Anyone ever missed a pin in reversing into a trailer??
Not yet.
Yeah, second week of driving. Had lowered the suspension after pulling out from one trailer, backed under the next trailer. I was too low and went under, luckily I was going slow enough that no damage was caused. The 5th wheel was then caught behind the pin, so had to raise everything up, wind legs down a bit more, lower again and pull out.
I got lucky that there was no damage caused and I’m going to make ■■■■ sure it doesn’t happen again. I am now incredibly methodical when hooking up, even though I watch some guys slam it under without checking.
More common than dirt missing the pin.
Simply put your suspension up to the max, wind trailer legs down, put suspension down low as possible, drive out, then try again with suspension right up.
Happens to us all, more than once.
In future reverse until you feel it make contact. Get out and double check, saves you tons of hassle!
One of the older tanks we used to pull was a swine. The front of the wear-plate was too near the pin and by the time it had pushed the 5th wheel flat, the pin was past the hole let alone the lead-in. No matter what you did, it caught loads of folk out. The ONLY way to do it was to wedge the 5th wheel in the horizontal position with a bit of wood or something like that and then back under.
Never.
But in the early days I used to get out and check it was on course for the jaws…
People think it’s a bit sad but I took ■■■■ all notice as they laugh a lot more if you smack the back of the cab with the front of the container/box etc. Or smash the lights on the unit with the legs…
If you ever do boxes and pull a 45 footer - be extra careful.