop a determined person. Maybe long enough to where said thief will move on to another load. The problem is not all load thefts are just random. In some select circumstances these thief's know as much or more then YOU the driver does about your company traffic lanes and what you are most likely to be dropping. If said thief has YOUR specific load targeted they will have EVERYTHING covered in getting that said trailer under their control in a short a time as possible,

 

Get a king size adjustable wrench and take off the glad hands. This only takes a minute and will slow down all but a very determined thief.