How many of you have dropped a trailer?

I have lost count of the number of times I have warned a driver to check their 5th wheel or trailer tandem pins.

 

I'll be honest, I don't. I have an F35 holland fifth wheel. Even with a hook, I have to really give it a tug. Without a hook, only the biggest guy will pull it, and even then, he's not going to have an easy time like these easy pull fifth wheels.

 

For myself, when I was active if I did a tug test or not depended on my location. However, part of my pretrip was a quick look at both my 5th wheel and tandem release pins. Over time you can spot a pulled pin very easy, at least I always thought I could. I was speaking to a guy I know that works in the home terminal of a top 25 carrier the other night. He told me they had to rebuild an APU because someone had somehow got some kind of a substance into the APU oil supply that over a short time destroyed it. They also could not rule out the driver because she quit after bringing in the unit. Between this kind of crap and these rogues that steal fuel, I am so glad I no longer drive.

 

I'll be honest. I've dropped a trailer before. Even did a tug test before pulling off. Really heavy container around 60k if I remember. I THOUGHT I heard the locking pin latch and did a decent tug test. Nope. Slide off onto the frame in my first turn coming off our terminals yard. At least I stopped before the air lines broke. Pride be ######, I check each and every time now. Rookie mistake, with about 12 years experience when that happened back then.

 

Dropped one but the frame caught it. My new company will fire you on the spot for it. Tug test, then I intentionally jackknife the combo to 90° and take a photo of my fifth wheel locking jaws.

 

The one and only time it's happened to me I made real sure that wasnt gonna happen again lol. Was empty, got distracted talking to one of the other drivers and forgot all about the landing gear. Dropped it in front of about 10 drivers all standing around lol. Don't let anyone distract you from your routine. That's when ole Murphy is gonna show up

 

That's how the 93 is. Your not pulling that too easy w/o a pin puller. The 99 has a heavy 5th wheel. 2 pins to pull but you can uncouple it with just 2 fingers

 

I like these threads.

I can’t move my truck without getting under the trailer and verifying it’s locked.

Threads like this just reinforces the procedure to not be a lazy ####.

 

Back in 85.was in too much of a hurry.