Is there a certain way to drop a trailer?

You guys leaving the landing gear off the ground and lowering with the air bags are a pain in the rear for me. My truck doesn't have an air dump. I'm usually out there cranking up a loaded trailer because the nose hits the back of the fifth wheel too low to lift it. And yes you can crank it up, but it's definitely a work out.

 

Pretty sure the little bit I leave it up would not affect much unless you are running tires taller than low pro 22.5.

I would be putting pressure on the truck owner to put in a dump kit.
Adding rear suspension dump valve

 

The guys who drop the Legs to the ground make my job more difficult.
It's not so bad with a new trailer, but old trailers are often hard to lower when loaded. All of our trucks have air dumps.

 

I see some of you don’t do much work dropping and hookiing on snow and ice.

 

I grew up and stopped playing with dollies in the middle of the road a long time ago

 

True, I own my trailer so rarely drop it. Also tend to avoid winter/Ice.

Should we do something different for those conditions?

 

Yes, but there are a whole lot of factors that go into just how high off the ground you are leaving it.

Is there a chance the tractor taking it from there has 24.5 rubber? Is it on level ground? Does the landing gear have "give" on the feet, or are they solid? Do you have fenders that you could destroy coming out from under a flat deck with winches? How high is your fifth wheel mounted? Is the ground soft? Is there snow/ice on the ground?

With 22.5 tires, I set the feet on the ground, give it a few extra turns till the suspension hisses, then pull the truck fowards, unlocking the jaws, then waiting until the air suspension fully empties before continuing forwards. It's a perfect drop every time. No push from the trailer, and nice and smooth.

 

That means the next guy has to bust his ### to get it up high enough to get under it.

 

This is the proper way. Allows both the guys with short rubber and tall rubber to hook up to it.

 

Yup, by putting the truck in reverse and backing under it.