Help me with hooking up to a trailer please

That's good to do it that way, also by hooking up the airlines and using the trailer brakes, you can be sure they are holding, if you do the tug test and the trailer wants to move, you know the brakes may be out of adjustment or there is another problem.

 

Lots of good responses already... here is my routine when I amd hooking up to a trailer..

First, I back up to it and just enough under it to where just about 3/4 of my fith wheel is under it, but not all the way in to lock the king pin.. then I get out and hook up just my electrical.. turn my lights and flashers on and do a pre trip of the trailer... no point in hooking up to a trailer that I cant or wont pull... while pre tripping the trailer If it is good I raise the landing... and then back up and lock the king pin.. I do a lignt tug test in granny gear.. just a tug.. then I get out and hook up my hoses and do a visual check that the fith wheel is locked around the king pin.. (forgot to mention that in my pre trip I do make sure the king pin is good, sometimes they take a beating and may be in poor shape).. now that I k ow that the air is hooked up I release the trailer brake only and make sure my trailer air bags inflate and I do t hear an air leak... now that I have checked everything visually and know all is good.. I get in my truck and I take off slow and smooth...

For me, I would rather take the time and few extra measure to be confident my traile is good and I amd hooked securely to it.. then to take off with any uncertainty. ..

 

My rules:
Drives lined up normally with the side of the trailer
Trailer lifts a bit when backing under
Listen for "normal" latch of fifth wheel jaws
preliminary minor tug test (landing gear might still be on the ground)

Get out and look that the jaws have closed, also check that the handle is fully in
crank gear, hook hoses, air up trailer and listen for leaks while pretripping tailer

Almost ready to roll, hang weight on trailer brake and go back and listen for leaks
now ready to roll, select gear and do a full tug test

All tests pass? Time to roll.

Mikeeee

 

Gold star to Jumbo for the correct answer!

 

Two of the first things to acquire (among the many) when you start are a flatbedder's cheater bar and a rubber wheel chock. Many reasons, like sticky sliders on your tandems or the dreaded high hook. If you DO high hook: just dump your air, take out your cheater bar and chock, put the bar under the back of the fifth wheel and lever it up so the front is low and use the rubber chock to hold it there. By then the air is all dumped and you should be able to ease right out from under the high hooked king pin (the chock is rubber and will mash down) without wearing yourself out cranking a loaded trailer UP in low range (I wanna see the driver that can do it in high range LOL. He be Popeye or something). Sure, absolutely check and try not to high hook at all. But if you do (and I'm betting it will happen at some point - we are all human) then this is an easy out. Oh and yes, by all means visualize the acorn snug, handle in, jaws locked and tug the hell outta it too. Just do your tugging and slamming and Bamming with the gear a little up or at least most of the strain on the fifth wheel. I am SO tired of cranking up abused bent landing gear in low range, huffing and puffing in the cold and heat. Line up straight (hint - if it starts to slide sideways when backing under- YOU'RE NOT LINED UP AND SLIDING THE GEAR SIDEWAYS AND WORKING ON BENDING IT!), click, lock, hook up, visual check, raise gear a little then tug hell on it, then finish raising it. No bent gear and a positive lock.

Johnny bar indeed. It's a "Johnson Bar", nicknamed because you grab your Johnson in "oh $#!+" moments and it sticks out and is shaped similar to . . . never mind. I'll leave the size DOES matter hijack for the ladies. LOL

 

Funny you mention that. Even though I did not mention it in my original post, I also high hooked the very same trailer that I half locked as well.

I dumped the air like you suggested, but that was not quite enough. I was thinking it was going to be a pain to crank it up but it was pretty easy. The trailer only had 24,000 pounds and it went up effortlessly in low gear.

 

Some good responses above. I don't get out and look. I can tell from inside the cab. If I put the fifth wheel under the trailer and I don't feel resistance of the trailer pushing down, I stop, get out and lower the trailer before hooking.

When you drop the trailer, you are SUPPOSED to leave the landing gear at least 1-2 inches off the ground. Then, pull up about 2 inches to a foot so when you lower your air bags, the locking jaws don't lock back around your king pin. Then, when the air bags are down, pull out.

IF you see tractors that are bob tailing and have a flat fifth wheel, meaning the fifth wheel is not pointed down, that means they dropped the trailer high. If you drop the trailer correctly, the trailer will push the fifth wheel down. Imagine sliding down a slide. You want your trailer to slide down that fifth wheel, which is why you ALWAYS leaving 1-2 inches off the ground when dropping. When you lower the air bags, the trailer slowly lowers to the ground.

When you hook up, you want the tractor to LIFT the trailer so there is NO gap in between.

 

What you need to start doing before hooking is make sure the locking jaws are lined up with the trailer.You don't want the trailer to be too far over or too high where it will over shoot your fifth wheel.I always get out and look to make sure trailer is flushed with the fifthwheel before hooking it.Also there's no need to smack into the trailer to make sure its hooked.Treat your equipment like a female,be gentle,lol.The more you do that in time you will need to get something repaired which would cause downtime and lots of money.

 

darned double post.

 

also, don't ever take it for granted that when you go to back under a trailer that it is as the correct height. Jumping a kingpin over the fifth wheel is embarrassing, and most often than not, you can crash the front of the trailer into the back of the sleeper or into the fairings. (see picture below) This will get you a preventable on your DAC.



this is how it should look. when backing up, you should hear the trailer apron pressing the fifth wheel down and leveling it (loud clunk, if you dont hear that...STOP and G.O.A.L.!!!!!!!!!)


if it looks like this, stop, set the tractor brakes (yellow knob), and get out and lower the trailer.