When you drop a trailer, do it SMART

Huge pet peeve of mine as well. And it's always the one with a heavy load and balky landing gear sitting on a sheet of ice too.

 

Additionally, please please please make sure that trailer is road ready before you drop it! Yes, I realize we are all in a hurry. But how many times have we been pushed on time due to having to fix some other idiot's refusal to get a trailer inspected or fixed?

Case in point: I'm currently sitting under a slinky load where the two slinkies at the rear got tired and laid down for a nap. Load isn't delivering until the sixth of January. I am taking this load down to the terminal and getting it fixed before I drop it somewhere for the next driver. Will it cost me time? Yes. But I'll know that the next driver won't have to deal with it, and will be safe driving down the road next to someone's family. And that, my friends, is worth far more to me than an extra hour or so.

 

Ok, but you'll change your tune when it's snowed 12 inches since the trailer was dropped "low", and is now heavy. A few, believe it or not, can't dump the air bags, and if they can, they don't do so at the proper time, simply out of basic misunderstanding of the process.

Dropping 25,000 lbs an inch on already beat up landing gear by pulling out quickly (like many do) is kind of frowned upon by those who are responsible for maintaining and replacing equipment. But do it your way, and we'll deal with the issues later. Thanks.

 

I agree and it really is easier on the driver lowering it and the next driver hooking up.But some shag drivers would disagree.Tyson for example they have called kb on us local drivers so many times for not lowering the trailer to the ground because they couldn't get their trks under it,poor guys have to get their lazy ### out and dolly up.KB called me 3 times and told me to start lowering it all the way to the ground.That didn't go to well with me.So just to make those lazy yard dogs even more angrier,I lowered the airbags first then got out and dollied down.Made it 6 inches lower,lol.Last thing I need when the landing gears are so hard and stiff takes my entire body to raise and lower the landing gears is someone wanting me to make their job easier when they don't practice what they preach.I cant even count how many time those shag drivers have the traier a foot higher then the fiftyh wheel.Try dollying down in the freezing cold for 5 or 10 minutes.Then sometimes the trailer would be too close to the other trailer and couldn't dolly up or down.They aren't willing to work with me and kb wont tell them our issues well then I wont work with them either.

 

one other consideration. If it is an air ride trailer, as most are these days, and the air bleeds off the trailer, the trailer bags will deflate. The trailer will pivot on the landing gear and the front will raise up. For a 53' with wheels at the rear the effect is not so great as if the wheels are slid forward. Likewise more effect on a 48'. And if you have a tanker (typically 42") the effect is more pronounced, and a 40' container chassis is similar. Worst case is a 28' trailer or 20' container chassis, the effect there can be very significant. Something to think about. If you are dropping the trailer to be loaded then dropping it a bit lower than normal is a good idea, especially with spring suspensions.

 

If you have to hook to a low trailer here's a little trick.....dump you air, lay a block of wood across the frame of the truck. Back under and air up. That takes the weight from the landing gear and you can now adjust it without working too hard. Just remember to remove the block before you hook up...

 

If you're all driving the exact same set up how did they manage to raise it that high? If it's that hard for you to lower it a bit it should have been almost impossible for them to raise it that much.

Usually when I run into that it's at one of those place where we drop and then a yard dog moves it.