Why would a crank handle get stuck under trailer?

Someone pushed the handle in but didn’t place in holder so when they dropped it the shock load on legs caused it to turn a partial turn.

 

The art of dropping a trailer. Let the gear down to about 1 inch above the ground. Drop your bags and it will settle nicely. When the next guy comes to get under it, the trailer will be picked up and the gear off the ground when he airs his bags. Makes it so easy to crank the gear. Wish everyone would do this.

 

Who ever dropped it didn't put the handle in "NEUTRAL" and when the yard dog moved it and set it down the weight of the trailer being set down rotated the handle..

 

I never remember to do this and regret it every time. It's a real party when it's pouring rain and you left 40k of widgets on your trailer.

 

I never thought about making sure it was not engaged. But I drop a trailer at a dock. I leave it hanging till I bob tail back to it.
Several times I've gotten back to the trailer and found the crank stuck.

 

just hope the guy dropping it isn’t on a tall rubber, or have a high riser on the 5 wheel, or that the yard jock doesn’t pick it up out of the hole it’s in and place it on flat ground....

 

Well that has happened, and I used to go to CEVA all the time and somehow they left them way above my 5th wheel. Several times I had to flag down a yard dog and ask him to lift it so I could crank the gear down.

 

You are making one assumption not in evidence. That all tractors have a 5th wheel height the same. In the fleet I just left, we had 200 tractors with 5th heights ranging from 46" to 52". And they all grumbled about the same thing.

 

Always put the crank handle in "high" gear so you will have a chance to at least twist it out from under the trailer.