What Do You Do When You Notice Someone Pulled Your Lock Around The Kingpin Open?

Just as another caution... Any time you are away from your truck you should check that no one pulled the pins on your tandems , too. Someone did this to me while I was inside a Sam's Club being unloaded. I drove 2 hours before this stop, so I know I didn't just forget to lock them or something. Luckily, I found out about it at a stop light about a block away, rather than when I hit the brakes on the highway. Even pulling up slowly to a light in the rain it felt like I hit a pole when they slid all the way to the rear. I've seen a couple of pictures of trucks on the side of the highway with the tandems ripped right off the trailer.

The simple reality is that you should always do at least a cursory pretrip any time you are away from the truck. There are just jerks out there and you never know when you'll run into them. So check everything someone could mess with. Check the fifth wheel. Check the tandems. Check your pintle locks. Make sure no one stole your license plate or placards or tried to rip your IFTA sticker off. Etc. Etc. It's all worth the extra few seconds. Remember: The life or CDL you save could be your own.

Doing a good "pull test" before pulling away is critical. Anytime you stop - I don't where you are or how long you're there - do a pull test before you start driving again. I always did this. It was such a habit that I used to "try" doing it in my 4 wheeler sometimes before realizing, "Oh yeah....I'm not in a rig right now".

Pull Test (or Tug Test)

For those who aren't familiar with it, a pull test is a simple test to make sure your tandems are locked in, your trailer spring brakes are working properly, and your trailer is attached properly. When you're parked, all you have to do is release the tractor brakes but keep the trailer brakes locked. Then put it in 4th gear and slowly start letting out on the clutch until you feel the tractor pulling against the trailer. You shouldn't be able to move the tractor at all. If you start moving forward then either your 5th wheel isn't locked, your trailer tandems aren't locked, or your trailer spring brakes (parking brakes) aren't working properly (out of adjustment more than likely).

And let me throw this out there for the heck of it - if you ever suspect a problem with your trailer brakes there is a simple way to check. Right after you park it go back and check to see how much heat is coming off of the trailer brakes. Obviously you don't want to actually touch the brake drum or liners, but you should be able to tell that there is some good heat coming off each of the four drums. Sometimes you'll find one that's cold - indicating an obvious problem with that one. Other times you might find no heat at all coming from any of them - indicating no trailer brakes.

Doing a good "pull test" before pulling away is critical. Anytime you stop - I don't where you are or how long you're there - do a pull test before you start driving again. I always did this. It was such a habit that I used to "try" doing it in my 4 wheeler sometimes before realizing, "Oh yeah....I'm not in a rig right now".

Pull Test (or Tug Test)

For those who aren't familiar with it, a pull test is a simple test to make sure your tandems are locked in, your trailer spring brakes are working properly, and your trailer is attached properly. When you're parked, all you have to do is release the tractor brakes but keep the trailer brakes locked. Then put it in 4th gear and slowly start letting out on the clutch until you feel the tractor pulling against the trailer. You shouldn't be able to move the tractor at all. If you start moving forward then either your 5th wheel isn't locked, your trailer tandems aren't locked, or your trailer spring brakes (parking brakes) aren't working properly (out of adjustment more than likely).

And let me throw this out there for the heck of it - if you ever suspect a problem with your trailer brakes there is a simple way to check. Right after you park it go back and check to see how much heat is coming off of the trailer brakes. Obviously you don't want to actually touch the brake drum or liners, but you should be able to tell that there is some good heat coming off each of the four drums. Sometimes you'll find one that's cold - indicating an obvious problem with that one. Other times you might find no heat at all coming from any of them - indicating no trailer brakes.

That's a good habit to get in, Brett, and I have since gotten in the habit of doing that, as well as checking my brakes every time I pull away from somewhere. I'd still recommend a visual check, though. At Swift some of the trailers were so bad that I could barely get the tandems to slide even when I could see all the pins were clear. Some of those trailers would pass your test, but I bet would slide if you brake hard at highway speeds.

Similar thing with a tug test for the fifth wheel. This past winter at a Costco DC, in the span of a month I watched 3 different guys (all O/Os, not newbies) drive out from under full trailers. Might have been with all the snow and ice we had that the locking jaws weren't quite catching enough. (Trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. Heh.) Also, if a trailer is sitting high you can slide the pin over the top of the fifth wheel. If you do a tug test, it will feel fine, but the first time you turn you'll lose the trailer.

I backed up over (jumped) a 5th wheel/King pin a couple of times. Now, whenever I back up, I stop short and get out and look and see if I am going to back correctly or about to jump the 5th wheel/King pin.

Dave