Dropping a trailer-stupid question

There is a kingpin lock you put on.

It can be easily bypassed with a little time because battery powered saws for metal etc are fairly common.

There is another path for those seriously in that kind of illegal living stealing loads, Is to customize a 5th wheel large enough to take most locks that are in place. Grab the whole thing lock and all.

In my time they did not bother with taking the trailer, they would saw through the side wall and 10 people can clear whatever is on pallets or floor in pretty short time.

 

Im looking into secured yards to park at on his home time. My husbands a new driver almost finished with training and we need to figure out where to park on his home time. We're rural on a road with a bridge that can't handle more than 3 tons. I think we found a gated facility but I started wondering how secure bobtailing was. I know next to nothing about this stuff so I was curious how more trailers didn't get stolen.

 

Hi hoosiergirl, I wouldn't be overly concerned about this. I'm probably way out of the loop, and I'm sure it happens, it's just one of many things you can worry yourself sick about. That's what insurance is for. Also, make sure you have insurance for bobtailing. When I had my trucks, the company I was leased to covered everything when hooked to a wagon, but I had to get my own "bobtail insurance". Can you find a place to park the whole rig, and leave a car or moped there?

 

I think that's what we'll have to do since the tractor itself weighs more than our piddly little bridge can handle. I'll be picking him up and dropping him off so we won't have to worry about leaving a car but if we can't park at the secure lot a mile up the road we're looking at options much further away (ah the joys of living in the sticks)

 

Yep, I have spoken to several drivers that have lost loads like that. In the case I spoke of in a previous post a crook in a large forklift using an air tank to disengage the spring brakes stole a trailer. In this case however the thief knew what was in the trailer and targeted it.

 

A good kingpin lock will certainly slow down a thief, BUT if you plan to drop a trailer it is ALWAYS best to have secure parking.

My brother had a flatbed trailer stolen when he dropped it without a kingpin lock at a truck stop. There was no load to steal, but the trailer, tarps, dunnage, etc. cost a pretty penny. He dropped it and came back two hours later and it was gone.

Get secure parking.

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

You and Old Sloan can take Mavis to the picture show and see True Grit. With her mom as a chaperone, of course...

 

I had a lowboy with a removable kingpin, it slid right out the top when unhooked. I never did it but you could pull it out and never worry about your trailer.

People with older cars used to remove the distributor rotor button. 99% of people would never figure it out, the ones that did, the odds of them having a button to put on would be astronomical. I know modern autos don't have distributors and trailers surely never had them but you have to think like that. I like the valve idea. Another thing would be as simple as reversing the glad hands ( red on left, blue on right), if it's a trailer you pull all the time. The idea is mostly to make it a hard target so the would be robbers will find a easier target.

All of these things can prevent your trailer from being stolen but I don't know how you would protect cargo in a van. There's not much you can do to secure cargo that can't be defeated in about 30 seconds with a couple of hand tools.