Release Arm And Frozen Air Lines

Hello Ladies, New driver here and I was wondering how everyone here deals with frozen air lines and tough to pull fifth wheel release arms in the winter? I’m in Illinois where temperatures have been in the negatives lately and have had trouble pulling my release arm. I have a 5th wheel puller and even that hasn’t been much help. Any advice on combatting the winter weather?

Hello Ladies, New driver here and I was wondering how everyone here deals with frozen air lines and tough to pull fifth wheel release arms in the winter? I’m in Illinois where temperatures have been in the negatives lately and have had trouble pulling my release arm. I have a 5th wheel puller and even that hasn’t been much help. Any advice on combatting the winter weather?

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Usually rocking back and forth can release the tension. I only ever had problems with the tandems not sliding...and don't laugh.. But spraying them with windex helped. I guess it lubed it without water turning to ice.

There is such a thing as air line antifreeze. I was in sub zero temps so long my tandems wouldn't slide and air lines froze. The TA in Gary IN put heaters all around my trailer and ran air line antifreeze into the lines. There are Youtube videos for that.

I spray all moving parts associated with the fifth wheel extensively every two weeks during the cold months with PB Blaster. I will use up half a can each time. Make sure you keep a good amount of grease on the upper contact portion, too. If you see any surface rust on the top of the plate, that's a spot that needs more grease.

Sometimes if dropping the trailer in an unlevel spot, it can bind. One trick is backup a little bit more when everything is disconnected, and the landing gear is lowered. It may release some tension. Another trick is to dump the tractor airbags/inflate the airbags a couple times. This can also release some tension on the coupling.

Thank you so much everyone

Hello Ladies, New driver here and I was wondering how everyone here deals with frozen air lines and tough to pull fifth wheel release arms in the winter? I’m in Illinois where temperatures have been in the negatives lately and have had trouble pulling my release arm. I have a 5th wheel puller and even that hasn’t been much help. Any advice on combatting the winter weather?

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Usually rocking back and forth can release the tension. I only ever had problems with the tandems not sliding...and don't laugh.. But spraying them with windex helped. I guess it lubed it without water turning to ice.

There is such a thing as air line antifreeze. I was in sub zero temps so long my tandems wouldn't slide and air lines froze. The TA in Gary IN put heaters all around my trailer and ran air line antifreeze into the lines. There are Youtube videos for that.