I learnt a lesson today, taking your time doing something and make sure you do it right.
I passed my C+E in nov 2010 and have been driving artics since February last year without incident…until today. I arrived back at the yard and the rain was bouncing, got round to the loading bays, opened back doors and reversed on, now just drop the trailer and park up and I’m done. I jumped out and started running as it was raining so hard, pulled the trailer brake, disconnected airlines, pulled pin, jumped in, pulled of the pin and lowered the suspension and pulled out, BANG, oh ■■■■, I’d forgotten to wind down the legs, ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ what am I going to do.
I couldn’t get the winding handle out and wind the legs down as the handle was stuck, what the ■■■■ am I going to do, I ran down to the office to see if any drivers were about, and there was nobody, I run back and started assessing the situation and trying to think of a way to get the trailer up. I came up with an idea, I’d try and use the air tank on the back of the unit to lift the trailer a bit so I could get the handle out. I jumped in and started lifting the suspension, backed in a bit more and the air tank lifted the trailer just enough to let me get the handle out. I was totally soaked now, more from sweat than the rain I think, I managed to wind the legs down enough to get the unit in under the trailer and lift it up properly. I hooked back up and connected the lines and checked trailer for damage, none to be found, luckily.
So the moral of the story is, no matter what the weather is, no matter how much of a hurry you are in, ALWAYS take your time and make sure you do things properly.
On a different note, I’m quite pleased I managed to get the trailer back up on my own
dar1976:
Although BLACK is a possible it usually ends in leaving number plate on the trailer you drop on other side of the yard.
I have found remembering BLANK stops the above mentioned.
I have ‘lost’ 3 trailer plates prior to changing my acronym.
Good tip. i generally remove the plate when opening the doors or before I start the BLACK operations…I’ve been known to ‘lose’ the plate in the distant past though!!!
Dumping the air out of the trailer suspension will raise the nose sometimes enough to ram the unit back under - only if it’s got run-up ramps to the fifth wheel.
If it’s another trailer blocking access to the winding handle for the legs couple up to that and move it out the way - surprising how often people forget that.
These are only if the trailer’s not too heavy. If it’s heavy you’ll need either a massive forklift or a stack of good pallets and a couple of bottle jacks to put at the corner of the pallets directly above where the square blocks of wood on the pallets are.
Own Account Driver:
Dumping the air out of the trailer suspension will raise the nose sometimes enough to ram the unit back under - only if it’s got run-up ramps to the fifth wheel.
If it’s another trailer blocking access to the winding handle for the legs couple up to that and move it out the way - surprising how often people forget that.
These are only if the trailer’s not too heavy. If it’s heavy you’ll need either a massive forklift or a stack of good pallets and a couple of bottle jacks to put at the corner of the pallets directly above where the square blocks of wood on the pallets are.
Sounds like good sound advice there, thanks. I had a chat with a neighbour who is also a class 1 driver and he told me about dumping the air out of the trailer as well. Your advice has been stored, just hope I never put myself in the position where I gotta use it.
10/10 SN, you are a real driver. There’s a lot of steering wheel attendants on this site who have never ever not even once ever made the slightest mistake. More kudoos to you for admitting it but even more for finding the solution yourself.
My own is thinking “That is not supposed to do that” when I released the airlines and the trailer moved away rather quick. Not done the B of BLACK. Luckily the trailer stopped against rubber bump stops and nobody saw it!
raymundo:
10/10 SN, you are a real driver. There’s a lot of steering wheel attendants on this site who have never ever not even once ever made the slightest mistake. More kudoos to you for admitting it but even more for finding the solution yourself.
Thanks raymundo, I’ve made a mistake, as long as I learn from it and it never happens again, I’ll be happy. The reason I posted it on here is if someone reads what I done and it stops them making the same mistake, I’ll be happy. I got lucky with the trailer being empty, nobody seeing what happened and coming up with a quick solution. I’m an agency driver who’s been on the same placement for 19 months now but I would have been out the door if I had have been seen, so had to think fast.
