PRO TIP!!

tug test every time. honestly i back into my trailer first then tug on it. and i do do it every time i leave the truck and every morning before i start my pre trip.

Every time being the key phrase. I did the same thing myself. Not only when switching trailers, but every single time I went to take off. I would push in the tractor brake, pull on the trailer, then release the trailer brake - every single time. Go into the store for two minutes to grab a bottle of water? Tug test. Hit the restroom at a rest area quick? Tug test. Grab my bills from the shipper quick and get ready to head out? Tug test.

It literally takes less than 5 extra seconds to do a tug test before you release that trailer brake and take off. Everyone should be doing this every time.

Pat, I always enjoy your sense of humor.

Not sure most of these new folks in here will know what an RGN is though!

Yeah probably not.... RGN = Removable Goose Neck otherwise know as a lowboy trailer.

I did have to drop a trailer once without putting the landing gear down. The left side was broken and would not go down. Turns out the bolt in the crank was missing. It worked on the way up. Just blocked it up with some dunnage and went and got another trailer. Busy time in summer the mechanics can fix it. Any other time I would have taken the time to fix it.

I just right under the truck and check the jaw, and then I check every single strap and chain on my load every time I get ready to move my truck. It's a terrible OCD thing. I'll fuel, pull up, go into the truck stop to take a leak, and then do this whole routine before I pull off.

I do a tug test every time I get back in the truck. Even if it is only for a few minutes. I've had them come loose on the SECOND tug.

I just right under the truck and check the jaw, and then I check every single strap and chain on my load every time I get ready to move my truck. It's a terrible OCD thing.

It's an awesome OCD thing. That's what it takes to consistently be safe at anything that's inherently risky like trucking. You can't take anything for granted. Not one moment of inattention, not one poor assumption, nothing.

I just said in another thread that hope isn't a strategy and faith isn't knowing. You have to know you're doing your job right. You have to know your equipment is safe. You have to make smart decisions all day, every day.

If you're involved in a risky endeavor and you're the gambling type, you're more than likely going to wind up six feet under far sooner than you would have hoped; sooner that you should have. You can't roll the dice when the odds are stacked against you already.

You can't control everything, but you must stay in control of the things you are responsible for. Checking everything repeatedly is the only strategy that makes sense to me.