I've lost knives, flashlights and gloves for forgetting to grab them off the dolly while I'm hooking.
The flashlight hurts the most because they tend to cost a little more. I also lost my favorite knife. It had a hooked tip that made it perfect for changing grommets.
OK Bruce, here we go.
I lost the battery to my blower the same way by sitting it on the DOT bumper. Forgot and drove off leaving it behind. Cost me $50 to replace. More careful now.
Best tool I bought was a 3 lbs mini-sledge hammer. I use it on stubborn trailer door latches (Ala Sandman), knock in stubborn tandem pins and use it to dislodge my tandem slide stopper when wedged in tight.
Second best tool bought was a tandem slider stop. Has saved me time sliding tandem to a specific hole (example 12th hole when going through states with a 12th hole back maximum king pin distance). Counter point to this is that walking back and forth from tractor to tandem is most of my exercise, so doing less not necessarily good.
I actually jumped my 5th wheel for a second time not long ago. I had GOALed, but thought it might make it. I should have tried cranking the landing gear down first, but didn’t because a lot of times won’t budge if loaded trailer too heavy. Not a Yard Jockey in sight in huge Costco yard. Anyway, I carry a 12”x4”x4” wood block per PackRat suggestion to prop up the 5th wheel skid plate. Worked like a charm. Dropped my air suspension and pulled out. Cranked the trailer down a bit and coupled successfully.
Sometimes landing gear won’t crank after coupling a loaded trailer. Gently rocking the tractor back and forth will help release pressure on the landing gear so will crank easier.
Sometimes the release arm will be stuck. Gently reversing the tractor will take locking jaw pressure off the king pin so will release.
I tore the red hose line apart once making too sharp of a left turn into a customer staging area entrance. The hose had a long low hang and got caught up somehow. I had to work the trailer off the roadway into the lot out of the way. Was able to do this by repeatedly engaging/disengaging the trailer brakes. Don’t ask me how it worked without air pressure other than what was already in the trailer air tank. Didn’t have to drag the tires. Fortunately Road Assist was quick to send help to replace the pigtail so that I still made my delivery on time.
Had a heck of a time this winter with two new sets of winter wiper blades streaking right out of the package. Breaking in didn’t seem to help. Had to try cleaning the blades multiple times with a solvent (eg. rubbing alcohol, WD-40, Windex) to clean the blades of the black residue on them. Helped some, but still had some issues. If anyone has good suggestions that work to stop NEW blades from streaking I’m all ears. One guy told me to buy “new” blades. I told him to **** off.
Similar to BK, I put some 5th wheel grease on recently when noticed it a bit dry and rusty looking. That goop is very sticky. Be careful not to touch it.
I’m sure I’ll think of more “I wish I knew that” tips for new drivers later. There are some good threads on this topic in the archives under “Tips for new drivers” tag.
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Dennis, there is a lot of great stuff in your post. Keep coming, man! I just love this type of content and I always learn from it. Good job, dude!
I have definitely lost some items after setting them down on the dot bumper and/or my dolly. A really nice spotlight was my last… that one hurt.
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
I previously used a screwdriver to remove worn gladhand seals. After I lost the second one from Snap On by forgetting to retrieve it from the catwalk, I have been using this free "custom universal tool" for the past six years.

It rides on the floorboard under my work gloves, between the left door and the seat.
Looks like a rubber strap with one hook missing?
I keep a strap on the steps on both sides of my truck to use primarily to tie back trailer doors when the tie back chains are no good or gone.
My trainer used a strap to hold fuel nozzle in place, but I don’t care to do that since damaged a faring once
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This is a topic suggested by Sandman that I think could turn into a great thread. It doesn’t have to be what tripped you up yesterday. Search your memory banks and post anything that has ever tripped you up.
Just to start things off, I just recently lost my high quality padlock. I unlocked my trailer and set the padlock on the DOT bumper while I opened the door. Then I forgot to pick it up and take it back to the tractor. My only consolation is that I also left the key in it, so whoever finds it can keep using it. Moral of the story: don’t set things on the DOT bumper. Eventually you will forget to pick it up.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.