Dropping and hooking trailer do's and dont's.

Just another reason to pull a flatbed

 

To the new drivers: check landing gears BEFORE you hook up to the trl. If there's a problem you might be stuck with said trl until mechanics can fix it.

 

Trailers dropped low are a problem. Not high. The only excuse for skipping a pin is a lazy driver.

 

I definitely was not taught to dump bags. Not sure if my truck has that ability. I know this truck does not have hydrolics.

Pretty sure I was just taught to lower gear to ground and pull out.

 

Your lucky to be even taught to hook and unhook, many schools don’t even teach that, took about 2 tries and a broken 5th wheel part to learn fast.

 

I agree, miss my flatbeds, but we did drop & hooks with flatbeds also. Nothing ticked me off more then pulling up to get flat with 46-48k of steel loaded on it & the yard jockey raised landing gear far as he could for no apparent reason. Oh well, those places learned how creative I could get dropping empties.

 

Lol right anytime i had to do drop n hook, ive been known to leave empties in the worse mudhole possible lol

 

New drivers: when dropping a loaded trl make sure it's on concrete or specific hard ground. During summertime even asphalt will soften and trl will sink or tumble over. No grass! Big no-no!

 

A long, LONG time ago I traveled with carnivals and was taught then to crank and crank and crank until I saw daylight between the plates. Carney rides are flippin heavy as, but I was in my late teens to mid-twenties so who cared. A different set of circumstances back then because we usually dropped on grass and wanted to make sure the trailer didn't do an endo when the truck was pulled out.

These days I'll lower the gear until they just begin to resist, (if loaded) and then dump and go. Empty trailers I'll leave a quarter inch before touching, then dump and go. We're all supposed to have 48-50" fifth wheel height, but I know some are lower.

Dropping an RGN I ALWAYS leave the 4x6's under the ramps. Loaded or empty, those blocks help out more than anyone realizes.

 

I was taught for hook PAL pin meaning double tug on the kingpin, air disconnect, leg up
And drop LAP leg down, air connections and pull the pin. The theory is that habit will help me remember in case I get interrupted.
I wasn't taught anything about leg height, but being out here I've learned leave em high 1-2" and crank it down before I back under. That was just learning the hard way lol