how high does your trailer feet have to be off the ground?

Hey MG, Slant was talking to a rookie to let him know that he should crank the landing gear up as high as he can. You're no rookie...especially with a 7 axle rig. Neither is any portable parkinglot driver. If he sticks the landing gear, he will need a wrecker.

 

... cost of synthetic grease, 100% throughout? ... priceless. Cost of idiots who won't crank fully up, then drag the pads and damage the landing gear mechanism making it difficult for others? ... also priceless.

Those pads not fully raised are more in the way of more obstacles then most new guys realize ... until they find out in the hard way.

 

Crank it as high as you can get it, and report the equipment needing maintenance/repairs to your company. I've had landing gear where only one leg was moving. Just gotta call breakdown and wait.

If you can't get landing gear all the way up, and you have a short move with no scales, the only thing you need to worry about is this:

 

Most drivers don't know this but you're actually required to remove the landing gear and bungee them to the catwalk. Id advise investing in some toolery so you will be compliant otherwise DOT is going to have a field day with you.

 

This is true. Most drivers also don't know that the fairings on the sides of the tractor buff right out if you crinkle them up jackknife into a parking spot at the truck stop.

 

Nimrod, read between the lines. Now go drive your heavy lowboy and watch yourself on the train tracks. Seriously???? the original question is idiotic.

 

Thays the coldest thaing to say to a rookie

 

Besides while there out on the road there better halph is sleeping with therw best friend

 

A lot of times the landing gear that wont crank up easy is screwed up because somebody didnt crank it up high enough and bottomed out. If your drop hookin a lot then your boss needs to get that landing gear fixed.
If you pull through a scale like that you might end up visiting with a bunch of monkeys with tape measures, and they will find something wrong!

 

Reminds me of the time I'm waiting in line at a shipper and BAM! Schneider noob rear ended my trailer with the nose of his tractor. I walk back there to confront him and make sure my already dented, beat up company wagon, doesn't have a new dent I can distinguish from the thousands of others.

This guy hops, out and says, oh, so sorry, it's my first day and this automatic is not working. I glance in his truck and see it's just a two pedal ultra shift and give him the benefit of the doubt and tell him to be more careful and I go about my business. The front of his tractor was so beat up I couldn't distinguish fresh damage from old.

Twenty minutes later he jackknifed his tractor into his trailer past the fairing and hits the cab. Oh dear, I just started praying to baby Jesus he didn't run me over before I could get out of there.