How do you drop a trailer?
Is this order ok?
Get out and take susies off… release kingpin… number plate off… (check trailer brake is on which automatically applies when you take red air line off) legs down… pull out abit… lower unit suspension then off you pop
As you very well know.
Pulling the pin is the very last thing you do when dropping a trailer, because you can take one last look at the legs before actually disconnecting.
Putting the dog clip on (and for safety shining a torch up the fifth wheel’s skirt) is the very first thing you do when picking one up.
mark1284:
How do you drop a trailer?
Is this order ok?
Get out and take susies off… release kingpin… number plate off… (check trailer brake is on which automatically applies when you take red air line off) legs down… pull out abit… lower unit suspension then off you pop
Way I do it may not be the ‘‘Official dcpc way’’ 
but it’s my way.
T.brake on.(they don’t all come on when red line is detatched btw
Wind legs down.
Suzies off.
Remove dog clip pull pin.
No.plate off.
Pull out while lowering suspension gradually.
Had a couple of beers…have I missed something. 
mark1284:
How do you drop a trailer?
Is this order ok?
Get out and take susies off… release kingpin… number plate off… (check trailer brake is on which automatically applies when you take red air line off) legs down… pull out abit… lower unit suspension then off you pop
Think alot of drivers have there own way of doing things.I for instance.Put the park brake on.Then wind legs down.Then take of suzies.Go get my number plate.Then pull the pin.Pull a little way out.And drop the back down.So i don’t slam the trailer down on the legs.And have unit spring up when i pull out.
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
mark1284:
How do you drop a trailer?
Is this order ok?
Get out and take susies off… release kingpin… number plate off… (check trailer brake is on which automatically applies when you take red air line off) legs down… pull out abit… lower unit suspension then off you pop
There was a topic about hitching and dropping trailers just a few weeks ago. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=155200
B rake
L egs
A irlines
C lip
K ingpin
And then sod off and leave plate on trailer!!
Juddian:
Putting the dog clip on (and for safety shining a torch up the fifth wheel’s skirt) is the very first thing you do when picking one up.
Right my chance to ask a silly question with the hope of learning something. On my training, I was told to a tug test twice. Is that enough? Or do you need to get out and look? And how hard is it to see if it’s attached properly? I only ask this question - as I thought that if it didn’t come apart when it was tugged twice it was safe - and I’ve never seen a driver checking. However if it’s safer I’d rather spend 5 seconds doing it than have the MOFU’s.
Cheers
Sam
sammym:
Juddian:
Putting the dog clip on (and for safety shining a torch up the fifth wheel’s skirt) is the very first thing you do when picking one up.Right my chance to ask a silly question with the hope of learning something. On my training, I was told to a tug test twice. Is that enough? Or do you need to get out and look? And how hard is it to see if it’s attached properly? I only ask this question - as I thought that if it didn’t come apart when it was tugged twice it was safe - and I’ve never seen a driver checking. However if it’s safer I’d rather spend 5 seconds doing it than have the MOFU’s.
Cheers
Sam
Yeah twice is enough.And if you shine a torch up between the jaws.You’ll see the bar will be across the pin.Although i don’t do that very often myself.Two tugs and clip on.Never had a problem with that yet
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Yorkielad:
B rake
L egs
A irlines
C lip
K ingpinAnd then sod off and leave plate on trailer!!
Then use B L A N K instead, it’s not like you need Clip as a reminder anyway (how the hell are you going to pull the handle if you forget to take the clip off)
Brake
Legs
Airlines
Number plate
Kin ell out of ere 
At the end of the day when dropping do the Brake first and the Kingpin Handle last, how you do the rest is up to you but just do it the same way every time that way you can do a mental check list as you go and form a solid routine, if you get distracted start again from scratch.
daftvader:
sammym:
Juddian:
Putting the dog clip on (and for safety shining a torch up the fifth wheel’s skirt) is the very first thing you do when picking one up.I’ve never seen a driver checking.
Sam
And if you shine a torch up between the jaws.You’ll see the bar will be across the pin.Although i don’t do that very often myself.
I always take a peak at JOSTs dirty bits, it’s a habit well worth getting into and doesn’t take any additional time to check, ok you may struggle if you’re 25+ stone but you should probably be doing it then if only for the extra added exercise in that case.
I even have the added disadvantage of doing this mainly at night so I definitely need to shine a torch up there but it’s piece of mind and well worth it imo and it takes literally less than 5 seconds, how long does it take to pick up a trailer that’s been dropped on it’s knees?
Here’s a short clip (US video but it looks pretty much the same) in regards to the bar across the pin > youtu.be/zP3ta_7Fn-o?t=17
Reef:
daftvader:
sammym:
Juddian:
Putting the dog clip on (and for safety shining a torch up the fifth wheel’s skirt) is the very first thing you do when picking one up.I’ve never seen a driver checking.
Sam
And if you shine a torch up between the jaws.You’ll see the bar will be across the pin.Although i don’t do that very often myself.
I always take a peak at JOSTs dirty bits, it’s a habit well worth getting into and doesn’t take any additional time to check, ok you may struggle if you’re 25+ stone but you should probably be doing it then if only for the extra added exercise in that case.
I even have the added disadvantage of doing this mainly at night so I definitely need to shine a torch up there but it’s piece of mind and well worth it imo and it takes literally less than 5 seconds, how long does it take to pick up a trailer that’s been dropped on it’s knees?Here’s a short clip (US video but it looks pretty much the same) in regards to the bar across the pin > youtu.be/zP3ta_7Fn-o?t=17
Thanks Reef - that was pretty much bang on what I wanted to ask for but felt a bit silly to do so. I had no idea what I should really be looking for. I’ll have a look from now on. As you said it doesn’t take much longer - and it would make me a LOT more ■■■■ about making sure the trailer brake is on, which isn’t a bad thing.
mark1284:
Get out and take susies off… release kingpin… number plate off… (check trailer brake is on which automatically applies when you take red airline off) legs down… pull out abit… lower unit suspension then off you pop
No way id release the kingpin before checking the brake was on first and the legs were down.
Technically there is no “right” way to do it as long as it all gets done but if the brake hasnt come on when you released the red line then you’ve got a potential problem on your hands if you’ve parked on an incline and you release the kingpin.
Yorkielad:
And then sod off and leave plate on trailer!!
Many times I’ve done this but of course never when parking trailer in the yard with plenty access. No, It always seems to happen when it’s sitting on a bay and I’m standing looking at it and praying for a solution that doesn’t involve hooking the whole lot back up again to move forward 3 feet!
The-Snowman:
Yorkielad:
And then sod off and leave plate on trailer!!Many times I’ve done this but of course never when parking trailer in the yard with plenty access. No, It always seems to happen when it’s sitting on a bay and I’m standing looking at it and praying for a solution that doesn’t involve hooking the whole lot back up again to move forward 3 feet!
I used to just go underneath the rear of the trailer and reach up behind/between the under run bar to the plate holder.
sammym:
Juddian:
Putting the dog clip on (and for safety shining a torch up the fifth wheel’s skirt) is the very first thing you do when picking one up.Right my chance to ask a silly question with the hope of learning something. On my training, I was told to a tug test twice. Is that enough? Or do you need to get out and look? And how hard is it to see if it’s attached properly? I only ask this question - as I thought that if it didn’t come apart when it was tugged twice it was safe - and I’ve never seen a driver checking. However if it’s safer I’d rather spend 5 seconds doing it than have the MOFU’s.
Cheers
Sam
No such thing as silly question.
Reef it appears does the same.
The reason for doing so is as Reef mentioned, you are looking for the locking bar being across the king pin, very few drivers do it but it’s a good practice to get into.
However there is a secondary reason, and that is it’s entirely possible to pick up a trailer (uneven ground will usually feature when this happens), the fifth wheel jaws lock home, tug test feels right, safety clip goes on ok…yet, the king pin isn’t sitting inside the jaws it’s sitting ON them.
I have known someone travel nearly 150 miles on the motorway only to have the trailer bounce off on the London Embankment when he hot a road bump severe enough to bounce the trailer up enough.
I have also managed to do it myself, i picked a loaded curtain sider up that had been dropped on an angle, when the fifth wheel went home something didn’t sound quite right, so i pulled the trailer down onto level ground and had a look, sure enough you could just see a small gap between the fifth wheel and rubbing plate with king pin sitting on those jaws, luckily no damage done and that was big wake up call because prior to that i didn’t believe it could happen.
I could not possibly have picked said trailer up from another angle, so it wasn’t actually anything i did wrong.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago, i had to pick up an empty tank from our workshops, it too was slightly on the lean to one side where it had been dropped on the rough ground round the back.
I couldn’t pick it up, i had a look and the angle of the rubbing plate wouldn’t let it connect…obviously i was very wary as memory told me this can go wrong, so i got the yard tug to pull it onto level ground so it picked up fine.
Thing is, had that tank been loaded, then it’s possible the downward pressure would have been enough to allow the pin to go just that fraction of an inch lower enough to trigger the jaws to lock.
Don’t get paranormal 
about this, it’s thankfully an incredibly rare event, but as said it takes just a few seconds to look and you know absolutely that you’ve got it, i only do one tug test and then look see.
If we’re talking being ■■■■ about connecting, check the brake, check the brake, check the brake
Had a rollaway once, never ever ever want to see that again
Luckily all was good but still makes me sweat now when I think about it
good_friend:
If we’re talking being ■■■■ about connecting, check the brake, check the brake, check the brakeHad a rollaway once, never ever ever want to see that again
Luckily all was good but still makes me sweat now when I think about it
Correct, and that is why, as the OP asked, one pulls the pin last, if it should roll off then the legs being at ground or almost ground height should prevent an oversight becoming a disaster.
My place has these ‘BLACK’ card things that drivers are supposed to clip on the kingpin handle before dropping a trailer.
I have gesticulated my objections as not only do I prefer ‘BLANK’ but also drivers approaching the pin/clip first when dropping is a No/No in my book.
To be fair my card is quite useful for scraping crap off the bottom of container.
Classic example of corporate nonsense, some bag of knackers upstairs has had an idea, not discussed it with driver representatives then gone ahead and spent a small fortune getting these cards printed.
Does anyone know what they are actually looking for when shining a torch at the Fifth Wheel? It’s foggy at 4 AM the unit is wet and dirty. What do you see?
Dipper_Dave:
My place has these ‘BLACK’ card things that drivers are supposed to clip on the kingpin handle before dropping a trailer.
I have gesticulated my objections as not only do I prefer ‘BLANK’ but also drivers approaching the pin/clip first when dropping is a No/No in my book.To be fair my card is quite useful for scraping crap off the bottom of container.
Classic example of corporate nonsense, some bag of knackers upstairs has had an idea, not discussed it with driver representatives then gone ahead and spent a small fortune getting these cards printed.
I an very impressed with your self control Uncle Dave.
Despite Good Friend’s wording on her post, you didn’t bite. I thought the words ’ ■■■■ ’ and ’ connecting ’ were a recipe for disaster…
Wheel Nut:
Does anyone know what they are actually looking for when shining a torch at the Fifth Wheel? It’s foggy at 4 AM the unit is wet and dirty. What do you see?
The jaws when locked behind the pin, will appear to be a steel bar, around 1/2 to3/4 an inch thick going across the gap behind the pin, which will be fully down inside the fifth wheel.
If you look from the side view you will see the rubbing plate solidly on the fifth whee with no gaps showing anywhere.
Very good point though, its worth having a good poke nose first chance anyone gets, so they familiarise themselves with what a correct connection looks like.
I’ve had a browse on t’internet and there’s no pics i can find showing this in practice clearly enough with a pin locked in place, maybe if someone has a good camera on their phone they could take a pic and put one up, unless someone has better pic search than i.
In the pic you can clearly see the jaws, when you push against the king pin those jaws will swing around securing the locking device, which will look like a bar from behind when locked.
Found one, courtesy of ‘‘my truckalogue blogspot’’, not taken from his site but found on a general picture search
edit, not trying to teach grannies etc Wheel Nut, i know you’ve been around a while , just trying to encourage the younger/newer lads to take an interest in the mechanics of what we do, so they don’t come a cropper and hopefully are able to spot things going wrong before they do.