My boss told me off the other day for doing a close coupling. He said that if a trailer has been standing idle for a while it can loose all its air even if the trailer parking brake is on. He said the trailer can roll onto the pin and crush you when you hook up the red lead. I know this could happen if the parking brake isnt on, but if it is on the surely no matter how long its been standing it wont move. I fail to see how you could do a close coupling if you cant do it like this. As for adjusting fifth wheels, well, I’ll say no more LOL.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
// I had a USA truck & the slider was operated from the cab.// But with a UK truck on fridges we used to back under & leave a good gap. Connect the suzies then carefully back under with the legs down until the jaws locked. Then lift the weight off the legs & wind them up. But the ground had to be level & the fifth wheel had to be the right height or you could bend the legs. Your boss is right , when the air has gone out of the tanks, trailers have no brakes.
try this apply tr brake by pulling button or using the ratchet … chock tr wheels to prevent rearward and frontward movement …get close couple then do the clanky thing
ezydriver:
My boss told me off the other day for doing a close coupling. He said that if a trailer has been standing idle for a while it can loose all its air even if the trailer parking brake is on. He said the trailer can roll onto the pin and crush you when you hook up the red lead. I know this could happen if the parking brake isnt on, but if it is on the surely no matter how long its been standing it wont move. I fail to see how you could do a close coupling if you cant do it like this. As for adjusting fifth wheels, well, I’ll say no more LOL.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Steve.
That would have to be quite an old trailer to do that. Most trailers have spring brakes far as I know, meaning when it loses it air the spring brakes should come on. If it is a lever type handbrake then that is more likely not to have spring brakes. Once upon a time if you wanted to move a trailer without connecting susies you could drain all the air out to release the brakes, you can’t now. I think the clues are if it has a shunt button it surely has spring brakes - I would say.
DAFMAD:
[ That would have to be quite an old trailer to do that. Most trailers have spring brakes far as I know, meaning when it loses it air the spring brakes should come on. If it is a lever type handbrake then that is more likely not to have spring brakes. Once upon a time if you wanted to move a trailer without connecting susies you could drain all the air out to release the brakes, you can’t now. I think the clues are if it has a shunt button it surely has spring brakes - I would say.
Totally agree, basicaly if it has a pull button to park, then its spring park and wont move, if it is the old ratchet and cable then its not spring park and you hedge your bets.
some of these bosses, makes you wonder how they run a company, after all, running close coupled is saving him deisel, slide your pin right back, so there is the size of a small county between cab and trailer, then when he complains about lower MPG ask him what he would prefer, close coupled or poor fuel economy
Start to go under it straight then when you are sure you will catch the pin turn steering wheel and you will have a nice little gap to get in between, and did you ask the manager to demonstrate how to put the airlines on that would have been a laugh
Dafman:
Start to go under it straight then when you are sure you will catch the pin turn steering wheel and you will have a nice little gap to get in between, and did you ask the manager to demonstrate how to put the airlines on that would have been a laugh
I did. I asked “how would I get in between then?”
Amazingly his reply was “well either you’re a fat [zb] or the trailer would be too close and you wont be able to turn, the trailer will hit the cab”
I couldn’t believe what he said. He has a class 1 lisence too!!
Look at some european reefers, you couldn’t get a rizla paper between their units and trailers. Never mind, I’ll leave him to what he’s best at. Answering the phone and sweeping up.
harry:
I was picking up Dutch trailers from the Docks. The tug drivers had all kind of tricks up their sleeves. We never assumed a trailer had brakes.
I used to do that, and would never go under the trailer until i’d had a look around it, then if there was any out of the way damage, they couldnt hang it on me, because i would not have touched the trailer.
back to the point, especially since the subject of close coupling has been covered on this forum before, The H & S bods everywhere have decreed that close or short coupling is now banned due to the possibility of the trailer rolling forward and crushing the driver between the cab and trailer.
the practice of short coupling was something I always did when on fridge work due to the even less limited space between trailer and cab, and also being a member of the pie eaters fan club
it only takes 1 occasion of someone NOT checking that the parking brake on the trailer is on, and then coupling the airline, for their to be a fatality.
I for 1 will hold my hands up to very occasionally not getting out and checking that the parking brake on the trailer is on, even once while doing a driving asessment
so you can see now why they banned it
We have this problem with 45ft changeovers on 40ft trailers…especially the ones with no “neck” where the suzies have to go into the 2.5ft x 1ft space under the box.
We never split couple (too many iffy park brakes on our more aging fixed skellies - the ones used most for changeovers), we simply back under onto the pin, release the trailer brake, pull forward, then jack it round to one side as hard as it will go. Suzies now facing you and easy to connect.
Doesn’t work so well with suzies part-way up the trailer though, although I have done it with one of our deep pin tauts. You just need something fairly solid to stand on.
I once had a rather unfortunate accident once where I was facing downhill and forgot to put my handbrake on. I also forgot to check the parking brake and you guessed it, £13.500 damage. Because of this I ALWAYS check the parking brake before ANYTHING. Its a second nature habit of mine now. I was just wondering if it was possible (with a red plunger type parking brake, not ratchet) for the trailer to actually roll forward if it is applied. I’ve never had an incident where I can move a trailer, ever, if the red plunger was pulled out. Also, I’ve noticed, if you jack the unit round and connect that way, its a bit more awkward and you get plastered in grease and crap. I hate hooking up that way.
Also, I’ve noticed, if you jack the unit round and connect that way, its a bit more awkward and you get plastered in grease and crap. I hate hooking up that way.
Agreed, it’s not ideal…I guess in our case where the alternative is crawling about in that greasy 18 inch gap under the trailer the attraction is more obvious.
ezydriver:
I once had a rather unfortunate accident once where I was facing downhill and forgot to put my handbrake on. I also forgot to check the parking brake and you guessed it, £13.500 damage…
Done this twice in my years of artic driving, but luckly both times i was able to pull the red line and stop almost straight away, but you hit the back of the cab a bit hard
ezydriver:
I once had a rather unfortunate accident once where I was facing downhill and forgot to put my handbrake on. I also forgot to check the parking brake and you guessed it, £13.500 damage…
Done this twice in my years of artic driving, but luckly both times i was able to pull the red line and stop almost straight away, but you hit the back of the cab a bit hard
I’d only been driving a year when I did this. To make it worse it was my first night with a new employer. I was only 2 1/2 hours into my first night with them. No joke. I was working for the agency at the time. Needless to say, I never worked for that agency, or company, again. Funny thing is though they had another unit there which I drove back and they sent me out with a second load going to the same place that night. So I did end up doing the full 12 hours. Got paid for it too.
I’m confused Are we talking about ‘split coupling’? Which. if we are, is featured in the DSA manual and is perfectly acceptable on test.
Spring brakes came in sometime about the early eighties, so to find anything with single diaphram actuators, it would have to be bloody old.
With a trailer that had been parked for an extended period, the suspension may have settled and connecting the red line would lift the suspension, but that would actually tend to take the trailer back, not forward.
We’re talking about when you reverse under a trailer and lock onto the pin and there isnt enough room to squeeze between the unit and trailer to hook your lines up. Therefore you reverse under a bit, leave a nice gap to get between, then hook your lines up, then finish the reverse to lock the pin AFTER you’ve connected the lines. I’m not sure if that is split coupling.I was asking if it was possible for the trailer to roll forward and crush you in the small gap if the trailer parking brake is applied, like my boss says it can. I agree with you though, it may raise the suspension, but not release the brakes.
That would have to be quite an old trailer to do that. Most trailers have spring brakes far as I know, meaning when it loses it air the spring brakes should come on. If it is a lever type handbrake then that is more likely not to have spring brakes. Once upon a time if you wanted to move a trailer without connecting susies you could drain all the air out to release the brakes, you can’t now. I think the clues are if it has a shunt button it surely has spring brakes - I would say.
due to the possibility of the trailer rolling forward and crushing the driver between the cab and trailer.
