Ok, but seriously. Long time no see, but as some of you might know I was driving rigids for many years. Recently I moved to wagon and drags, then I was doing trunking and trailer swaps, which is basically easy and boring, and recently I started doing some multidrop. I am kinda of newbie to city driving in actual artics, so I thought I’d ask.
There is that anderson lead that needs to be plugged to operate tail lift. But since it’s not coiled, I only use it when I really need it, as I think it might get easily entangled into something when driving, I am also not sure it would be long enough if I wanted to make a sharp turn. So I just leave it unpugged when driving.
But today another driver told me to leave it on. There was no tailift on his trailer, so I wasn’t able to see if he does it himself, but I got a feeling that he was pulling my finger, but maybe I am over cautious indeed and I worry that I forgot to unplug it unnecessarily?
You should disconnect it completley when not in use because if it comes into contact with any metal,it can make a spark and cause damage to the electrical system
Yeah Ive only ever driven with it connected once , when I forgot to take it off! It pulled it self out of the trailer and was dragging on the ground sparking!! Luckily I hadnt left the yard!
Our trailer brakes are right next to our anderson sockets so I always put the brake on when using it. It’s a fail safe for when you try and drive off with it still plugged in.
Welcome home, I remember your name from some years ago.I have only used an Anderson on a wagon and drag. I dont think its secure enough to drive with it in place.
When I was driving I never left the Anderson lead connected and I’ve never noticed anyone else leave it connected either, depending on the job the Anderson lead was always stowed in the tool box or in the cab.
Tail lift, unplug and stow away. Some tractor units have a blank socket to plug it into when not in use. Tippers, leave plugged in for easy sheet but they are coiled like suzies. Even so I used to put a cable tie round each end when I was on tippers to hold the plug in. Annoyingly it used to half pull out and had to get out to push it back in when un-sheeting, waste of time having a remote control
Take it off. No doubt on some of the units you’ll notice a chunk of plastic missing off the Anderson socket on the unit? That’s from people who left the cable on and when they went round a bend it ripped the cable out of the socket.
