Years ago I had a driver lied to me about damage to a load, which meant in turn I lied to my customer. Never thought much of him once I found out what had actually happened.
I’d always fess up, we all make mistakes.
shreck:
Thank you all very much. I told him the truth, and he was pixxed of but he said thank you for doing the right thing and putting my hands up.still got a job
It’s not anything you will do again, make sure you make use of the unit airbags in future, I often see people just going straight under trailers without raising back of the unit then raising it when they are under, they must think it is to help them raising trailer legs without thinking they’ve probably just bent them or missing the pin!
If in doubt get out. 
streaky:
make sure you make use of the unit airbags in future, I often see people just going straight under trailers without raising back of the unit then raising it when they are under, they must think it is to help them raising trailer legs without thinking they’ve probably just bent them or missing the pin!
If in doubt get out.
I was beginning to think people didn’t know how to hook up to a trailer properly until your post. No need to get out to check the fifth wheel vs trailer height, just go under enough so you know the back of the unit is under the trailer and lift up the rear suspension until you see the front of the trailer rise up and et voila, no overshooting the fifth wheel.
Conor:
streaky:
make sure you make use of the unit airbags in future, I often see people just going straight under trailers without raising back of the unit then raising it when they are under, they must think it is to help them raising trailer legs without thinking they’ve probably just bent them or missing the pin!
If in doubt get out.I was beginning to think people didn’t know how to hook up to a trailer properly until your post. No need to get out to check the fifth wheel vs trailer height, just go under enough so you know the back of the unit is under the trailer and lift up the rear suspension until you see the front of the trailer rise up and et voila, no overshooting the fifth wheel.
I think you boys have just baffled carryfast!! Yep, no need to be getting out to check heights, under low, lift, see trailer rise, back up, click, tug! Bosh
stevieboy308:
Conor:
streaky:
make sure you make use of the unit airbags in future, I often see people just going straight under trailers without raising back of the unit then raising it when they are under, they must think it is to help them raising trailer legs without thinking they’ve probably just bent them or missing the pin!
If in doubt get out.I was beginning to think people didn’t know how to hook up to a trailer properly until your post. No need to get out to check the fifth wheel vs trailer height, just go under enough so you know the back of the unit is under the trailer and lift up the rear suspension until you see the front of the trailer rise up and et voila, no overshooting the fifth wheel.
I think you boys have just baffled carryfast!! Yep, no need to be getting out to check heights, under low, lift, see trailer rise, back up, click, tug! Bosh
My point exactly, don’t worry no need in checking just bash on with it
Conor:
streaky:
make sure you make use of the unit airbags in future, I often see people just going straight under trailers without raising back of the unit then raising it when they are under, they must think it is to help them raising trailer legs without thinking they’ve probably just bent them or missing the pin!
If in doubt get out.I was beginning to think people didn’t know how to hook up to a trailer properly until your post. No need to get out to check the fifth wheel vs trailer height, just go under enough so you know the back of the unit is under the trailer and lift up the rear suspension until you see the front of the trailer rise up and et voila, no overshooting the fifth wheel.
+1. It really is as simple as that. No need to overthink things.
The only time I get out and look is if or when the trailer doesn’t rise when lifting the suspension back up…that’s when it could start going wrong or should I say, something has already gone wrong, like knobber has lifted the suspension right up and then wound the legs right down…some units seem to go higher than others for some reasons…our Mercs really struggle if dropped by a MAN or Renault Magnum
I’ve got a MAN auto and it either goes or it doesn’t, no middle ground 
not like a Volvo that will creep gently.
When picking empty up it’s easy but a loaded one is totally different. I usually get 5th wheel just touching trailer then try to creep back until the click, then raise it for the 2 tugs
Bloody love it, so no need to go and check when one of our planks winds the legs all the way down when dropping an empty tank off with a Scania with the mid lift raised…you can miss that pin entirely with a MAN/Daf with the suspension fully up.
I happened to see (from across the yard so couldn’t stop the twerp) one of our intrepid agency lads reverse straight under such a tank with an MAN on mirrors alone, true hero trucker stylee, only smashed the unit rear lights and dented the hydraulic oil tank and bent the splash guard bolted to the landing legs…dunno how the agency stays in business the bills he must (read should) receive.
You carry on doing it your way lads, i’ll carry on getting out and looking before sliding under.
Never missed a pin in 40 years, but i have dropped an empty tipper trailer on its half lowered knees (no damage other than my non existant ego) just as my then boss drove into the yard with wifey sat beside him 
Ryy86:
stevieboy308:
Conor:
streaky:
make sure you make use of the unit airbags in future, I often see people just going straight under trailers without raising back of the unit then raising it when they are under, they must think it is to help them raising trailer legs without thinking they’ve probably just bent them or missing the pin!
If in doubt get out.I was beginning to think people didn’t know how to hook up to a trailer properly until your post. No need to get out to check the fifth wheel vs trailer height, just go under enough so you know the back of the unit is under the trailer and lift up the rear suspension until you see the front of the trailer rise up and et voila, no overshooting the fifth wheel.
I think you boys have just baffled carryfast!! Yep, no need to be getting out to check heights, under low, lift, see trailer rise, back up, click, tug! Bosh
My point exactly, don’t worry no need in checking just bash on with it
You’ve just proving you can’t get you head round it, don’t worry, you’re in good company, isn’t he carryfast!!
One day the the penny might drop and you’ll realise your attempt to look smarter than the average trucker has actually had the opposite effect
Juddian:
Bloody love it, so no need to go and check when one of our planks winds the legs all the way down when dropping an empty tank off with a Scania with the mid lift raised…you can miss that pin entirely with a MAN/Daf with the suspension fully up.I happened to see (from across the yard so couldn’t stop the twerp) one of our intrepid agency lads reverse straight under such a tank with an MAN on mirrors alone, true hero trucker stylee, only smashed the unit rear lights and dented the hydraulic oil tank and bent the splash guard bolted to the landing legs…dunno how the agency stays in business the bills he must (read should) receive.
You carry on doing it your way lads, i’ll carry on getting out and looking before sliding under.
Never missed a pin in 40 years, but i have dropped an empty tipper trailer on its half lowered knees (no damage other than my non existant ego) just as my then boss drove into the yard with wifey sat beside him
Not knocking you Juddian but I’ll echo what Conor said (to paraphrase) “get the fifth wheel under the plate, stop and then raise the suspension” if it doesn’t lift the front of the trailer then by all means get out and investigate, but 99 times out of a 100 the trailer WILL lift which will totally negate the chance of a missed pin scenario. Obviously you need to get the bendy bit lined up with the trailer to make this work!
Depends were the driver works some companies say you must get out and check.But i work by saying if its even in the mirrors and in a straight line and lifts the trailer you will not miss the pin.But it all depends on the fifth wheel most are 1250mm but some are 900mm or some are 1280mm so all depends.
You must get out to present it on test day, I always get out to check the mechanisim hasn’t engaged on the journey to the trailer, it usually does with the tiniest bump in the yard.
End of thread, folks that don’t try coming accross clever but they’re just showing they cut corners due to a multitude of reasons. And we’ll what else don’t you do because u can get away with it unto a point?
No wonder trailers go walkies down the motorways
Ryy86:
You must get out to present it on test day, I always get out to check the mechanisim hasn’t engaged on the journey to the trailer, it usually does with the tiniest bump in the yard.End of thread, folks that don’t try coming accross clever but they’re just showing they cut corners due to a multitude of reasons. And we’ll what else don’t you do because u can get away with it unto a point?
No wonder trailers go walkies down the motorways
What you do to pass a test and what you do as a lorry driver are two very different things.
I’m guessing that you are fairly new to the game, which means that although you think you know all there is to know, you don’t. You could learn a bit from stuff like this though, so thinking that you know it all will make sure that you never do.
There are many ways to skin a cat, although why anybody wants a raw cat is beyond me, but whatever, in terms of lorrying the best way is to do whatever you feel comfortable with, I have no hard and fast rule when picking up a trailer I didn’t drop myself, I may bang straight under, I may drop the air, slide under and pick it up, I may jump out and have a look if it looks too high for the 5th wheel.
In the 30yrs that I’ve been hooking up to trailers I’ve overshot the pin a couple of times, but never that much that I’ve damaged anything. In the not as good as we like to think they were days this was more of a problem than it is today, steel suspension meant that there was no dropping the air and sliding under the pin, the trailer had to go up and lots of trailers never had a handle of their own then, so you used your own handle and had a bolt or an old engine valve to take place of the nut and bolt, as these items were of great value, they often went missing, so you used a screw driver through the hole and a lot of patience to wind legs up or down, it was a very good preventative measure to avoid headboard/back of cab interactions, as you didn’t repeat the missing the pin exercise again.
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stevieboy308:
You’ve just proving you can’t get you head round it, don’t worry, you’re in good company, isn’t he carryfast!!One day the the penny might drop and you’ll realise your attempt to look smarter than the average trucker has actually had the opposite effect
Someone smashes the back of a unit because of all this unit height lifting and dropping bs and I get the zb blame for it. 
Here’s a clue,as I said,you need to make sure that the trailer isn’t sitting higher than the fifth wheel table height.IE the ramps or fifth wheel forks are supposed to ‘lift’ the trailer as you ‘back the unit under it’,not the bleedin,mostly non existent in my time,air suspension ‘after’ you’ve done it.Oh and it helps to be going as slowly as possible and know how to use a clutch.Although admittedly given something without a clutch to couple up I wouldn’t know and must be a nightmare.
Although the key in that case is that it still must be possible to control it somehow without putting the trailer through the cab 
and the pin ‘will’ definitely stop it.Just so long as the trailer is sitting ‘low enough’ ‘before’ you put the unit under it.
As for A frame drawbars that’s another matter and takes a whole new level of care and thought at least if you want some lights and other numerous important parts at the back of the truck and the coupling left in one piece before you’ve even started.
Ryy86:
You must get out to present it on test day, I always get out to check the mechanisim hasn’t engaged on the journey to the trailer, it usually does with the tiniest bump in the yard.End of thread, folks that don’t try coming accross clever but they’re just showing they cut corners due to a multitude of reasons. And we’ll what else don’t you do because u can get away with it unto a point?
No wonder trailers go walkies down the motorways
I’m a right badass, I normally don’t use 3 points of contact when getting in and out of the wagon, sometimes cross my hands, sometimes speed. I don’t come down hills how you will of probably been taught either!
I also will only do my tug test when the legs are in the air, so no force is transferred to them, what about when you do your 2?
Unless perfectly lined up you’ll obviously get a bit if sideways movement when the pin hits the jaws, again my corner cutting way means the legs are in the air and no force is transferred to them.
I’ll carry on cutting corners, you carry on thinking you’re on test
And Juddiam, it’s a bit different picking up tanks with a rub plate the same size as the fifth wheel, would you still be getting out when coupling a curtain sider with a deep pin?
stevieboy308:
Ryy86:
You must get out to present it on test day, I always get out to check the mechanisim hasn’t engaged on the journey to the trailer, it usually does with the tiniest bump in the yard.End of thread, folks that don’t try coming accross clever but they’re just showing they cut corners due to a multitude of reasons. And we’ll what else don’t you do because u can get away with it unto a point?
No wonder trailers go walkies down the motorways
I’m a right badass, I normally don’t use 3 points of contact when getting in and out of the wagon, sometimes cross my hands, sometimes speed. I don’t come down hills how you will of probably been taught either!
I also will only do my tug test when the legs are in the air, so no force is transferred to them, what about when you do your 2?
Unless perfectly lined up you’ll obviously get a bit if sideways movement when the pin hits the jaws, again my corner cutting way means the legs are in the air and no force is transferred to them.
I’ll carry on cutting corners, you carry on thinking you’re on test
And Juddiam, it’s a bit different picking up tanks with a rub plate the same size as the fifth wheel, would you still be getting out when coupling a curtain sider with a deep pin?
Yeh I like to bend the trailer legs to 45 degrees causing a hassle in the yard for the guys cutting them off, batter my cab off the curtain siders, or smash and bend drive axel spray suppression and light cluster steadys off skellies etc.
You should not be telling new drivers how to cut corners, the dafty who started this thread damaged his bosses truck because he didn’t get out and check, and you try give me a lesson that you don’t need to get out and check lol. I know exactly how to couple up I know exactly how to do a lot of things, but your right I’ve only been driving these like what 3-4 year? I’m still fresh as a daisey surely can’t know what these old school lorry drivers do. Lmao.
We’ve had 3 write offs at my firm in the last couple of years, all by guys that’s been driving ‘before I was swimming bout ma das baw sack’ I do gen haulage so no trolly dollys with us anything from loader to flat to tattie bulker to tipper, and this guy I’ve work for a while happy to say I ain’t cost him a bolt, and will continue to try keep running costs down while the net goes up.
Ryy86 no one is cutting corners your just trying to act like a knob.I bet your the kind of driver that runs to the boss all the time to stick drivers in.You could say who you drive for then we might get a laugh.
Ryy86:
stevieboy308:
Ryy86:
You must get out to present it on test day, I always get out to check the mechanisim hasn’t engaged on the journey to the trailer, it usually does with the tiniest bump in the yard.End of thread, folks that don’t try coming accross clever but they’re just showing they cut corners due to a multitude of reasons. And we’ll what else don’t you do because u can get away with it unto a point?
No wonder trailers go walkies down the motorways
I’m a right badass, I normally don’t use 3 points of contact when getting in and out of the wagon, sometimes cross my hands, sometimes speed. I don’t come down hills how you will of probably been taught either!
I also will only do my tug test when the legs are in the air, so no force is transferred to them, what about when you do your 2?
Unless perfectly lined up you’ll obviously get a bit if sideways movement when the pin hits the jaws, again my corner cutting way means the legs are in the air and no force is transferred to them.
I’ll carry on cutting corners, you carry on thinking you’re on test
And Juddiam, it’s a bit different picking up tanks with a rub plate the same size as the fifth wheel, would you still be getting out when coupling a curtain sider with a deep pin?
Yeh I like to bend the trailer legs to 45 degrees causing a hassle in the yard for the guys cutting them off, batter my cab off the curtain siders, or smash and bend drive axel spray suppression and light cluster steadys off skellies etc.
You should not be telling new drivers how to cut corners, the dafty who started this thread damaged his bosses truck because he didn’t get out and check, and you try give me a lesson that you don’t need to get out and check lol. I know exactly how to couple up I know exactly how to do a lot of things, but your right I’ve only been driving these like what 3-4 year? I’m still fresh as a daisey surely can’t know what these old school lorry drivers do. Lmao.
We’ve had 3 write offs at my firm in the last couple of years, all by guys that’s been driving ‘before I was swimming bout ma das baw sack’ I do gen haulage so no trolly dollys with us anything from loader to flat to tattie bulker to tipper, and this guy I’ve work for a while happy to say I ain’t cost him a bolt, and will continue to try keep running costs down while the net goes up.
Dude, seriously! I now realise I’m talking to a driving god, but the point still stands, you get out to check the trailer height, I do it by backing under, but nowhere near hitting the cab / lights, press the up button, if I see the trailer rise, I know the height is fine, can you really argue i haven’t checked the height?
Colin_scottish:
Ryy86 no one is cutting corners your just trying to act like a knob.I bet your the kind of driver that runs to the boss all the time to stick drivers in.You could say who you drive for then we might get a laugh.
I drive for blacks, and hardly the type to run to the boss grassing Lmao. What else do you want my postal address Mr Scottish? Coz’ I’m itching for this laugh bro.
He started this thread stating he’s new and has jumped a pin, and most of you tell him NOT to get out to have a look. I stated that I nearly always get out the cab usually to repull the pin as it engages when rattling about the yard etc and I’m the knob?
Funny man 