Mack Truck Driver Pulls someone's Pin ? ? ?

Look your rig over every time you get out of that drivers seat. World is full of A holes. That video is old old news though.

 

There's no excuse for that. It should be considered attempted murder, prison time! Always check your release handles and pins after every stop...

 

no, when you park, pull the red valve, and pull forward just enough to feel the trailer not move, then right away, pull the yellow knob. this "locks" the 5th wheel pin and NO ONE, not even the "man of steel" can unlock it!

 

...and that will prevent someone from pulling your 5th wheel release, but you're more likely to have your trailer brakes froze up in the winter doing that than you are having your 5th wheel release pulled by some nefarious person.

Simply get in the habit of LOOKING at your truck...walk around it, kick the tires, look to see if there's any new damage (i.e. Swift might have tried parking next to you), and look to see that the 5th wheel release hasn't been pulled. Then, climb into the truck and roll. If it had been pulled, set the trailer brakes, ease forward a few inches, then back up to re-engage the locking mechanism. Done. Problem solved with zero excitement. If you discovered any other problems, they too can be dealt with before rolling out...but you have to LOOK.

 

Best practise is to take a quick look every time you step into the cab even if you only got out to quickly water the tires. And your pretrip before you start your day of course..

 

This is a old topic, well covered on TTR already with several threads and videos among other things.

what you do is you park, then apply horsepower and pull on your trailer after setting it's brakes only. Then set the tractor brakes. Presto. A 5th wheel under enormous pressure. God cannot release it.

(But a 75 ton Rotator can by lifting straight up.)

Every time without fail you visually check that 5th wheel prior to leaving, air lines and so on. Stabotage is a very real problem out there and it's every expensive not to take a moment and check.

Visually check the 5th wheel jaws. Then the 5th wheel handle. Then lower the landing gear all the way, get in and pull real gently with tractor brake off. You will feel that trailer still on the locked 5th wheel and she will settle. Raise landing gear and be on your way.

Some of you will throw peanuts and hollar BULL*(&^ etc at me for the extra time lowering and raising landing gear. I do it when I am in a known high threat area for sabotage. More than likely it's already down for the night and comes in handy come time to leave out in the morning.

 

Attempted murder lol

 

Video's been posted before.


That said

Is it so difficult to glance at the fifth wheel when getting back in the truck? It's always the last thing I look at before pulling off. Never know when some arsehat will get it in their head to ruin your day.