Is there a certain way to drop a trailer?

Been there, done that. Learn how to use momentum to your advantage.

 

Hopefully I'll learn soon. Been in this auto for three months now and my cat is still getting pissed off when I'm grabbing a low dropped trailer and I'm coming at it from level ground or up an incline.

 

Depending on how heavy it is, cranking in low gear could be dangerous. Another driver I worked with put himself in the hospital when he wound up the crank handle in low gear trying to get a trailer to come down so he could hook it. His hands slipped off, and the handle caught him just above the eye. The trailer was less than a year old.

 

at my place, we are hooked up 24/7 to the same trailer. about the only times we unhook are for tractor or trailer maintenance.

the way i ALWAYS unhook, air ride tractor, is i lower the gear until it just touches the ground, and i dump the air.

when i had a spring suspension tractor, i'd lower it to the ground, then crank an extra 10 times,(in low gear) then get out from under it.

you'd be surprised the companies that still have spring ride suspension (day cabs), that i worked for, and still do today.

 

Don't worry about the cat. They stay pissed off all the time. Always silently plotting your demise.

 

Yeah, you're that guy. If you drop empty trailers like that, the next guy that comes to hook it after it's loaded will find that it's too high.

 

my bad, i should have said loaded....nah...i meant what i had said. when on "low gear", it doesn't raise the trailer much, for a spring ride tractor, it's just enough to get the pressure off the springs.

 

Trucks don’t have an option to RAISE air bags, only deflate and lower. If you’re flipping the switch thinking you’re raising your 5th wheel height, that’s most of your problem. Are you sure your switch is in the inflated position normally? I guess so since an alarm and light should be active otherwise.

Do your trailers drop at the rear when you pull the red trailer button to drop? (Bags dump)