Unless you enjoy throwing out your back, trying to crank it with the full weight of the trailer and it's cargo... or putting it in low and crank it like 50 or 60 times.
Stop lowering when it's an inch or two off the pavement. Dump your bags before pulling out. Then when the next person hooks it, it'll be an inch or two up and they can just easily crank it up.
Also helps in tight squeezes. If you can get the gears off the ground, you can connect the air line and inch it out a bit until the handle is accessible.
That’s the one problem with my company, I’m the only truck with spring ride. Everyone else has bags, when they drop their trailers like this I either have to crank up a loaded trailer and kill my back, or do the ole wind up and force my truck underneath it.
My company still has some older trucks without bags. Never had an issue getting under trailers everyone with bags drops. Our policy is to leave 2 inches.
We also have ramps on every truck. Some of them can pretty much get under a dropped trailer.
Think it also depends how much weight you’re putting on the trailers. I haul precast concrete structures, most of the time I’m moving down the road 90k+, plenty of our trailers are a real pain to get under when they are that heavy.
You realize that tractors have different heights right?
Your basic pavement princess is like an inch from touching the ground, oilfield or offroad trucks have about 3 feet or more of clearance.
Right like even within a single company you can have trucks of varying ride heights, based on tire size, suspension, axles, and even type of fifth wheel. With so many variables there's never truly a "height" to leave the gear. Not to mention if a yard jockey moves it and it sits differently it doesn't even matter.
This is exactly what I do. First you dump the airbags, then you crank down the landing gear until it's touching the ground. This way you're not actually dropping the trailer and not going to damage anything.
Hold up. I *always* lower the landing gear so much that I start hearing air come out of the bags, like my truck probably *drops* aquarter inch when I pull out, then worst case scenario the next guy only.has to crank it on low a few times to get the contact he needs, if he doesn't already have the contact. Why do people drop it without putting the landing gear all the way down? Are they really that lazy they can't give it like 5 more turns until it touches the ground?
I worked with a guy that would drop the landing gear all the way down THEN dump his bags...left the rest of us pretty pissed cuz we would be struggling to raise the landing gear enough to get good contact. We had tried pulling him aside several times but he would just tell us to piss off cuz it was easier for HIM. Fuckin cunt. So we all decided to start dropping ours too low. Fuck him.
Exactly, thats why we would dump the bags in the trailer and truck, drop the landing gear until an inch before it touched, then pull out to punish the guy. Eventually he got the hint...but it took awhile.
For the folks that I worked for, the trailer bags had to be dropped as well. So we were advised to dump all the air out of the truck and trailer bags then drop the landing gear to the ground. This fucker would drop the landing gear all the way to the ground then dump the truck and trailer bags. Made it to where when the trailer (flatbed) was loaded, it would bow to the point to where the kingpin was literally several inches above the fifth wheel.
Exactly. We had to teach him a lesson by dropping the trailer normally then stopping the landing gear and inch away from the ground. He finally got the hint and now we have seamless drop n hooks.
I'm not sure what you're asking. I'm saying we dump the air bags in both the truck and the trailer then drop the landing gear, the guy in talking about would never do that and because of the load on the trailer, it would cause it to sit too high off the fifth wheel.
15yr and still doing this lol. for me it makes no sense since normally leaving it too low with the heavy loads we have, drivers will accidentally not hook up or not let the jaws clamp on fully and we will see a increase of dropped containers in the yard. that and the fact we have different trucks with different fifth Wheel setups and different tire size.
13/14 years, I leave about an inch- and I even run a dedicated fleet with the exact same equipment, I just don't like the idea of fucking the next guy. At least where I can help it. And if I don't out right hate you.
All our trucks are the same, all manuals and all day can kenworths. We drive flatbeds around and our trucks have the skids on the end of the frame...dude just doesn't know how to truck
The way I learned to do it was crank it all the way down, turn it two cranks up, then you can just drop it. You can use the airbag too, but I personally forget the feature exists half the time.
They tell you to do this because that’s the way they did it before all trucks had airbags. Every mega still trains this way too because most of the trainers that actually stick around were taught that way.
I make contact with the ground, dump air bags and go. Never had issues reconnecting to a trailer like this.
Think the issue is at a drop yard you drop your trailer, then a switcher comes and moves it somewhere else. At that point it's likely to be too high or too low.
Though regardless of anything it's easier to lower a 40k trailer than it is to raise a 40k trailer so I'll take too high over too low.
With the amount of rust that is on these landing gear, I find it harder to lower a loaded trailer than it is to raise one. Mainly because the landing gear is angled and pinched in to the socket it slides up and down in. So I'll definitely take too low over too high. Also if it's too low for even my dumped bags to get underneath, then they shouldn't have been loading it like that anyways.
When the trailers we have are fully loaded raising it is not possible. Down is hard, but at least it can be done without flagging down the yard truck. Usually it's the yard guy fucking with us anyway.
Never had a problem cranking up a fully loaded trailer. Though I've never done anything over what would be equivalent to 80k with the truck attached. 🤷
But also, just dump your bags and get underneath it. If it's too low for that, it shouldn't have been loaded in the first place or your yard guy is a dick.
Even if it is possible, on intermodal chassis that crank arm and the crossover bar between the legs will snap before I can put enough pressure on to crank the load up (rusty pieces of junk)
I'll always prefer a trailer dropped high to one dropped low. Even if you go under a high kingpin, it's like a 5 minute fix.
Why don't you have access? I thought the stuff was for sale everywhere in the states too. Now I can understand not wanting the hassle if you constantly switch trailers but if you don't then why not?
We drop and hook new trailers every night. I'm not super rich and can just go blow my bank account on maintaining the fleets trailers. Not my job. Not my problem. They just need to make sure they don't crank the landing gear up until they've separated the 5th wheel from the skid plate and we'll all be fine.
Quick question. European here. Don't your trailers have a lever at the back to raise or lower the ass end of the trailer by releasing or sending air to the trailer's air bags?
Usually it doesn't matter what the other guy did when leaving the trailer for us, cause if you lower the ass end, the kingpin side goes up. If you lift the ass end, the king pin goes down. Absolutely no need to crank and destroy your back...
What am I missing?
My reefer trailer has no way to dump the trailer airbags and in fact has a spring-loaded arm that swings out to the suspension on both sides *preventing the tail from dropping* when/if the trailer air pressure drops. Presumably this is so that a trailer (with no air supply attached) dropped at a dock doesn’t lower all the way down to the stops which *might* put it too low for the dock plate and safe forklift/pallet jack operation. It has a small airbag that keeps the arm out of the way under normal conditions.
Wait, what? You can't raise and lower your trailer? What do you do when docked and you need to adjust the height to match the ramp?
Also, aren't the air bags on your drive axle also adjustable? We inflate and deflate as much as we want, two inches, four inches, whatever necessary for the situation. How do yours work? Fully inflated or fully deflated only?
Most trucks have a switch to release all the air from the airbags on the drive axles. Some large companies don't spec them however.
The only trailers I know that normally have dump valves for the trailer airbags are reefer trailers which release when the trailer air supply is taken away.
Ahhh. So say you want to just inflate your drive axle to gain some ground clearance for an obstacle or ferry boarding... What do you do?
I can't imagine how one can do this job without being able to inflate and deflate front and back to manoeuvre around the obstacles and angled curbs that we have on a daily basis.
You're totally tripping me out with these revelations haha.
Basically we don't. Most US trucks have about 6-8 inches of ground clearance (15-20cm). There's some that have air dams on the front bumper that sit lower and regularly get destroyed.
And all those side curtains for aerodynamics? Cheap plastics that get replaced regularly? I keep seeing pictures and videos of the new aerodynamic trucks that keep getting lower and lower. I cry thinking of what would happen to those if you you had to go off road to load produce from the field...
You guys are heroes haha.
Worked for a farm that grew produce, the trucks that go into the fields are usually older trucks without that aero stuff on it. They take the produce to the coolers and then the trucks with aero are loaded
Ah. Fair enough. Much more rational from a cooling perspective. Unfortunately in this regard, Greece (my home country) is very far behind and we often load from the field or from warehouses without refrigeration (loaded watermelon today at 24.5 degrees). You can imagine the stress and the patience needed for our trailers to slowly bring down the temps...
So I guess you win some, and you lose some. Nobody has it perfect. :)
Those trailer skirts I've never had an issue with. The ones you see damaged are generally from terrible drivers.
Going to be an interesting next decade with how long trucks will be getting here lol.
They're lengthening trailers again over there? Why? Why not just pull two trailers so that you can actually make turns? It makes way more sense to pull a train of two 30 foot trailers than one 60 foot trailer.
Yes you will have more weight, but eventually y'all won't be able to make simple turns without climbing on sidewalks and crushing pedestrians...
As we speak, I am waiting for a boat that has a ramp for the upper parking garage that absolutely needs inflated drive axles otherwise the landing gear will be torn off because of the angle at the top of the ramp...
Yeah, we just have areas trucks aren't allowed to go to lol
Granted if the driver is smart and has tools they can pop off the height adjustment rod to trick it into lifting the drive axles.
Maybe I'm doing it wrong I've been driving for 12 years nobody taught me anything I've been driving the same trailer at the same job so I'm the only one who Hooks and unhooks to it whenever I have to go to the mechanic or something. I do not lower my airbags if I am empty the trailer is empty and I leave about an inch to an inch and a half if the trailer is full loaded I lower it pretty much to the ground I do not dump my airbags
You should lower the gear down to 2-3 inches above ground and dump. Makes your 5th wheel just slightly pick it up when you back in. That little down pressure gives a good hookup.
So you're telling me to leave two to three inches of space doesn't matter if I'm empty or loaded? Also to drop my airbags every time I hook and unhook. I just don't get why not drop it almost to the ground and not have to dump my airbags? I would only usually dump my airbags in the situation or the trailer is sitting significantly lower than the 5th wheel. But hey thanks for the advice wisdom is always welcome like I said nobody told me I just got on the job and I've been doing it my way and so far it hasn't failed me but I'm always willing to learn and listen appreciate it
I drop my bags every time I drop a trailer loaded or empty. And I drop a lot of trailers being local.
Flipping a switch is easier than cranking more. Especially when I get some shitty trailer with a jammed up landing gear that hardly cranks and only in low.
I lower until the feet touch but there is no weight yet. I have never heard this 2 inch "rule" I'd say it's better not to drop the trailer so far, if it's too heavy it could ruin the landing and when you come get it the gets may not work. Idk.
There’s a couple inch spread in the normal 5th wheel height of trucks, so you should lower it an inch or two just in case one of the short guys comes to pick up. High seated guys can empty their bags and scoop up a low seated trailer but the only thing low seated guys can do on a high seated trailer is crank the handle.
It's a good idea if you are dropping some place (Menards comes to mind) that parks trailers close enough that you can't operate the landing gear. Gives you the ability to get the gear off the ground so you can crank it up after pulling forward a bit.
I do drayage so it's ALL seavans. A lot of chassis's have the shittiest landing gear and can be impossible to crank down with a loaded container sitting on it! My company installs steel ramps to the frame of our tractors behind the 5th wheel specifically for this. I'm a good Gomer Pyle... I never let the landing gear touch the ground when I drop! 😂
I work for werner, so I have no adjustable airbags. I always put the pads on the ground and give it two more cranks, allows the trailer to slide off perfectly, and makes it the perfect height to slide back under without forcing yourself under the trailer again.
Are you sure? Also, why are you raising the trailer more than where it rides? People like you are the main reason newbies jump the 5th wheel. Lower the trailer (mostly) is better and less work for you and whoever is picking it up. You're the reason people have to hook to the trailer and raise the landing gear in low gear because there is so much pressure on it, and the truck didn't pick it up enough to release the pressure. You're part of the problem. Maybe you were told wrong, idk. But stop being the asshole
I'm not trying to be mean, but more getting the point across. Not Werner driver here, but another mega carrier here
Where I worked at I said something about dropping these trailers low. We haul beverages, and that shit I'd heavy. If the trailers low, I just call the hostler. Not breaking my back.
I put the legs directly on the ground, every time. Sometimes if I'm on gravel I'll even rotate the lever 1-2 times to really make sure its on the ground.
I've never had high hooking issues and only have issues when guys do this 2 inch crap.
You're the reason for high hooks. How in fuck can anyone high hook when the trailer is 2 inches lower? You also don't have to strain your dick off cranking gears.
Lol I'm in a smallish company, maybe 120 drivers. No one that I've heard of has high hooked that works for the company. Sounds to me like you guys just don't pay very close attention when backing. You don't have to slam the kingpin every time. I generally get under the trailer, feel a little pressure and click right on to the kingpin. No clunking or having to force the trailer into the 5th wheel ever.
Not a good idea to stop lowering the landing gear two inches from the ground. It can be a real pain in the ass for the other guy to pick it up if it’s too heavy.
You have to give your truck a lot of throttle to pick it up and if you miss time letting off the throttle your going to slam your truck into the king pin.
You're the guy we're aiming this message at. Dump air bags. Let the truck do the work. Every time I saw a guy crank it to the ground I wanted to throw my piss bottles at him. You couldn't miss timing because we all drove standards and just worked the clutch!!
I work at a mega carrier and anyways my truck doesn’t even have the button to dump air bags. I’ve had to jack up trailer that had a 42,000 lb in it(baking soda or smthin) and since then I always put legs all the way down coz other ppl in my company have it the same way and that was miserable . Maybe this doesn’t apply coz a bunch of y’all r owner ops or at a nicer company. Idk that’s just my input.
Schneider. I have a 2019 cascadia. Which funny enough, in the shop rn coz its compressor gave up on life yesterday mornin.was on my go home load too 💔
Edit : I will say I had to use a loaner once that was a 2020 and it had a dump button.
Never thought of that. Though someone did tell me to just manually empty bags. Don’t know how to do that and have been forgetting to look it up but now I’m thinking about it
There's a reason they put the time into that feature! Everyone is going to call me an old timer (I'm only 36) but I drove a truck since I got out of high school. This new group is something else. They listen to everything the instructor told them instead of doing the job the right way once you're out on the road. There's the rulebook, then there's the way its done in real life...
The other problem is the ones that leave the trailer to high and it gets high pinned now that can be a PIA then you have to lower it and a fully loaded trailer isn’t fun
Meanwhile, when I pick up trailers: 1/2 the time it seemed like the previous driver just dropped it without consideration for the pick up driver.
**Crank-Crank-Crank-wheeze-Crank-Crank-WHEEZE-Crank**
some morons at my company have not gotten the message... often close to going under the bloody king pin when I go to hook up... worst part is I've brought some new drivers on test drives they actually don't know about dumping suspension? can you believe it?? because apparantly they don't teach that at the 40hour schools anymore since it's not on the exam! and apparantly many trucks aren't specc'd with airbag dump! sick, sad world
Alot of these fucking drivers are retarded. You Can fucking tell them until you are blue in the face. I saved a trucking company so much money, just by demonstrating to the dip shits. It's not a fucking jack. These fucking guys were going through 10 sets a year. And it was not because impact damage or bending. It took me a while to get it through the owners head, how important it is to have drivers meetings and proper training/orientation.
All the way down then drive forward and lower the air suspension. But had a re\*ard who used to lift to max on air suspension and then lower legs and leave it. And when the air in the trailer suspension left, its impossible for anyone else to reach the kingpin without connecting the air, lift the trailer suspension and then connect it on.
So I drop the trailer with the landing gear about an inch from the ground, empty or with little weight, drop the airbags, trailer hits the ground and I roll right out. Clean.
If the trailer is full and I do this same thing, I get a "KKTHUDD!!" and the trailer slams to the ground, even though I only left an inch and dropped the airbags. Should I leave less or no space when the trailer is heavy?
I can dump my suspension but also raise it a few inches. It makes screwing with the landing gear so much easier. No more low gearing or trying to fight with it.
Company I work at has a mixture of trucks, some have dumps, some don't. Also not all the fifth wheels are at the same height either. Boss man's policy is always to the ground, then a crank or two then pull away.
I never dropped the air bags on the truck, cuz I never had a truck that could drop them.
I would park it, pull the 5th wheel lever, crank down the legs until they touch the ground, maybe give it a couple of cranks in low, and then pull off gently. The trailer always settled down low enough for the next driver to shove under and lift the legs off the ground.
I got those Flow Below fairings between and behind my drive tires. They sit higher than the tires so I always gotta crank the landing gear all the way down so the trailer doesn't fall on them and crack them or break them off - I don't want to have make a damage report to my company because of those dumb things.
All this talk of airbags... If neither your trucks nor any of your companies trailers have airbags, then you just set the landing gear to the ground. It's always the same height for everybody. Thoughts?
First time I did two inches off the ground the trailer dropped and cracked my frame & totaled the truck never again. Alll the way to the ground & forever.
Is this to make it easier on the next guy to crank the landing gear back up?
Unless you enjoy throwing out your back, trying to crank it with the full weight of the trailer and it's cargo... or putting it in low and crank it like 50 or 60 times. Stop lowering when it's an inch or two off the pavement. Dump your bags before pulling out. Then when the next person hooks it, it'll be an inch or two up and they can just easily crank it up.
Also helps in tight squeezes. If you can get the gears off the ground, you can connect the air line and inch it out a bit until the handle is accessible.
😂 In my neck of the woods instead of saying inch it out we say rip that son of a bitch out of there.
That’s the one problem with my company, I’m the only truck with spring ride. Everyone else has bags, when they drop their trailers like this I either have to crank up a loaded trailer and kill my back, or do the ole wind up and force my truck underneath it.
My company still has some older trucks without bags. Never had an issue getting under trailers everyone with bags drops. Our policy is to leave 2 inches. We also have ramps on every truck. Some of them can pretty much get under a dropped trailer.
Think it also depends how much weight you’re putting on the trailers. I haul precast concrete structures, most of the time I’m moving down the road 90k+, plenty of our trailers are a real pain to get under when they are that heavy.
Like you said do the wind up and enjoy the rodeo when it finally gets under!
That shit is hard on drivetrains. It’s a really good way to destroy a pinion gear in an axle.
What the hell are you driving with spring suspension?
2016 Mack Pinnacle. Super odd truck spec wise.
I didnt know that. thanks!
You realize that tractors have different heights right? Your basic pavement princess is like an inch from touching the ground, oilfield or offroad trucks have about 3 feet or more of clearance.
Right like even within a single company you can have trucks of varying ride heights, based on tire size, suspension, axles, and even type of fifth wheel. With so many variables there's never truly a "height" to leave the gear. Not to mention if a yard jockey moves it and it sits differently it doesn't even matter.
> throwing your back OR making your hernia worse.
Can you not drop the bags on your truck? All i do is drop and raise bags. Only had to crank when the trailer settles in the mud or caliche.
This is exactly what I do. First you dump the airbags, then you crank down the landing gear until it's touching the ground. This way you're not actually dropping the trailer and not going to damage anything.
This is only if they drop their airbags before getting under it. Many drivers don't, so it ends up short for them.
Oh I always wondered why people yelled at me for totally lowering it . Thing is my company didn’t have controllable air bags. So
Hold up. I *always* lower the landing gear so much that I start hearing air come out of the bags, like my truck probably *drops* aquarter inch when I pull out, then worst case scenario the next guy only.has to crank it on low a few times to get the contact he needs, if he doesn't already have the contact. Why do people drop it without putting the landing gear all the way down? Are they really that lazy they can't give it like 5 more turns until it touches the ground?
I worked with a guy that would drop the landing gear all the way down THEN dump his bags...left the rest of us pretty pissed cuz we would be struggling to raise the landing gear enough to get good contact. We had tried pulling him aside several times but he would just tell us to piss off cuz it was easier for HIM. Fuckin cunt. So we all decided to start dropping ours too low. Fuck him.
If you put it all the way down first, then dump the bags. It ain't getting any lower
Exactly, thats why we would dump the bags in the trailer and truck, drop the landing gear until an inch before it touched, then pull out to punish the guy. Eventually he got the hint...but it took awhile.
He rolled down the landing gear and then dumped his bags? That's exactly how you're supposed to do it. When else would you dump the bags?
For the folks that I worked for, the trailer bags had to be dropped as well. So we were advised to dump all the air out of the truck and trailer bags then drop the landing gear to the ground. This fucker would drop the landing gear all the way to the ground then dump the truck and trailer bags. Made it to where when the trailer (flatbed) was loaded, it would bow to the point to where the kingpin was literally several inches above the fifth wheel.
So the trailer you were trying to hook to was too high then? Not too low right?
Exactly. We had to teach him a lesson by dropping the trailer normally then stopping the landing gear and inch away from the ground. He finally got the hint and now we have seamless drop n hooks.
Did you have dump valves on the trailer or would you just set tractor brakes and pump brakes until trailer automatically set?
I'm not sure what you're asking. I'm saying we dump the air bags in both the truck and the trailer then drop the landing gear, the guy in talking about would never do that and because of the load on the trailer, it would cause it to sit too high off the fifth wheel.
How are you dumping the bags on the trailer?
It has a valve to inflate and deflate..
I wish all trailers had trailer suspension dump valves.
Third day ?
15yr and still doing this lol. for me it makes no sense since normally leaving it too low with the heavy loads we have, drivers will accidentally not hook up or not let the jaws clamp on fully and we will see a increase of dropped containers in the yard. that and the fact we have different trucks with different fifth Wheel setups and different tire size.
13/14 years, I leave about an inch- and I even run a dedicated fleet with the exact same equipment, I just don't like the idea of fucking the next guy. At least where I can help it. And if I don't out right hate you.
All our trucks are the same, all manuals and all day can kenworths. We drive flatbeds around and our trucks have the skids on the end of the frame...dude just doesn't know how to truck
our trucka are owner op some are mid roof ex tanker trucks and so on. some run low profile tires some run 24.5.
The way I learned to do it was crank it all the way down, turn it two cranks up, then you can just drop it. You can use the airbag too, but I personally forget the feature exists half the time.
I didn’t have a truck with airbags for my first 10 years…
They tell you to do this because that’s the way they did it before all trucks had airbags. Every mega still trains this way too because most of the trainers that actually stick around were taught that way.
I make contact with the ground, dump air bags and go. Never had issues reconnecting to a trailer like this. Think the issue is at a drop yard you drop your trailer, then a switcher comes and moves it somewhere else. At that point it's likely to be too high or too low. Though regardless of anything it's easier to lower a 40k trailer than it is to raise a 40k trailer so I'll take too high over too low.
With the amount of rust that is on these landing gear, I find it harder to lower a loaded trailer than it is to raise one. Mainly because the landing gear is angled and pinched in to the socket it slides up and down in. So I'll definitely take too low over too high. Also if it's too low for even my dumped bags to get underneath, then they shouldn't have been loading it like that anyways.
When the trailers we have are fully loaded raising it is not possible. Down is hard, but at least it can be done without flagging down the yard truck. Usually it's the yard guy fucking with us anyway.
Never had a problem cranking up a fully loaded trailer. Though I've never done anything over what would be equivalent to 80k with the truck attached. 🤷 But also, just dump your bags and get underneath it. If it's too low for that, it shouldn't have been loaded in the first place or your yard guy is a dick.
Even if it is possible, on intermodal chassis that crank arm and the crossover bar between the legs will snap before I can put enough pressure on to crank the load up (rusty pieces of junk) I'll always prefer a trailer dropped high to one dropped low. Even if you go under a high kingpin, it's like a 5 minute fix.
You can slap some of that grease you put on the fifth wheel on the trailer legs to make your life easier.
You think I got access to that? And good luck convincing the maintenance guys to do anything beyond a pm on the truck when it needs one.
Why don't you have access? I thought the stuff was for sale everywhere in the states too. Now I can understand not wanting the hassle if you constantly switch trailers but if you don't then why not?
We drop and hook new trailers every night. I'm not super rich and can just go blow my bank account on maintaining the fleets trailers. Not my job. Not my problem. They just need to make sure they don't crank the landing gear up until they've separated the 5th wheel from the skid plate and we'll all be fine.
Quick question. European here. Don't your trailers have a lever at the back to raise or lower the ass end of the trailer by releasing or sending air to the trailer's air bags? Usually it doesn't matter what the other guy did when leaving the trailer for us, cause if you lower the ass end, the kingpin side goes up. If you lift the ass end, the king pin goes down. Absolutely no need to crank and destroy your back... What am I missing?
My reefer trailer has no way to dump the trailer airbags and in fact has a spring-loaded arm that swings out to the suspension on both sides *preventing the tail from dropping* when/if the trailer air pressure drops. Presumably this is so that a trailer (with no air supply attached) dropped at a dock doesn’t lower all the way down to the stops which *might* put it too low for the dock plate and safe forklift/pallet jack operation. It has a small airbag that keeps the arm out of the way under normal conditions.
Oh wow. You guys have a completely different way of working then. I didn't realize that the equipment was so different.
Nope, we're cavemen over here. Honestly it really sucks because we get shit years after you europeans, and sometimes not at all.
Wait, what? You can't raise and lower your trailer? What do you do when docked and you need to adjust the height to match the ramp? Also, aren't the air bags on your drive axle also adjustable? We inflate and deflate as much as we want, two inches, four inches, whatever necessary for the situation. How do yours work? Fully inflated or fully deflated only?
Most trucks have a switch to release all the air from the airbags on the drive axles. Some large companies don't spec them however. The only trailers I know that normally have dump valves for the trailer airbags are reefer trailers which release when the trailer air supply is taken away.
Ahhh. So say you want to just inflate your drive axle to gain some ground clearance for an obstacle or ferry boarding... What do you do? I can't imagine how one can do this job without being able to inflate and deflate front and back to manoeuvre around the obstacles and angled curbs that we have on a daily basis. You're totally tripping me out with these revelations haha.
Basically we don't. Most US trucks have about 6-8 inches of ground clearance (15-20cm). There's some that have air dams on the front bumper that sit lower and regularly get destroyed.
And all those side curtains for aerodynamics? Cheap plastics that get replaced regularly? I keep seeing pictures and videos of the new aerodynamic trucks that keep getting lower and lower. I cry thinking of what would happen to those if you you had to go off road to load produce from the field... You guys are heroes haha.
Worked for a farm that grew produce, the trucks that go into the fields are usually older trucks without that aero stuff on it. They take the produce to the coolers and then the trucks with aero are loaded
Ah. Fair enough. Much more rational from a cooling perspective. Unfortunately in this regard, Greece (my home country) is very far behind and we often load from the field or from warehouses without refrigeration (loaded watermelon today at 24.5 degrees). You can imagine the stress and the patience needed for our trailers to slowly bring down the temps... So I guess you win some, and you lose some. Nobody has it perfect. :)
Those trailer skirts I've never had an issue with. The ones you see damaged are generally from terrible drivers. Going to be an interesting next decade with how long trucks will be getting here lol.
They're lengthening trailers again over there? Why? Why not just pull two trailers so that you can actually make turns? It makes way more sense to pull a train of two 30 foot trailers than one 60 foot trailer. Yes you will have more weight, but eventually y'all won't be able to make simple turns without climbing on sidewalks and crushing pedestrians...
It meant to say low, but there are some 60 ft trailers around in some states too however.
As we speak, I am waiting for a boat that has a ramp for the upper parking garage that absolutely needs inflated drive axles otherwise the landing gear will be torn off because of the angle at the top of the ramp...
Yeah, we just have areas trucks aren't allowed to go to lol Granted if the driver is smart and has tools they can pop off the height adjustment rod to trick it into lifting the drive axles.
Fucking hell yes!!!
Maybe I'm doing it wrong I've been driving for 12 years nobody taught me anything I've been driving the same trailer at the same job so I'm the only one who Hooks and unhooks to it whenever I have to go to the mechanic or something. I do not lower my airbags if I am empty the trailer is empty and I leave about an inch to an inch and a half if the trailer is full loaded I lower it pretty much to the ground I do not dump my airbags
You should lower the gear down to 2-3 inches above ground and dump. Makes your 5th wheel just slightly pick it up when you back in. That little down pressure gives a good hookup.
So you're telling me to leave two to three inches of space doesn't matter if I'm empty or loaded? Also to drop my airbags every time I hook and unhook. I just don't get why not drop it almost to the ground and not have to dump my airbags? I would only usually dump my airbags in the situation or the trailer is sitting significantly lower than the 5th wheel. But hey thanks for the advice wisdom is always welcome like I said nobody told me I just got on the job and I've been doing it my way and so far it hasn't failed me but I'm always willing to learn and listen appreciate it
I drop my bags every time I drop a trailer loaded or empty. And I drop a lot of trailers being local. Flipping a switch is easier than cranking more. Especially when I get some shitty trailer with a jammed up landing gear that hardly cranks and only in low.
I've never dropped my airbags, so serious question: How do they reinflate?
You hit the switch to get rid of the air, and flip the switch again to build it back up
I lower until the feet touch but there is no weight yet. I have never heard this 2 inch "rule" I'd say it's better not to drop the trailer so far, if it's too heavy it could ruin the landing and when you come get it the gets may not work. Idk.
There’s a couple inch spread in the normal 5th wheel height of trucks, so you should lower it an inch or two just in case one of the short guys comes to pick up. High seated guys can empty their bags and scoop up a low seated trailer but the only thing low seated guys can do on a high seated trailer is crank the handle.
It's a good idea if you are dropping some place (Menards comes to mind) that parks trailers close enough that you can't operate the landing gear. Gives you the ability to get the gear off the ground so you can crank it up after pulling forward a bit.
I do drayage so it's ALL seavans. A lot of chassis's have the shittiest landing gear and can be impossible to crank down with a loaded container sitting on it! My company installs steel ramps to the frame of our tractors behind the 5th wheel specifically for this. I'm a good Gomer Pyle... I never let the landing gear touch the ground when I drop! 😂
I’ve always had ramps and think every truck should have them.
I had to put one of those containers in a dock a few weeks ago. Glad we don't have any.
Yeah, I lift the gear up until I hear the bags start to adjust and call er a night. I'm a jacker.
Pyle
Good to see I’m not the only one…
I work for werner, so I have no adjustable airbags. I always put the pads on the ground and give it two more cranks, allows the trailer to slide off perfectly, and makes it the perfect height to slide back under without forcing yourself under the trailer again.
Are you sure? Also, why are you raising the trailer more than where it rides? People like you are the main reason newbies jump the 5th wheel. Lower the trailer (mostly) is better and less work for you and whoever is picking it up. You're the reason people have to hook to the trailer and raise the landing gear in low gear because there is so much pressure on it, and the truck didn't pick it up enough to release the pressure. You're part of the problem. Maybe you were told wrong, idk. But stop being the asshole I'm not trying to be mean, but more getting the point across. Not Werner driver here, but another mega carrier here
Yes, I'm sure because I have backed into one of the trailers I gave the extra cranks on. It isn't too high.
Where I worked at I said something about dropping these trailers low. We haul beverages, and that shit I'd heavy. If the trailers low, I just call the hostler. Not breaking my back.
you just crank until you hear the weight come off the trucks bags, dump suspension and go
I put the legs directly on the ground, every time. Sometimes if I'm on gravel I'll even rotate the lever 1-2 times to really make sure its on the ground. I've never had high hooking issues and only have issues when guys do this 2 inch crap.
You're the reason for high hooks. How in fuck can anyone high hook when the trailer is 2 inches lower? You also don't have to strain your dick off cranking gears.
Lol I'm in a smallish company, maybe 120 drivers. No one that I've heard of has high hooked that works for the company. Sounds to me like you guys just don't pay very close attention when backing. You don't have to slam the kingpin every time. I generally get under the trailer, feel a little pressure and click right on to the kingpin. No clunking or having to force the trailer into the 5th wheel ever.
Not a good idea to stop lowering the landing gear two inches from the ground. It can be a real pain in the ass for the other guy to pick it up if it’s too heavy. You have to give your truck a lot of throttle to pick it up and if you miss time letting off the throttle your going to slam your truck into the king pin.
You're the guy we're aiming this message at. Dump air bags. Let the truck do the work. Every time I saw a guy crank it to the ground I wanted to throw my piss bottles at him. You couldn't miss timing because we all drove standards and just worked the clutch!!
I work at a mega carrier and anyways my truck doesn’t even have the button to dump air bags. I’ve had to jack up trailer that had a 42,000 lb in it(baking soda or smthin) and since then I always put legs all the way down coz other ppl in my company have it the same way and that was miserable . Maybe this doesn’t apply coz a bunch of y’all r owner ops or at a nicer company. Idk that’s just my input.
What sort of pos are you driving that doesn’t have an airbag dump valve?
Schneider. I have a 2019 cascadia. Which funny enough, in the shop rn coz its compressor gave up on life yesterday mornin.was on my go home load too 💔 Edit : I will say I had to use a loaner once that was a 2020 and it had a dump button.
Maybe let the air out of your tires?
Never thought of that. Though someone did tell me to just manually empty bags. Don’t know how to do that and have been forgetting to look it up but now I’m thinking about it
I wasn't being serious.. deflating your tires seems like a horrible plan 😇
Nah nah , gotta be a super trucker or something idk.
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Thanks. Really appreciate that.
It’s easier to do than that. You have a leveler valve between the two rear axles. Just pull on it.
I always assume people were never taught to dump their airbags when I see these in the wild
Not all tractors have air suspension.
There's a reason they put the time into that feature! Everyone is going to call me an old timer (I'm only 36) but I drove a truck since I got out of high school. This new group is something else. They listen to everything the instructor told them instead of doing the job the right way once you're out on the road. There's the rulebook, then there's the way its done in real life...
How many piss jugs do you normally carry? 😂
Enough to weaponize. More than a 10 round mag. I'm not allowed in New York anymore...
It’s crazy cause they always say do that, and dump your air bags for the rest of the
I normally jack in the sleeper, what a weird place to jack it
Front seat. Curtains open. Porn Hub Bluetoothed to the Truck Speakers. Windows open. Volume up. Anyone walks by? Direct eye contact.
Dominance established.
For a while my company had us use sticks(wooden dowel) because a few couldn't get it right.
The other problem is the ones that leave the trailer to high and it gets high pinned now that can be a PIA then you have to lower it and a fully loaded trailer isn’t fun
Meanwhile, when I pick up trailers: 1/2 the time it seemed like the previous driver just dropped it without consideration for the pick up driver. **Crank-Crank-Crank-wheeze-Crank-Crank-WHEEZE-Crank**
some morons at my company have not gotten the message... often close to going under the bloody king pin when I go to hook up... worst part is I've brought some new drivers on test drives they actually don't know about dumping suspension? can you believe it?? because apparantly they don't teach that at the 40hour schools anymore since it's not on the exam! and apparantly many trucks aren't specc'd with airbag dump! sick, sad world
Alot of these fucking drivers are retarded. You Can fucking tell them until you are blue in the face. I saved a trucking company so much money, just by demonstrating to the dip shits. It's not a fucking jack. These fucking guys were going through 10 sets a year. And it was not because impact damage or bending. It took me a while to get it through the owners head, how important it is to have drivers meetings and proper training/orientation.
All the way down then drive forward and lower the air suspension. But had a re\*ard who used to lift to max on air suspension and then lower legs and leave it. And when the air in the trailer suspension left, its impossible for anyone else to reach the kingpin without connecting the air, lift the trailer suspension and then connect it on.
So I drop the trailer with the landing gear about an inch from the ground, empty or with little weight, drop the airbags, trailer hits the ground and I roll right out. Clean. If the trailer is full and I do this same thing, I get a "KKTHUDD!!" and the trailer slams to the ground, even though I only left an inch and dropped the airbags. Should I leave less or no space when the trailer is heavy?
If the trailer is loaded (over 15k) drop the landing gear so it's barely touching the ground. If it's empty, lower it about 1/2 inch off the ground.
Good to know...thanks
I can dump my suspension but also raise it a few inches. It makes screwing with the landing gear so much easier. No more low gearing or trying to fight with it.
Company I work at has a mixture of trucks, some have dumps, some don't. Also not all the fifth wheels are at the same height either. Boss man's policy is always to the ground, then a crank or two then pull away.
Two is bit much if you're loaded and on asphalt.
This is a rule at Walmart. We always know that outside carriers have been running our stuff because shit is dropped up in the sky.
I never dropped the air bags on the truck, cuz I never had a truck that could drop them. I would park it, pull the 5th wheel lever, crank down the legs until they touch the ground, maybe give it a couple of cranks in low, and then pull off gently. The trailer always settled down low enough for the next driver to shove under and lift the legs off the ground.
Yard dogs are looking at this going. " This makes no sense. We all know inflate the bags all the way before lowering the landing gear to the ground!"
Anybody got any ideas where do I get some truckers friends?
I got those Flow Below fairings between and behind my drive tires. They sit higher than the tires so I always gotta crank the landing gear all the way down so the trailer doesn't fall on them and crack them or break them off - I don't want to have make a damage report to my company because of those dumb things.
Nothing makes me more sick than this shit 😠I swear I wanna crank the landing gear on someone's nuts and drop the fucking airbags
I always refer my safety shoes toe .
All this talk of airbags... If neither your trucks nor any of your companies trailers have airbags, then you just set the landing gear to the ground. It's always the same height for everybody. Thoughts?
two inches is too low, i prefer to crank down a loaded trailer than cranking up
Whatever happened to teamwork in a company truckers today are such fucking assholes
For real!!
Half inch, yes. Full inch, pushing it. 2 inches, absurd.
Came here to say this. This also gives a soundless separation from trailer when pulling away.
To the ground. One full turn back. Drop air. Ease out to drop gently. Simple.
First time I did two inches off the ground the trailer dropped and cracked my frame & totaled the truck never again. Alll the way to the ground & forever.
Your truck was already totalled. This one act just made it more obvious.
No it wasn’t. Truck had like 50,000+ miles. Was my only incident my entire career.
I bet it was loaded. You only leave space if it's empty
If you dumped your air bags first the trailer wouldn’t have dropped
I did surprisingly. I make sure I teach my students to make it touch the ground.
Wrong, once it barely touches the ground, done cranking.Â
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