Funny Stuff

my favorite was the time i didnt pay enough attention to the height of the trailer before i hooked to it, and slid the 5th wheel underneath the kingpin. took me about an hour and a half to figure out how to get out of that mess. the trailer was loaded heavy and couldnt crank it up, tilting the 5th wheel up didnt work either. was not a fun afternoon...and that day i was the biggest idiot in a truck...or felt like it at least.

 

anybody thats done this for any length of time has something similar. I have too many to post. it just comes with the territory. kind of like tying your shoes you do it so often and then one day you just forget!

 

I hooked from a trailer, unhooked the lines, and pulled off slowly. Thank God I did because after about five feet, I heard a very loud bang! I forgot to let down the trailer legs lol! Good thing the trailer was loaded and "caught" my truck and stopped it. I had a very interesting 30 minutes after that to say the least. Worst of all, I was at the ATL Schneider OC. Good thing I didn't drop the trailer. That would have been a automatic Grey Hound trip to unemployment . It's safe to say I learned my lesson after almost defecating on myself lol!

 

one time when I hooked up to a flatbed trailer for the first time, I backed up & before I knew it my 5th wheel was totally behind the kingpin & the 5th wheel titled back up against it. I stood & stared at it, having no idea what to do. someone walked by me & whispered, dump your air suspension. I got in my truck & trying to determine, what the heck was they guy talking about? looking at all the gauges, I see the dump switch. I switch it & a red light on dash lit up, I got out & watched the truck decrease in height, until the 5th wheel was low enough for me to drive out from under it. the guy whipsering did not want me to get embarrased by others nearby, who did'nt notice what I had done.

severl months later I hooked empty trailer up at my neighbors house where we both parked. did not check to make sure kingpin wads locked. I pull away. trailer dolly hit the ground, my air lines broke. neighbor came out & nicely lectured me about not making that mistake again. I felt stupid. 2 weeks later while at my house less than 1 mile away. my neighbor called & while his truck was in the shop, asked if he could use my truck & trailer for an hour. I said sure, but you'll have to hook it up. & he was coming to pick me up to go with him. after an hour he finally shows up. I don't say anything, but he says... you know what took me so long? I say no. he say's I back up to the trailer, raised the dolly, hooked up the air & elce lines & took off, dropping the trailer. he did not have it hooked. he was a 25 year trucker at the time. & this was his first time doing this. I never said anything, but made me feell better.

 

First time I hooked to an SD, no one had told me that you have to slide the 5th wheel back all the way on them. So I get back in the truck after checking out the trailer and start out of our terminal, as I'm turning I hear an odd ping from the back. Look in my mirror, nothing unusual looking there, must just be the uneven ground and the 5th wheel making noise. So I make the left out of the terminal, and hear the sound again. This time when I look I see a mudflap in the road. Anyway, got turned around and back to the terminal, and no mud flaps. Turns out another driver saw em there when he came in and took them to the shop. When I pulled into the trailer lane the mechanic already knew what happened. We had a good laugh about it. The worst part was I looked between the back of the truck and where the step was and thought to myself, man that looks a little tight, but I got caught up with a bad light in the back and forgot all about it!

Honestly, I think mistakes like that make a better driver. As long as no one gets hurt and you learn a lesson, everything is all good.