James Bateman:
I also couple up like Wheel Nut does,though last week I was driving an automatic Merc on the agency for DHL,went up to a place in Crick,dropped the empty trailer I took up there,went to get under the loaded trailer,did so and lifted the suspension to little effect.
Some heavy stuff on ( magnums ) anyway,lifted the trailer slightly and reversed under,it was a struggle and I gave it too much throttle and clobbered the pin
Having a 4 wheel unit didnāt help,much prefer having a clutch for a good old bit of clutch control,a much smoother couple up,imho.
The six wheel one is no better, for some reason Mercs donāt seem to drop low enough to slide under a loaded trailer smoothly.
I know wot u both mean!! I could only pick up an empty one without waking the district up . Couldnāt manage a loaded one without āover doingā the gasā¦gets bloody stuck about half way and the trouble with the older clutchless Mercs is they donāt seem to go backwards as smooth as they do forwardsā¦all or nothing!! Gotta admit that i do tend to back up to it, get the height right, pull forward a bit, start to make the reverse and then as soon as i feel the unit ādropā, iām on the suspension lift to get the legs off the deck. Not ideal (iām ready for the lashingās ) but it tends to leave the pin intact and doesnāt wake the trampers within half a mile!! Feenixā¦had that situation before and i spent all night looking in the mirror making sure the trailer was still onā¦gotta be one of the most un-nerving drives iāve ever had and iām sure uāll agree made worse buy the fact that the pin or jaws were a bit worn so everytime u touched the stop/go peddle,the trailer would move back n forth!!
James Bateman:
I also couple up like Wheel Nut does,though last week I was driving an automatic Merc on the agency for DHL,went up to a place in Crick,dropped the empty trailer I took up there,went to get under the loaded trailer,did so and lifted the suspension to little effect.
Some heavy stuff on ( magnums ) anyway,lifted the trailer slightly and reversed under,it was a struggle and I gave it too much throttle and clobbered the pin
Having a 4 wheel unit didnāt help,much prefer having a clutch for a good old bit of clutch control,a much smoother couple up,imho.
The six wheel one is no better, for some reason Mercs donāt seem to drop low enough to slide under a loaded trailer smoothly.
Feenixā¦had that situation before and i spent all night looking in the mirror making sure the trailer was still onā¦gotta be one of the most un-nerving drives iāve ever had and iām sure uāll agree made worse buy the fact that the pin or jaws were a bit worn so everytime u touched the stop/go peddle,the trailer would move back n forth!!
Yep,it is a bit unerving when you can feel the pin slopping about in the fifth wheel as you drive. Luckily,the one I mentioned the other nightā¦I had no problems with it,so it must have been āinā o.k.
As has been mentioned above,some of the auto transmissions are not very good with the coupling up procedure. If you have a heavy trailer and you donāt keep moving as you go under the trailer,you end up smashing into the pin,because the transmission doesnāt have the same control as a manual box/your left leg ! Sometimes thoā,I can just ease up to the pin and just āsmoochā it in,without banging or anything. Looks really professional when you get it do that ! (Of course I AM really professional ! ).
Rob K:
Regarding the L-shaped safety clip, I seem to recall there was a discussion on these forums about those some years ago and it was discovered that many trucks lack the dogclip but it isnāt actually a defect as long as the spring works on the L-shaped bit. Iām sure someone will correct me if Iām wrong.
Rob K,
Reading this bit:
the system it was the one that you have bit of wire that you pull and then you can pull the handle to split I hope you know what I mean also there is hole there where you put the clip in and the only way you can pull the bit of wire if you remove the clip,
it would appear to me that it does not have the L shaped bolt that you squeeze to allow the handle to be freed,but the wire that operates a spring loaded pawl that also has a dog clip fitted,which is really a belt and braces way of making the locking handle safe.
But as has been said,if there is a clip,FIT IT!
. Couldnāt manage a loaded one without āover doingā the gasā¦gets bloody stuck about half way and the trouble with the older clutchless Mercs is they donāt seem to go backwards as smooth as they do forwardsā¦all or nothing!! 
Gotta admit that i do tend to back up to it, get the height right, pull forward a bit, start to make the reverse and then as soon as i feel the unit ādropā, iām on the suspension lift to get the legs off the deck. Not ideal (iām ready for the lashingās 
) but it tends to leave the pin intact and doesnāt wake the trampers within half a mile!! Feenixā¦had that situation before and i spent all night looking in the mirror making sure the trailer was still onā¦gotta be one of the most un-nerving drives iāve ever had and iām sure uāll agree made worse buy the fact that the pin or jaws were a bit worn so everytime u touched the stop/go peddle,the trailer would move back n forth!!
