Well it was a 12 hour shift. It wasn’t bad to be honest. Started at 2000, drove a merc actros and worked for a retail company (won’t give the name out). Had a two hour induction. It was good. The guy showed me how to use a curtain sider and the fridge box and all the procedure. I was given a local store then one in Edinburgh.
Got lost a couple of times and had to do a tricky reverse back. Both times they gave me the 52 foot trailers. One had two axles and the other one had three with the rear wheel swing (i prefer that one). The two axles one was hard to drive. The trailer would cut in too sharp. Anyway apart from getting lost at a couple of places, the main problem was the reverse. When I thought about it later on, I found out that I made it hard for myself going to the blindside then reversing back to the bay. I see the drivers go round and position themselves to the driving side when reversing back so they could see where they are going. So I learned that.
Other than that, people were very helpful actually. One even had to reverse back at the end of the shift. I let him do it. I had a long day.
One question I have is if the trailer is too high for the coupling, how do you lower it down? Or do you put the suspension up of the unit to match the kingpin? A bit confused there. I’m out tonight too so wish me luck.
Cant help you on the height question but well done on your first day! I have my first shift tomo! Albeit a rigid
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sounds like a good first shift in honesty. Got the job done with no damage. Well done mate.
Best thing to do is raise the suspension on the unit. Winding legs is a ball ache!
You put the suspension up to meet the trailer most times but some units have adjustable 5th wheels. So if you are going from a double deck trailer to a single. If you need to do this you should be shown but other drivers will help.
I always reverse upto trailer so I am under and no more then use air suspension to lift trailer up before engaging. Two reasons, I find it easier to wind up legs if they are not pressed into ground. Most important reason I use to do shunting so I would lift trailer high and wind legs up a wee bit then forget to unwind legs when dropping trailer. And it would take at least 2 minutes to go under and sort that but I was busy ok!!! My nose isn’t going to pick it’s self.
As slicks said reverse the unit under then raise the back of the unit , as well as taking the legs off the ground for easier winding if you are not exactly straight the trailer will slide so the pin slots in .
Well done mate, sounds like you had a decent first shift!
As for coupling to a trailer, it’s always easiest if you lower the unit suspension fully, back under the trailer so the 5th wheel is underneath but not beyond the pin (don’t hesitate to get out and check positioning to make sure your clearances are sound, a guy at my old place backed under too far, raised the air, tried to back into the pin which was on the other side of the 5th wheel and smashed the back of the unit into the trailer! When you’ve got used to it you’ll be confident enough to do it all in one go without getting out the cab). Then raise the suspension enough so the trailer legs have cleared the floor (if not it can be a nightmare to wind them up after your tug test), again get out the cab and check your lined up okay, back onto the pin and 2x tug tests. Also physically look at the back of the 5th wheel to make sure the pin has locked correctly
Not sure how old your units are, but we run 64 plate actros’ at our place, and you can operate the level control from the dash/steering wheel rather than having to use the remote, makes it a lot easier when your confident enough to couple up without leaving the cab
Moral of the story, never be afraid to hop out the cab and have a look!
Good luck mate 
Also its worth mentioning that landing legs have 2 gears, if your struggling to get the legs up (especially if there’s a heavy load on the trailer, plasterboard etc) just pull the handle out further, it will take bloody forever to get the legs 2-3cm up so they clear the floor but it will save you sweating your back out before you’ve even left the yard
Yeah. That’s one of the first things a guy taught me on my day one. I’ve done three shifts now and apart from feeling tired (the sudden change to nightshift) I really enjoyed it.
I was nervous about hooking up when I first started but your confidence grows pretty quick. I’ll drop the suspension just under the height of the trailer and reverse under then lift it and reverse back fully. Then I’ll lift fully before doing tug test. Takes the strain off the legs. Bent legs aren’t fun to wind up. Plus, then you know the air suspension is working as it should. Only thing to bare in mind is the trailer brake is on. It’s 99.9% going to be on…
Send me a pm mate. Curious as to where you are working 