now what do you reckon to this
Wind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.
culled from a major PLC working practice book
It didn’t mention anything about dropping the trailer on solid ground…
Tankerman:
It didn’t mention anything about dropping the trailer on solid ground…
Was that pic taken at the truckstop colsterworth
That picture was taken on the spare land at Gilbraith’s Accrington depot. The tank was loaded with caustic soda.
The fitters pumped it out into another tank, jacked up the empty one moved it on to hard standing and blew the load back onto the tank again. Management never found out, that’s what you get with a good team who looked after a careless driver.
As you can see it was in the evening and drinks all round were called for.
Seen the same thing at colstrrworth one night cpl of guys doing a trailer swap in the back park i didnt have the heat to take a pic thow
hitch:
now what do you reckon to thisWind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.culled from a major PLC working practice book
unit suspension fully up, wind legs down leaving a small gap to the floor, disconnect everything, pull pin, drop unit and pull away when the weight’s off the unit.
hitch:
now what do you reckon to thisWind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.culled from a major PLC working practice book
I wouldn’t need low ratio if both unit and trailer are on air
hitch:
now what do you reckon to thisWind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.culled from a major PLC working practice book
Total twaddle …
Find safe and firm ground, wind down legs to ground, disconect air lines and electrical suzies, pull pin, lower suspension if possible and pull out from under trailer.
Thats the official way to do it and if you don’t give that order when asked on a LGV test you will fail.
Winding the legs down further on a loaded trailer is a pain in the ■■■ especially when the next poor sod who has to work his guts out picking it up. Just lower till the legs touch and lower the suspension.
Pat Hasler:
hitch:
now what do you reckon to thisWind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.culled from a major PLC working practice book
Total twaddle …
Find safe and firm ground, wind down legs to ground, disconect air lines and electrical suzies, pull pin, lower suspension if possible and pull out from under trailer.
Thats the official way to do it and if you don’t give that order when asked on a LGV test you will fail.
Winding the legs down further on a loaded trailer is a pain in the ■■■ especially when the next poor sod who has to work his guts out picking it up. Just lower till the legs touch and lower the suspension.
I like to put the trailer brake on too. I was taught to drop it at standard ride height on the unit and drop unit suspension before pulling out.
hitch:
Wind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.
culled from a major PLC working practice book
It would be my guess that someone was given the task of updating the “major PLC working practice book”.
The first instruction would be valid for a unit on steel suspension, good practice in fact.
It was probably a boring job, so he/she just added “once the air suspension has been lowered”
at the end.
Regards,
Nick
starfighter:
Pat Hasler:
hitch:
now what do you reckon to thisWind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.culled from a major PLC working practice book
Total twaddle …
Find safe and firm ground, wind down legs to ground, disconect air lines and electrical suzies, pull pin, lower suspension if possible and pull out from under trailer.
Thats the official way to do it and if you don’t give that order when asked on a LGV test you will fail.
Winding the legs down further on a loaded trailer is a pain in the ■■■ especially when the next poor sod who has to work his guts out picking it up. Just lower till the legs touch and lower the suspension.I like to put the trailer brake on too. I was taught to drop it at standard ride height on the unit and drop unit suspension before pulling out.
but that doesn’t always get the weight off the unit on a fully loaded trailer
stevieboy308:
unit suspension fully up, wind legs down leaving a small gap to the floor, disconnect everything, pull pin, drop unit and pull away when the weight’s off the unit.
I’m glad I don’t have to regularly pick up trailers you’ve dropped, it’s sods law that sooner or later I wouldn’t be able to lift the trailer legs of the ground and I’d have to wind the trailer down by hand or mess about putting stuff down to reverse over.
tachograph:
stevieboy308:
unit suspension fully up, wind legs down leaving a small gap to the floor, disconnect everything, pull pin, drop unit and pull away when the weight’s off the unit.I’m glad I don’t have to regularly pick up trailers you’ve dropped, it’s sods law that sooner or later I wouldn’t be able to lift the trailer legs of the ground and I’d have to wind the trailer down by hand or mess about putting stuff down to reverse over.
no need to start doing any exercise fella, trailer brake on, red air line on, trailer suspension up, wind legs up that are off the floor. or put a bit of wood on the fifth wheel, unit up, legs up abit, down, wood out.
on the other 99% you could couple up nice an easy as your unit would go low enough to get under the trailer without touching it
stevieboy308:
tachograph:
stevieboy308:
unit suspension fully up, wind legs down leaving a small gap to the floor, disconnect everything, pull pin, drop unit and pull away when the weight’s off the unit.I’m glad I don’t have to regularly pick up trailers you’ve dropped, it’s sods law that sooner or later I wouldn’t be able to lift the trailer legs of the ground and I’d have to wind the trailer down by hand or mess about putting stuff down to reverse over.
no need to start doing any exercise fella, trailer brake on, red air line on, trailer suspension up, wind legs up that are off the floor. or put a bit of wood on the fifth wheel, unit up, legs up abit, down, wood out
■■■■ site easier if the trailer is dropped at normal ride height tho 
green456:
stevieboy308:
tachograph:
stevieboy308:
unit suspension fully up, wind legs down leaving a small gap to the floor, disconnect everything, pull pin, drop unit and pull away when the weight’s off the unit.I’m glad I don’t have to regularly pick up trailers you’ve dropped, it’s sods law that sooner or later I wouldn’t be able to lift the trailer legs of the ground and I’d have to wind the trailer down by hand or mess about putting stuff down to reverse over.
no need to start doing any exercise fella, trailer brake on, red air line on, trailer suspension up, wind legs up that are off the floor. or put a bit of wood on the fifth wheel, unit up, legs up abit, down, wood out
■■■■ site easier if the trailer is dropped at normal ride height tho
not really because 99% of the time you’d couple up the easiest possible way - under without touching and able to lift the legs off the ground.
like i said if a fully loaded trailer is dropped at normal height you can’t always drop the unit enough to get the weight off the unit because of the sag of the front of the trailer and it’s always easier to couple up to a trailer that you can get under without touching rather than forcing it up the ramps, especially with auto boxes.
starfighter:
Pat Hasler:
hitch:
now what do you reckon to thisWind the landing legs down fully.
If the trailer is loaded use low ratio for a further 10-15 turns (push
winding handle in for low ratio — pull out for high ratio)
This will ensure you can release from under the trailer easily once the
air suspension has been lowered
Report any damaged landing legs.culled from a major PLC working practice book
Total twaddle …
Find safe and firm ground, wind down legs to ground, disconect air lines and electrical suzies, pull pin, lower suspension if possible and pull out from under trailer.
Thats the official way to do it and if you don’t give that order when asked on a LGV test you will fail.
Winding the legs down further on a loaded trailer is a pain in the ■■■ especially when the next poor sod who has to work his guts out picking it up. Just lower till the legs touch and lower the suspension.I like to put the trailer brake on too. I was taught to drop it at standard ride height on the unit and drop unit suspension before pulling out.
Oh my God ! You are correct I missed the ‘Apply trailer brake’ bit that goes after finding safe ground. But then after so many years pulling trailers that have automatic parking brakes I can be forgiven 
I remember that when air suspension first came in, it was ‘normal’ practice to dump the air from the trailer suspension before uncoupling. The reason was that the air would frequently leak out anyway, and as the rear went down, the front went up. This made it quite likely that the next driver would miss the pin altogether and bash the back of his unit.
I have never seen any instruction to wind the legs down further - possibly for the same reason as above.
Much easier to wind the legs up to lower the trailer than vice versa
A lot of modern trailers are designed to sag from the mid section to the pin so lifting the suspension slightly can help others.
For instance dropping a trailer with a Euro spec unit will be too low for a steel sprung ERF 
Santa:
I remember that when air suspension first came in, it was ‘normal’ practice to dump the air from the trailer suspension before uncoupling. The reason was that the air would frequently leak out anyway, and as the rear went down, the front went up. This made it quite likely that the next driver would miss the pin altogether and bash the back of his unit.I have never seen any instruction to wind the legs down further - possibly for the same reason as above.
that was the way when I worked for the Germans, drop the trailer suspension, leave the unit on ride setting, until you are free of the pin, then lower it to stop it springing up as you draw forward.
Loaded trailers were rarely dropped without putting timber under the jockey feet/wheels to spread the weight and avoid the legs sinking into the ground. With steel suspension it was usually a case of giving it a little power to pick up your trailer, I’ve seen a unit spat out on more than one occasion when not enough oomph had been given. When air suspension first came in we got no ‘How to’ info, you were just expected to know what to do.
When dropping I raised the unit suspension slightly, wound down the legs (high ratio) until slack in the feet had been taken up no more than that and pulled the pin, pulled unit forward a little to disengage and then lowered suspension of unit and slipped nicely out, trailer would then rest at normal ride height. It takes a couple of goes to get the amount of lift/lower about right then after that it comes naturally.
Picking up being the reverse procedure, no wings damaged or greasy and easy action on the kingpin. Obviously I haven’t included the correct order of parkbrake, lines off etc which goes without saying. Winding the legs right down and then a bit more on low ratio would have got you a kick up the backside from the poor sod that had to pick your trailer up later, something that really got up the nose of other drivers. Franky.