Hi guys firstly thank you for having me here. A bit about myself, I was trained by the Army at DST leconfield and gained my C+E on a wagon and drag. Drove Army drops and aircraft refueller tankers for 4 years. not driven a hgv for 8-9 years and have just started a new job which means driving the companies equipment to site on an artic. ( driving is only a very small part of the job) Ive done a 4 hour refresher as I was not happy just jumping straight back in after so long away from hgv’s and as I have never used a fifth wheel before. (in my opinion 4 hours was no where near enough). The truck I’m using is a hire vehicle, a daf with a fontain fifth wheel and can I get the bloody thing uncoupled?? no! covered it in the refresher but this is a different fifth wheel and don’t I feel stupid.
Am I doing something wrong or am I missing something? if anyone can help id be ever so grateful.
Ive searched google and even read the hand book but I still cant get it uncoupled.
GingerNut82:
Hi guys firstly thank you for having me here. A bit about myself, I was trained by the Army at DST leconfield and gained my C+E on a wagon and drag. Drove Army drops and aircraft refueller tankers for 4 years. not driven a hgv for 8-9 years and have just started a new job which means driving the companies equipment to site on an artic. ( driving is only a very small part of the job) Ive done a 4 hour refresher as I was not happy just jumping straight back in after so long away from hgv’s and as I have never used a fifth wheel before. (in my opinion 4 hours was no where near enough). The truck I’m using is a hire vehicle, a daf with a fontain fifth wheel and can I get the bloody thing uncoupled?? no! covered it in the refresher but this is a different fifth wheel and don’t I feel stupid.
Am I doing something wrong or am I missing something? if anyone can help id be ever so grateful.
Ive searched google and even read the hand book but I still cant get it uncoupled.
frustrating
Thanks guys
You’ve probably done it by now but anyway, I’ve no idea why you can’t uncouple the trailer as you haven’t said what’s happening to stop the unit and trailer separating.
With the legs down, the air and electrics lines disconnected and the trailer brake on:
Check to see if there is a dog clip stopping the fifth wheel coupling handle coming out.
Pull the fifth wheel handle out and ensure that it stays out. (There are different types of fifth wheel but usually you will pull the handle forward to engage a notch in the handle that stops it going back in)
If the fifth wheel handle will not pull out try shunting the unit back very slightly, sometimes just releasing the handbrake and reapplying it will do the job. (What happens is the king pin is tight up against the fifth wheel locking bar stopping it from moving so you can’t pull out the handle, shunting the unit back very slightly with the trailer brake still engaged usually fixes the problem)
Apart from this it would help if you said exactly why you can’t uncouple the trailer, what’s going wrong.
Cheers for the feedback I will try what you have suggested. The trailer stays attached to the tractor unit 99.9% of the time.
Let me tell you what I have done,
Trailer brake applied, legs down, electrical and air connections disconnected, clip out (in the manual it says spring clip??) .
This is where I can’t get the handle to pull out but like you suggested,I will try that tonight. there’s no rush for me to get it uncoupled as it stays attached to the trailer nearly all the time but I’m going to have to do it sooner or later.
I would obviously ask another driver but I’m the only one in the company.
The picture shows the type of fifth wheel coupling mac12 is referring to, you can see the end of the wire attached to the drop down locking device, you have to pull the drop bar up before you can pull the handle out.
There are different types of locking mechanisms so if you could take a picture of the fifth wheel coupling we may be able to give you better advise.
GingerNut82:
All is well. Must have been as you said, worked a dream.
Thanks for your support guys. I wont be making that mistake again!
Your next one will be the 5th wheel wont lock
when pulling the 5th wheel to release and locking it forward it sometimes wont lock when picking up a trailer. KNOCK the handle backwards so it pops off the notch that Tacho was on about before you couple up.
(had a driver banging a trailer for about 5 min the other night )
)