Please Don't Do This To Your Fellow Drivers.

I had to grab this loaded trailer from our Laredo terminal yesterday. I could see how high it was as I pulled up to it. Because of the way the landing gear was jacked, I had to use low gear to get it down. If you bring your landing gear down until it touches the ground and then back it up a turn or two. When you pull out it will be lower. When the next driver gets under it the landing gear will be just off the ground.

This is my biggest pet peeve a couple weeks ago I had a trailer so low I couldn't get under with the air bags all the way down, and i couldn't crank it at all it was too heavy to crank so I had to get a spotter to come do it for me and it was almost too low for him! I wish people would think of the next guy and drop them right.

This is my biggest pet peeve a couple weeks ago I had a trailer so low I couldn't get under with the air bags all the way down, and i couldn't crank it at all it was too heavy to crank so I had to get a spotter to come do it for me and it was almost too low for him! I wish people would think of the next guy and drop them right.

Absolutely.

Well Big Scott gotta give you props for not over riding your fifth wheel and either hooking the front edge or slamming the trailer into the sleeper. And yes, we all know that's been done. My guess; you did a quick G.O.A.L.

I agree with your point though. Annoying when it's sub freezing and dealing with a well worn gear box...yikes. I tend to vary the height when setting the gear whether loaded or empty. Barely touching the ground when loaded, about an inch off the ground when empty.

Since most of our tractors are parked at the D.C., fairly easy to determine the drivers setting the gear too high; their fifth wheels are level.

I usually do a quick GOAL, however this was so high, I could see it as I was driving up to it.

There's another benefit to making sure the landing gear are slightly off the ground that most people don't consider.

You know all those trailers you back under that are nearly impossible to get the landing gear to crank? That's because the gears are bent out of true from being repeatedly slammed into with the feet still firmly planted on the ground. Get the weight off the legs, get the pressure off the gears, and when you hook to it you won't damage the mechanism.

It may not seem like that much of a big deal, but the money your company doesn't have to spend replacing bent/broken landing gear can be used for other things. Like higher CPM , bigger bonuses, increased detention pay, better amenities, etc.

And it will mean less time in sub-zero or blistering hot temps fighting to crank the legs.

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Some of it has to do with the way the trailer was dropped. It's also caused by when a trailer is moved by the yard personal. If it's moved from a hole or downgrade to a level or upgrade location it will be too high. The opposite is also true. It's when you can see that they've been jack up all the way that you have to start thinking it may have been done on purpose.

JJ

Not sure if this is the right way or not but I crank it till I hear air coming out of the suspension then crank it once or twice more then call it a day, havnt heard anything bad and even had one guy, another Werner driver compliment me saying he wished he had people who knew how to drop a trailer like I did at his dedicated site

Not sure if this is the right way or not but I crank it till I hear air coming out of the suspension then crank it once or twice more then call it a day, havnt heard anything bad and even had one guy, another Werner driver compliment me saying he wished he had people who knew how to drop a trailer like I did at his dedicated site

When you hear air being released from the suspension air bags you are lifting the trailer off the fifth wheel. Cranking past that point could leave the trailer too high for the next driver.

My suggestion; when you begin to hear the air release, reverse your direction a half to full circle.

Dont forget every truck has a different ride height too when your company has all makes and models youll always have this issue time to time