Quinny:
My order is the same as Lolipop’s, however on ferry trailers, the dock lads have a habit of leaving the trailer suspension either up or down on the max, so checking the trailer height is first before going under.Ken.
Any good tips for dealing with either?
Alter the height before you go under by checking the blue handle.
Ken.
Quinny:
Quinny:
My order is the same as Lolipop’s, however on ferry trailers, the dock lads have a habit of leaving the trailer suspension either up or down on the max, so checking the trailer height is first before going under.Ken.
Stu:
Any good tips for dealing with either?
Alter the height before you go under by checking the blue handle. Level the trailer up or down.
Ken.
There are two rules I use as a fail-safe to remove the most common dangerous mistakes during coupling/uncoupling:
Rule 1 should also be used before driving after being away from the vehicle.
Rule 2 is less relevant now that a lot of trucks give warnings for exiting the cab when the handbrake is off, but no warning does not mean the handbrake is on in every truck.
Of course there is a lot more to do than the above to couple/uncouple correctly but these 2 simple rules will remove the possibility of making the most embarrassing & potentially dangerous errors.
BTW - let’s not forget the number plate. A £100 fine will take away most of the purpose of being at work at all for that day & hand written ones will not save you from the fine.
If you do get caught without one do not say it must have fallen off, as that can lead to a different but more serious charge.
Then again there is split coupling which is an entire different thing. Something that I avoid. Because I am not 30st.
OK…what would you do with a close coupled fridge trailer■■?
Some of them even if you were a waif like 8 stone driver you wouldn’t get in between unit and fridge 
ScaniaUltimate:
BTW - let’s not forget the number plate. A £100 fine will take away most of the purpose of being at work at all for that day & hand written ones will not save you from the fine.
If you do get caught without one do not say it must have fallen off, as that can lead to a different but more serious charge.
That is true,.I once got my trailer plate nicked overnight by some ■■■■ for some unknown reason a few years ago,.and got pulled and nicked.
Usual type of non discretionary modern copper said I should not have left the park and bought a new one… , but the last time I tried to get a plate from a car accessory shop, even thought the truck was parked outside in view, the jobs worth in the shop told me I had to produce the registration document/logbook, so what tf do you do?
If I’d said it must have dropped off, it comes under the remit of insecure load or similar I was told.
So if you make an effort, by writing your reg on a temporary card,.they won’t accept it and still nick you.
Anybody would think they were just intent on making money out of you…surely not. 
Just about sums the ■■■■ job up nowadays.
Cardboard number…
Plate means, one way or the other, they know you know you haven’t got it.
The oldest joke going if you get stopped without one. ‘Officer, I wish to report a theft’.
Surprised how a few people on here have mentioned doing the airlines before the legs when dropping a trailer. My outfits SSOW says to do this and I have always found it odd, forgetting the legs & dropping a trailer is the worst possible outcome so surely eliminate that first.
Occasional human error is inevitable & if a drivers going to get distracted and miss something, best its the airlines in my eyes. No good some driver trainer wagging his finger pointing at the SSOW you didn’t follow, when a loaded trailers on it’s knees shot to bits & needing a wrecker to pick it up.
I do the lines before the legs because i work in the same direction whether dropping off or picking up.
By starting at the clip (connecting) and ending at the clip (dropping) and going anti clockwise with number plate in hand, nothing gets missed, ever.
If i get interrupted i start again.
What gets my goat is those who fail to use the air suspension on the tractor correctly both times, not only to save the landing legs from unnecessary strain but to keep the fifth wheel grease (especially on a newly greased plate) where it belongs and to ensure they don’t overshoot the pin.
Our trainer doesn’t mind which way you do it so long as the procedure is safe, he doesn’t hold with making people change their methods unless he spots something idiotic, ie like those who attempt to unclip and pull the pin first, that’s a failed assessment and cheerio.
No one on here ever do fridges then? Split couple always means air lines go on first and off last unless the trailer has a sliding air line rack or you are a contortionist by trade.
Reverse up to trailer. Get out and check brake is on, check load is correct and do daily checks.
-Reverse tractor so mid lift wheels are in line with front of trailer and you can feel fifth wheel go under.
-Lift up rear suspension so a) You know you are not going to miss the pin because your unit is too low/trailer too high and b) it makes lifting the legs a lot easier
-Connect your lines and check your lights to make sure they all work.
-Get back into cab, reverse to engage kingpin and do tug test.
-Get out with number plate in hand.
-Connect Kingpin clip
-Lift legs
-Put on plate
-Release brake
-Get back into cab and once moving level suspension.
On the split coupling malarkey.
When i wnet through Asda induction around 2009 to get the green card (agency at the time), they had a system i hadn’t come across before, a two position sliding fith wheel operated from within the cab by a combination of switch presses ensuring it could only be triggered by deliberate action.
The idea being the unit started off with the fifth wheel fully back, you would connect up than fit the air lines but double check the trailer brake applied, then operate the fith wheel slider and reverse the unit back till it clicked into its running position, then complete your pick up.
Obviously dropping off you would reverse the operation.
Brilliant system.
Do they still use this method, or is it in use anywhere else, i’d personally never seen it before but then only once in a blue moon have i had anything to do with fridges except for long term at Kwik Save, but mostly KS had day cab tractors and shorter trailers (access at shops) so split coupling was seldom if ever needed.
personally i always on coupling did it in this order - tug test, safety clip , double check tractor unit hand brake is applied, air lines , legs , number plate , lights , trailer brake off, quick look at the 5th wheel jaws to make sure .
tony
AdamST205:
No one on here ever do fridges then? Split couple always means air lines go on first and off last unless the trailer has a sliding air line rack or you are a contortionist by trade.Reverse up to trailer. Get out and check brake is on, check load is correct and do daily checks.
-Reverse tractor so mid lift wheels are in line with front of trailer and you can feel fifth wheel go under.
-Lift up rear suspension so a) You know you are not going to miss the pin because your unit is too low/trailer too high and b) it makes lifting the legs a lot easier
-Connect your lines and check your lights to make sure they all work.
-Get back into cab, reverse to engage kingpin and do tug test.
-Get out with number plate in hand.
-Connect Kingpin clip
-Lift legs
-Put on plate
-Release brake
-Get back into cab and once moving level suspension.
It’s unnecessary and dangerous.
Avoid split coupling at all costs in my view.
Imagine your on a slight gradient you split couple. You put the airlines in, and then you put the electrical lines and ABS in but one is a ■■■■■ so you hold on to something and accident hit the park brake. 
Likely? Unlikely? Who knows but the vast majority of coupling related deaths have occurred when split coupling.
I pick up fridge trailers all the time and have never needed to split couple.
Then again I am not 35st.
[/quote]
I was taught…
Uncoupling - BLACK
BRAKES
LEGS
AIRLINES
CLIP
KINGPIN
when coupling up do it in reverse
[/quote]
You can do all that while reversing!?
adam277:
AdamST205:
No one on here ever do fridges then? Split couple always means air lines go on first and off last unless the trailer has a sliding air line rack or you are a contortionist by trade.Reverse up to trailer. Get out and check brake is on, check load is correct and do daily checks.
-Reverse tractor so mid lift wheels are in line with front of trailer and you can feel fifth wheel go under.
-Lift up rear suspension so a) You know you are not going to miss the pin because your unit is too low/trailer too high and b) it makes lifting the legs a lot easier
-Connect your lines and check your lights to make sure they all work.
-Get back into cab, reverse to engage kingpin and do tug test.
-Get out with number plate in hand.
-Connect Kingpin clip
-Lift legs
-Put on plate
-Release brake
-Get back into cab and once moving level suspension.It’s unnecessary and dangerous.
Avoid split coupling at all costs in my view.Imagine your on a slight gradient you split couple. You put the airlines in, and then you put the electrical lines and ABS in but one is a ■■■■■ so you hold on to something and accident hit the park brake.
Likely? Unlikely? Who knows but the vast majority of coupling related deaths have occurred when split coupling.I pick up fridge trailers all the time and have never needed to split couple.
Then again I am not 35st.
I am 6ft3 and 90KG so not big at all in the width sense but rather not try and connect air lines on my hands and knees crawling behind a cab and get out completely filthy. Also how do you hit the trailer park brake whilst connecting air lines?
Also if a situation did arise and the trailer did somehow manage to slide it would engage with the pin and stop. You might get a bang on the head but it will not crush you.
The only way you will get crushed by a trailer is to be on a gradient, have the legs lifted and have the unit below the pin whilst having the parking brake off. If you managed to do all those things at once then you shouldn’t really be driving anyway.
It is pretty much how everyone does it in our yard and how they teach it during induction. This is from one of the big haulage companies as well.
AdamST205:
adam277:
AdamST205:
No one on here ever do fridges then? Split couple always means air lines go on first and off last unless the trailer has a sliding air line rack or you are a contortionist by trade.Reverse up to trailer. Get out and check brake is on, check load is correct and do daily checks.
-Reverse tractor so mid lift wheels are in line with front of trailer and you can feel fifth wheel go under.
-Lift up rear suspension so a) You know you are not going to miss the pin because your unit is too low/trailer too high and b) it makes lifting the legs a lot easier
-Connect your lines and check your lights to make sure they all work.
-Get back into cab, reverse to engage kingpin and do tug test.
-Get out with number plate in hand.
-Connect Kingpin clip
-Lift legs
-Put on plate
-Release brake
-Get back into cab and once moving level suspension.It’s unnecessary and dangerous.
Avoid split coupling at all costs in my view.Imagine your on a slight gradient you split couple. You put the airlines in, and then you put the electrical lines and ABS in but one is a ■■■■■ so you hold on to something and accident hit the park brake.
Likely? Unlikely? Who knows but the vast majority of coupling related deaths have occurred when split coupling.I pick up fridge trailers all the time and have never needed to split couple.
Then again I am not 35st.I am 6ft3 and 90KG so not big at all in the width sense but rather not try and connect air lines on my hands and knees crawling behind a cab and get out completely filthy. Also how do you hit the trailer park brake whilst connecting air lines?
Also if a situation did arise and the trailer did somehow manage to slide it would engage with the pin and stop. You might get a bang on the head but it will not crush you.
The only way you will get crushed by a trailer is to be on a gradient, have the legs lifted and have the unit below the pin whilst having the parking brake off. If you managed to do all those things at once then you shouldn’t really be driving anyway.
It is pretty much how everyone does it in our yard and how they teach it during induction. This is from one of the big haulage companies as well.
Some trailers have the park brake on the headboard of the trailer which actually seems a better place to have it tbh for a number of reasons. That is what the poster means by catching the trailer brake while connecting the air lines. Although usually I find it isn’t a problem when they are placed there.
Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
You can split couple safely for sure.
The fact remains most coupling accidents involve split coupling.
Also most new trailers have a pull out mavis rail so you don’t even need to split couple.
adam277:
You can split couple safely for sure.
The fact remains most coupling accidents involve split coupling.Also most new trailers have a pull out mavis rail so you don’t even need to split couple.
Yes we have some of them and they are fantastic. Simply slide it over and do it the traditional way.
adam277:
I pick up fridge trailers all the time and have never needed to split couple.
Then again I am not 35st.
A supermarket 4x2 with a 200 litre diesel tank pulling an urban fridge is hardly the same as attempting to couple or uncouple a close coupled “proper” fridge set up.
the maoster:
adam277:
I pick up fridge trailers all the time and have never needed to split couple.
Then again I am not 35st.A supermarket 4x2 with a 200 litre diesel tank pulling an urban fridge is hardly the same as attempting to couple or uncouple a close coupled “proper” fridge set up.
robroy:
the maoster:
adam277:
I pick up fridge trailers all the time and have never needed to split couple.
Then again I am not 35st.A supermarket 4x2 with a 200 litre diesel tank pulling an urban fridge is hardly the same as attempting to couple or uncouple a close coupled “proper” fridge set up.
I think we have 400L tanks actually 
Also we have 6x2 and 4x2.
ye its not a fridge trailer but still!
It’s not like im pulling trailers with a 4ft gap between the headboard of the trailer and the the unit lol.
edit: actually most times I am. But still!
