Hi
Has anybody had anything to do with ‘dual hight fifth wheels’?
I posted a comment last week regarding my first job driving an artic. I got to the depot and had to couple up a trailer but couldnt get the suspension high enough at the back of the truck for the pin to lock in.
Anyway after about half an hour of scratching my head another driver came and i presume flicked a few buttons at the back of the tractor unit and the fifth wheel just ‘popped up’.
Im going again tonight and still dont really know how to operate this type of fifth wheel as ive never been shown properly also do you have to do something once the trailer has been coupled up?
Any advice would be most useful.
Cheers
Raising the fifth wheel when you don’t know what you’re doing can lead to disastrous results if things go wrong, so the correct procedure is to go into the transport office and ask if you’re allowed to alter the fifth wheel height and if so can someone show you how.
The controls can vary a bit and it’s a long time since I’ve used one but from memory, there will probably be a small box on the side of the unit with three buttons on it, one button will release the locking mechanism (a bar that crosses the width of the fifth wheel and engages into holes in the surround plates), and the other two buttons will be to raise and lower the fifth wheel, pretty much the same as a tail lift really.
You hold in the button to release the locking bar and with the button still pushed in you use the buttons to raise/lower the fifth wheel.
I cannot stress this enough, be very careful when raising the fifth wheel that the locking bar engages correctly when you release the button, a bar crossing the width of the fifth wheel coupling will lock into holes in the surround, check it visually every time, as I said the result of a raised fifth wheel coupling dropping whilst your driving can be disastrous for yourself and anyone in the immediate vicinity.
Some vehicles may have the controls inside the cab, when this is the case there will probably be a button for unlocking the mechanism and a toggle switch for raising/lowering the fifth wheel.
Some companies won’t let you alter the fifth wheel height until you’ve been trained so ask before doing anything 
Thanks for that.
I went to the depot last monday morning at 00:30 for an agency. I was moving trailers from the bays and parking them out of the way then picking another one up and backing it up to get unloaded. There was nobody about who could drive an artic and i was really just chucked in at the deep end.
If the trailer has been dropped too high to engage (nearly always a Scania), then do the thing we had to do for years before air suspension was thought of…engage low gear on the legs and wind trailer down to the correct height.
Some trailers didn’t have dual geared landing legs so it used to be a case of searching out sleepers paving slabs anything that could be driven over to raise the rear of the unit sufficiently, haven’t come across single geared legs for years but suppose some might still exist.
Its still good practice to leave a couple of inches of space under the landing legs when dropping an empty trailer…and to drop the tag axle (Scanias especially)down to level the lorry to drive height before lowering the legs…helps prevent the too often scenario of those numbskulls who sit fat arsed in cab looking in the mirrors whilst they back nonchalantly under the trailer without bothering to look or check…crunch!!!
Good point Juddian and the OP would be wise to check that the trailer does actually need a raised 5th wheel and hasn’t simply been dropped to high.
The only trailers I’ve seen that need a raised 5th wheel have been double deckers with an extra deep swan neck, pull them without raising the 5th wheel and the legs are too close to the ground.
You could also check to see if the trailer has airbags at the rear that can be raised or lowered. That will bring the front of the trailer down to the level of the coupling.
Thanks for all the advice guys.
Yes Tachograph i can confirm that these are double deck trailers and the lorries seem like there on low profile tyres or something.
Also when im shunting around in the yard if i pull the shunt button on the trailer then it makes it much easier for tight turns.
If I were you, I wouldn’t touch the fifth wheel height unless someone has authorised it and/or shown you the procedure. If you do alter it without checking and it goes wrong, you will not be a popular driver at best and at worst, you could have a hell of an accident.
I’d go with Juddian and lower the legs on the trailer and CHECK it’s got the pin as a trailer hitting the back of the cab will not be pleasant…nor will the (possible) broken lights on the back of the unit…
Lowering the legs on the trailer sounds much more easier. How do you get the ‘second’ gear on them then.? 
Winding down the trailer would be a solution as long as you’re not going out on the roads, if you do take the trailer on public roads there’s no way you should resort to that method as the legs will most likely be too close to the road.
In any case you’re not going to be very popular with the other drivers when they can’t get under the trailer because you’ve dropped it too low 
As you’re not going on the roads see if there’s another driver there who will show you how to raise/lower the 5th wheel coupling.
newdriver2012:
How do you get the ‘second’ gear on them then.?
If you pull the handle out towards you it will usually be in the high gear, push the handle spindle in and it will usually be in the low gear.
Some trailer legs gears are the opposite way round but it’s usually out for high gear and in for low gear.
I’ll add something about trailer dropping they don’t teach you at training school, and some large fleets have bad practices too.
I mentioned above about leaving a couple of inches clear under the landing legs when dropping an empty trailer…there is the obvious reason, to help ensure the next driver can reach the rubbing plate to ensure correct pick up…but another important reason too which isn’t so apparent.
If you wind the legs fully down when dropping an empty, its quite likely as you pull out that the 5 wheel will stay level…a bad thing, as when you pick the next trailer up its entriely possible for the level 5th wheel to hit the front of the trailer even pivot upwards instead of running underneath…i’ve been beside a supemarket full time driver who hit the front of the trailer about 6 times with the back of the 5th wheel early one morning, eventually i had to stop the driver and point out what was wrong…looking at the battered fronts of rest of the identical trailer fleet showed this to be quite normal, yet yard policy is to wind legs to ground…unbloodybelievable.
If when you drop the empty you leave a gap under legs then as you pull away carefully you should feel the trailer start to drop down the back of the 5th wheel as it pivots and get a nice tilted back 5th wheel for next pick up, perfect…leaning out the door/window which is good (real lorry world not training/assessment crap) practice will confirm the point…then stop and drop the air suspension before pulling away…not really necessary to dump air when dropping an empty but not a bad regular practice to get into to make sure you don’t just pull away with full airbags when you drop a heavy.
please no jokes about pulling out with full bags… 
Thanks for all the advice.
Last night went really well, i managed to move loads trailers around the yard and was backing up to the bays with ease 
.
The adjustable fifth wheel was pointed out to me when i went as the manager who was on shift knew quite alot about them.
Just cant wait for my next c+e outing.