The trailer behind the truck is something that you may never think about in great detail. As you pass a semi you may take the time to see how long it is and will I ever get around this semi. At ground level you can see the tires that are as tall as you and everything under the trailer,the hoses that are in front of the trailer wheels, the rail with the holes in them, the hanging turn signals on some of the trailers, the lights on the side and then the connecting hoses to/from truck to trailer. You may also wonder “how do they hook that trailer to the truck?” And maybe not.
When you back under the trailer you line up the tractor wheels to the sides of the trailer and slowly back under it. If the trailer was properly parked, you will see it lift some and know that you can now back under it with out high hooking—having the trailer pin miss the 5th wheel completely and crash into the rear of your truck. That would not be a good thing. You here it click into place and you do the tug test to make sure the trailer is fastened to the truck. You get out and look at the 5th wheel under the trailer to actually see that bar slide into place and lock the pin in. Now you can hook up the 3 hoses and raise the landing gear. Each trailer is also different with the landing gear. You either pull/push the handle in/out to get the pressure off the landing gear and then turn clockwise or counter clockwise till you feel the pressure leave. Now you can push/pull the lever in/out and crank at a fast speed to raise the landing gear up.
There are a lot of things a driver deals with when getting that trailer assigned to them. Is the trailer sealed up so you can’t open the doors and check the load and see where the end pallets are? If the papers to the load say you weigh 44,000 pounds and you see the trailer wheels are almost in the center of the trailer or at the rear of the trailer, you know you get to slide the wheels to balance the weight on the axles. If you can take a look at the load to make sure the loader did not put all 44,000 pounds in the first 6 feet of the trailer which has happened, you can check the location of the last pallets. You will see on the trailer that it is divided by panels on the outside via lots of rivets which of course matches the inside. So now you count the panels from the door to the last pallets and see that they are 4 panels from the door. Now you check your tire position and see how far you need to move them forward/backwards to that specific panel. I put the rear tires (not the front tires) under that 4th or even 5th panel from the doors to have the extra weight on that rear axle.
To get this done you need to pull the out the handle by the rear wheels or if you get a newer trailer that has the new push buttons that is even better and easier to deal with. We have the handle trailer. If all goes well for you to do this by yourself you pull out the handle and drop it into the grove to lock it in. This will take the 4 pins that are about 4 holes apart on the newer trailers and not the 6 feet and push them out of the rail holes. You have already hooked up the hoses from the truck to the trailer. Now you get into the truck and leave the trailer brakes alone, the red knob. Push in the yellow brake knob for the tractor and now you can backup to bring the trailer wheels forward or you go forward to bring the trailer wheels backwards to your needed area. Get out and walk to the back to see if you are ready to push in that lever. Once you push in that lever you may have to slide a little bit more to get the pins back into the holes to lock the wheels into place. Each hole moved is 250 pounds taken off/added to another axle.
If you get a trailer where the mechanics refuse to grease/service this part of the trailer, you will need help by having somone pull that lever out and hold it while you rock the truck to get the pins to release to slide the wheels. You may even need your hammer to pound the pins out of the holes. When you get the wheels where needed you can go to the nearest truck stop to weigh your load. Now your trip assignment begins to get the load safely to its destination.
Drivers go thru this daily and our government thinks anyone can hop in a semi and drive one. There is so much more that we must know to be safe and professional. This is just a small part of it I wanted to share with you. We are considered unclassified in the job section even tho we are called professional drivers.
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Good post Rhonda. Before I got into truck driving, I didn’t even know the tandems moved. Heck, I didn’t even know they were called tandems. HAHA!
Rhonda –
Thanks for the lesson on trailers… I had no idea that the axle could be moved on trailer! Being mechanically inquisitive, I’m one of those guys that like looking under the truck when passing to try and figure out what all those dingleberrys do. While the tanks, hoses, levers, baskets, and big clunky things appear to have a purpose, I usually can’t identify what half of them do.
I used to think that all it took to drive a truck was to read one of those drivers information pamphlets at the DMV…, learn how to shift…, and then hit the road. After seeing what TruckerMike has gone through for his CDL School and hearing about his time on the road with his trainer, I think government bureaucrats have vastly under valued the knowledge and skills that takes to be a truck driver.
Trucker compensation for their skills, risks on the road, and personal endurance does not seem commensurate with compensation received for less demanding jobs. Maybe it’s the high turnover in the trucking industry, or the competitive and entrepreneurial nature of the industry that regulates the value of a good trucker… Whatever the reason, my opinion of truckers has vastly changed!
A new term should be used to refer to long-haul trucker… “Professional Truck Driver”
–TruckerMikeDad–
Wow, TruckerMikesDad read my story! Thank you. I am glad that someone has read it and learned from it. Yes the “experts” in D.C. think anyone can hop in a truck and hook up the trailer and go. Now you know different. The American public does not care about us and all they know is that all the trucks are in their way. They have no clue how the product gets to their favorite store so they can buy it.
I would love to see a tractor trailer at all driver license stations and have all LOOK at that rig close up and sit in it BEFORE they get their license. I would also like to see every driver start it up, put it in gear and move it forward/backward a few feet. That may educate a few on trucks.
I am not mechanically inquisitive and if you have not read my PRE-TRIP story, you might want to take a look at that one.
The things a driver puts up with is unreal and it would not be allowed at “normal” jobs. We are truly PROFESSIONAL TRUCK DRIVERS no matter what the government thinks or what the public thinks.