When you drop a trailer, do it SMART

My $.02 ... any company specing trucks without a suspension dump AND training drivers how and why to use it deserves EVERYTHING they get. You pull out from under a heavy load with full airbags it slams the stops in the shocks and over extends the airbags. I've seen a brand new pair of shocks ripped apart from it. I've seen a lower shock mount twisted to the point the shock had to be cut in half to remove it.

I use the dump for both unhooking and hooking. When hooking I dump and slip under the nose of the trailer without hooking then flip to "run". If the trailer is too high this prevents me from high hooking and it prevents putting a side load on the gear if I don't nail the pin dead center.

 

Get this all the time. Sometimes due to where the trailer was dropped, and then the yard dog moves it.

I've got it to the point I can drop and hook a set without waking sweety. Gentle, gentle . . .

 

I know that I hauled tanker for a lot of years and I never complained when someone dropped it high, only when it when it was super low and you have to kill yourself to crank it up. cranking down was easy compared to up. just my 2 cents

 

I think it's funny to see a driver complaining about having to crank a trailer DOWN.... but then and again that's a driver for you....

 

In this freezing cold I lower it just enough so when I pull out it doesn't hurt the equipment.Trls are extremely stiff.They drive those yard dog trks where all they have to do is push a button and not even touch the landing gear.When I say stiff the handle is stiff and the legs.They're not the kind of trls you pull.They're called trams that the swinging meat goes in.

 

Most of our local trucks are Volvo 780's like mine or Freightliner Columbias that were fleet trucks before the Volvo's but 4 trucks in our local fleet that run on tall rubber (2 Pete 379's, a 359 and a recently added International Transtar daycab) that ride a bit higher than the rest of the fleet.

 

I agree with OP 100%, it sucks! And trainers need to know the 1/2" or 1/2 turn rule.

I mean no disrespect to the OP or anyone else... but it bothers me to see this in Experienced Advice (Although its good advice), its much more common the "Experienced trucker" is not advised the trailer was moved and drop pad height varies. I've never once seen anyone green or experienced break a sweat raising a 45,000lb off their air bags. In fact most prefer your method.

And even more ridiculous, don't blame the spotter. He has a low ramp for even the lowest drops, and hydraulics for high drops... he is not getting out and messing with your dollies.

 

Lets' see of all the things that can impact a trailer from when it dropped to when it's picked up ... the one thing you focus on is the previous driver ...

Let's see dropped empty or loaded, yard or dock, what type of dock - flat, positive incline, negative incline. Yard paving - asphalt, concrete, dirt gravel. Yard grading. Trailer pads - concave, convex, where on the pad the trailer was first dropped relative to where the yard dog left it. Weather conditions when it is dropped vs when it's picked up. Dropped on a gravel dirt lot then left on a paved dock - dropped on paved dock than left on a gravel dirt lot. And did the yard dog drag the landing gear, binding them, making it a PIA to lower or raise the gear. And these are just a few of my favorite things.

But hey, with all that going on, obviously if there is any inconvenience to you, resulting in any work, the problem clearly has to be the driver who dropped the trailer.

 

The only thing a lazy yard jockey will do with the dollies is drop a trailer onto them while still in motion. That to me is worthy of a few days off without pay. I've been a yard jockey and trust me, we are under way too many time constraints to touch that handle. The only exception being if some yahoo dropped a trailer so low that the nose wouldn't clear our tires when trying to back under it. Never did figure out how that was as common as it was, given the yard I worked was all paved and level.