sliding fifth wheel first time ever...help plz

My last brand new 387 the pins wouldn't expand back out. I called the shop and they said all of the new ones were doing it. I had to take a hammer and carefully tap on the cylinder head to get it to go in.

Bad design. That was 2009.

 

How could you be driving for a few years and not know how to slide a 5th wheel? It's pretty basic basic stuff. This just shows how these CDL mills and mega fleets are putting unqualified drivers on the road. How can you even be alllowed to leave the yard without knowing how everything on your truck is properly operated?

 

Well in "some kind of" defense to the o/p, he did say he had driven a few years, and it was his first time sliding a 5th wheel.

Hell I even said I drove a few Macks, and I had to use the trolley handle to use the sliding 5th wheel, and guess what, before that, I had been driving for about 15 years, and I didn't even know that!!!!

So you see, sometimes there ARE procedures to follow, that many of us are not fully aware of, especially if a manufacturer includes something as a safety feature.

We cannot all know everything. If that day ever comes? We all need to "pack it all up and go home".

 

I've seen lots of fleets disable the feature or use fixed 5th wheels entirely, and I know #### well why.

We had guys at Papa John's that just had the burning desire to stretch 'em out because they rode nicer, and other guys who would have the reefer units just about kissing the cab because they felt it would be helpful to maneuver the truck in a strip mall.

And, if you didn't have them set right (basically setting the 1/4 fender flap flush with the nose of the trailer) we couldn't scale them correctly when we were loaded.

And then, on top of it, the guys who actually knew they were supposed to dump the air suspension when dropping a loaded trailer would flip every valve on the dash, thinking you needed to release everything. Don't know how many times I was pre-tripping a tractor and saw the slider locks disengaged when it was sitting there. Duh.

The final straw was when we had a guy try to hook up a loaded trailer that was dropped too low, and he started flipping valves and went under the trailer at about 30mph in reverse and cleaning the 5th wheel off the slider plate and embossing the words, "Thermo King" in the back of the sleeper.

Got the truck repaired, went through the 9 others and set the 5th wheel where it was supposed to be, and had Penske disable the air feeds to the slider assemblies. Problem solved.

There is really only a handful of reasons to slide a 5th wheel.

• You are pulling a trailer with a funky pin setting and you don't want to hook mudflaps on landing gear, etc.
• You are trying to lessen the air-space between truck and trailer for aerodynamic purposes and weight or bridge formulas aren't affected.
• You are trying to shift weight off of drive wheels and back to trailer tandems in a pinch, or lighten up a steer axle and put more on the drives, etc.

I basically preach, if you don't know how to do it, get someone who does to actually show you.

I was a little disconcerted about the fact that he didn't know what the dump valve was for. That is for dropping loaded trailers the correct way with an air ride and letting the suspension do the work.

And it also keeps the air bags from overextending when the weight suddenly comes off them and they have a good amount of air pressure in them.

 

No I don't know everything about trucking, driving, or the transportation industry. And I never will. But I can assure you I will know how everything operates on the truck I'm operating before I head out on a public roadway

 

allllllllllllllrightythen !!!!!

Good Deal !!

 

That you did. And I spent a little bit of time trying to explain it and stress the importance of doing it right and checking your work.

I was a little nervous when you weren't sure of what the dump valve was for. And the last thing I wanted to do was bang out some incomplete advice and have things go screwy. I've seen too much damage done by guys who don't use the tool properly.

Glad it worked out for you.

 

The "use only for trailer disconnect" is NOT a dump valve for the air bags or for sliding the fifth wheel.
It unlocks the kingpin. There are 2 switches that have to be held down at the same time to do this and the tractor park brake set.You inch the tractor forward just until the kingpin releases,about 2 inches.
This is for drivers who are too lazy to pull the release arm.
The company i used to drive for had these on all the new Volvos.

It has nothing to do with sliding the fifth wheel.

There should be an air actuator switch on the dash that says fifth wheel to slide the fifth wheel or a manual release arm.

The trucks owners manual explains it all.....

If it is a Volvo it will be in the switch cluster above the radio,they are rocker switches,

 

Didnt have to explain it to me but glad you set the record straight for some people. Smooth Shifter had the best set of instructions written out and I have enjoyed a lot of his posts. I am glad you came here for advice when you have nowhere else to turn and glad you got 'r' done. Hopefully some wont be so quick to judge next time.