For the professional drivers on the forum... This is disturbing

[W5BRM]

I know we have a few current and retired truck drivers here. This is disturbing

http://www.livetrucking.com/dashcam-captures-scumbug-pulling-a-truckers-kingpin-after-leaving-his-rig/


I'm glad this didn't happen to me. Amazing how someone could just walk up and do this.

[KK4AMI]

I guess truckers should be like pilots and do a preflight before every takeoff? Wow, people can be mean.

[NQ6U]

I guess truckers should be like pilots and do a preflight before every takeoff? Wow, people can be mean.

They're supposed to. Federal law requires a detailed vehicle inspection at the beginning and end of every trip.

I'd always do a quick walk-around whenever I'd been away from my truck for any length of time and one of the things I'd check was the release lever on the fifth wheel. I'd heard stories of this sort of thing and I didn't want it to happen to me.

[W2NAP]

charge the asshole pin puller with conspiracy to commit murder.

[K7SGJ]

Have that bastid under the trailer, pull the pin, move the tractor, and see how long he can hold it up.

[VE7DCW]

They're supposed to. Federal law requires a detailed vehicle inspection at the beginning and end of every trip.

I'd always do a quick walk-around whenever I'd been away from my truck for any length of time and one of the things I'd check was the release lever on the fifth wheel. I'd heard stories of this sort of thing and I didn't want it to happen to me.

Awwwww.........they'll catch it all at the scales.A lot of the time they do,here in BC the CVSE(Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement)the outfit responsible for the scales and patrol of commercial vehicles on the highways are quite the anal outfit for CV safety.I got a guy living down the street from me who works with them and brings his vehicle home every night parked out on the street.A few years ago,my brother-in-law working for an insulation company blew by a scale in his 5 ton box truck carrying insulation bales without stopping at the open scale.He said they chased him for a few kilometers before pulling him over and he suffered the wrath of the gods!

Never,never mess with CVSE in this province........ peace officers of the commercial trucking industry on our roads. :shock:

[K7SGJ]

Awwwww.........they'll catch it all at the scales.A lot of the time they do,here in BC the CVSE(Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement)the outfit responsible for the scales and patrol of commercial vehicles on the highways are quite the anal outfit for CV safety.I got a guy living down the street from me who works with them and brings his vehicle home every night parked out on the street.A few years ago,my brother-in-law working for an insulation company blew by a scale in his 5 ton box truck carrying insulation bales without stopping at the open scale.He said they chased him for a few kilometers before pulling him over and he suffered the wrath of the gods!

Never,never mess with CVSE in this province........ peace officers of the commercial trucking industry on our roads. :shock:

Huh, I would have thought he'd have been insulated from prosecution.

[VE7DCW]

Huh, I would have thought he'd have been insulated from prosecution.

Interesting thing what he said about it,he got off scott free! ..... they warned the hell out of him as a first timer and let him go....... so he was insulated from any prosecution! :lol:

[NA4BH]

What part of Scotland is he from?

[K7SGJ]

What part of Scotland is he from?

The last time I saw him in the bar he asked "where the fook did my Glasgow"?

[ka4dpo]

I'm just glad they caught the bastard who disconnected the trailer. Asshole could have killed someone.

[VE7DCW]

The last time I saw him in the bar he asked "where the fook did my Glasgow"?

Very good Eddie.... and you did that in your best Scottish........... scott free......and Bob wants to know what part of Scotland,maybe from Loch Ness........ just down the road from Eliot Ness,a real untouchable place..... :yes:

[VE7DCW]

A question that comes up here and maybe Carl can answer for me,if the fifth wheel pin is pulled and on a properly maintained plate,won't the trailer be released at all times if the truck moves forward? .......... the guy who did this vandalism was a trucker who knew this hoping to really inconvenience this guy rather than murder anyone?
With this dash cam video the article said this vandal was caught, but nothing said about conviction in a court of law,this only happened by the camera time stamp as happening this past March....... scary,someone tampering with your vehicle! :shock:

[NQ6U]

A question that comes up here and maybe Carl can answer for me,if the fifth wheel pin is pulled and on a properly maintained plate,won't the trailer be released at all times if the truck moves forward?

Yes. The right and safe thing for the driver to do if he'd noticed that the pin had been pulled would have been to drop the landing gear, pull straight forward a bit, then back to re-hook the trailer. It's probable that backing alone would have been enough to securely latch the fifth wheel but I would be a little uncomfortable about doing it that way. Probable isn't good enough when it comes to something that safety-critical.

[K0RGR]

There are peckerwoods out there that like to steal the pins out of trailer hitches on pickup trucks, too. I was coming home on I-80 one time and had just crossed into Iowa when I noticed that my new screwdriver antenna seemed shorter than normal. Some bastage had stolen the pin out of the hitch! If I'd have lost that antenna, it could have caused all sorts of havoc, not to mention a big dent in the wallet. I always check the pin now after a long lunch stop.

[KC2UGV]

I'm ignorant of how the lynchpin works, but isn't there a security mechanism on this, like lockwire that needs cutting with diagonal cutter or something similar? Seems kinda dumb to have such a safety critical part that easy to pull out. Seems it could vibrate out.

[W2NAP]

I'm ignorant of how the lynchpin works, but isn't there a security mechanism on this, like lockwire that needs cutting with diagonal cutter or something similar? Seems kinda dumb to have such a safety critical part that easy to pull out. Seems it could vibrate out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A69oIa1ph3k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijgpRKFggjQ

Might give you an idea how it works.

[NQ6U]

I'm ignorant of how the lynchpin works, but isn't there a security mechanism on this, like lockwire that needs cutting with diagonal cutter or something similar? Seems kinda dumb to have such a safety critical part that easy to pull out. Seems it could vibrate out.

Uh, no.

Truckers swap trailers pretty regularly so having to cut a wire would be a serious PITA. Properly maintained, the fifth wheel mechanism is very robust and reliable and it takes a fairly good yank on the pin to get them to unlock. Vigilance is the sole defense against that kind of deliberate sabotage; when the pin is pulled, it's very obvious. Unfortunately, you actually have to look at it first, and it's easy to become complacent when you're driving every day of a four week tour.

[NQ6U]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A69oIa1ph3k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijgpRKFggjQ

Might give you an idea how it works.

That first video horrified me—the driver wasn't wearing gloves while doing his hook-up! That's asking for a handful of fifth wheel grease, which is heavy-duty lubricant mixed with microscopically powdered aluminum from the trailer apron. If it gets on your hands, they will be black for days. If you get it on your clothes, they will be stained permanently. Never wear nice clothes when working around a truck.

[KG4NEL]

That first video horrified me—the driver wasn't wearing gloves while doing his hook-up! That's asking for a handful of fifth wheel grease, which is heavy-duty lubricant mixed with microscopically powdered aluminum from the trailer apron. If it gets on your hands, they will be black for days. If you get it on your clothes, they will be stained permanently. Never wear nice clothes when working around a truck.

My first two jobs out of college required me to spend some time around the loading dock. I ruined two winter coats before I realized not to wear something you cared about anywhere near a trailer. No amount of cleaning will take that out...and I tried every kind of chemical treatment I could think of.

[NQ6U]

My first two jobs out of college required me to spend some time around the loading dock. I ruined two winter coats before I realized not to wear something you cared about anywhere near a trailer. No amount of cleaning will take that out...and I tried every kind of chemical treatment I could think of.

And the stuff seems to jump right off the trailer onto your clothes, too. You'd swear you didn't come within three feet of the thing, but there's that grease stain.

[K7SGJ]

My first two jobs out of college required me to spend some time around the loading dock. I ruined two winter coats before I realized not to wear something you cared about anywhere near a trailer. No amount of cleaning will take that out...and I tried every kind of chemical treatment I could think of.

Fire

That is all.

[KC2UGV]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A69oIa1ph3k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijgpRKFggjQ

Might give you an idea how it works.

Thanks :)


Uh, no.

Truckers swap trailers pretty regularly so having to cut a wire would be a serious PITA. Properly maintained, the fifth wheel mechanism is very robust and reliable and it takes a fairly good yank on the pin to get them to unlock. Vigilance is the sole defense against that kind of deliberate sabotage; when the pin is pulled, it's very obvious. Unfortunately, you actually have to look at it first, and it's easy to become complacent when you're driving every day of a four week tour.

Cutting lockwire and removing it takes about 45 seconds to do. Installation (Even aircraft standard, which is pretty strict on turns per inch/pigtail/etc) takes about a minute. Agreed, though, you would still have to check your lockwire to insure it's intact.

But, is having one of these a good idea then?

http://i21.geccdn.net/site/images/large_wco/251308_2wco.gif

[KK4AMI]

Thanks :)



Cutting lockwire and removing it takes about 45 seconds to do. Installation (Even aircraft standard, which is pretty strict on turns per inch/pigtail/etc) takes about a minute. Agreed, though, you would still have to check your lockwire to insure it's intact.

But, is having one of these a good idea then?

http://i21.geccdn.net/site/images/large_wco/251308_2wco.gif

That lock is designed to prevent a trailer from being stolen, which means you cannot hook up to the king pin. If I remember, my neighbor (the Truck driver) set the trailer brakes when he parked then pulled the tractor forward. That put tension on the kingpin and fifth wheel which made it hard to remove the lock pin. (Did I get that right?)

[KC2UGV]

That lock is designed to prevent a trailer from being stolen, which means you cannot hook up to the king pin. If I remember, my neighbor (the Truck driver) set the trailer brakes when he parked then pulled the tractor forward. That put tension on the kingpin and fifth wheel which made it hard to remove the lock pin. (Did I get that right?)

Ah, got it... Just seems there should be a good way to ensure a tamper-proof hookup, ya know?

[NQ6U]

Thanks :)



Cutting lockwire and removing it takes about 45 seconds to do. Installation (Even aircraft standard, which is pretty strict on turns per inch/pigtail/etc) takes about a minute. Agreed, though, you would still have to check your lockwire to insure it's intact.

So, in other words, it would do nothing extra to secure a trailer over the method already in place—check your fifth wheel release lever before you drive away.

[NQ6U]

That lock is designed to prevent a trailer from being stolen, which means you cannot hook up to the king pin.

And they're usually made out zamac because it's cheap and easy to cast into the necessary complex shape. The problem with that is zamac is not very strong; you can break one off the kingpin in a few seconds using a ball peen hammer. Most trucking companies won't allow drivers to rely only on a kingpin lock to secure a loaded trailer for that reason.



If I remember, my neighbor (the Truck driver) set the trailer brakes when he parked then pulled the tractor forward. That put tension on the kingpin and fifth wheel which made it hard to remove the lock pin. (Did I get that right?)

Yep, although it's not foolproof—some fifth wheels will release even with tension on the jaws. You still need to check the release lever before you drive away. Not only is that good practice, it's actually a federal regulation.

[KC2UGV]

So, in other words, it would do nothing extra to secure a trailer over the method already in place—check your fifth wheel release lever before you drive away.

Yeah, more or less. Except you need a tool to remove it (Diagonal cutters)... But yes, nothing extra.

Not knocking truck drivers, I just figured someone would have fixed this potentially dangerous problem. It just seems too easy to fix.

[KG4NEL]

Really big magnets.

[W2NAP]

Really big magnets.

mormons would never understand, they don't know how magnets work

[KA9MOT]

That lock is designed to prevent a trailer from being stolen, which means you cannot hook up to the king pin. If I remember, my neighbor (the Truck driver) set the trailer brakes when he parked then pulled the tractor forward. That put tension on the kingpin and fifth wheel which made it hard to remove the lock pin. (Did I get that right?)

Yes, you did get it right. Allot of folks who buy these things don't know that they are super easy to defeat. Just back into them hard and they break off.

Pulling a fifth wheel pin is sometimes done when a driver has a beef with another company or driver. It happens, but it is rare. It is possible for a good driver to pull out away from the trailer and not dislodge the trailer from the fifth wheel if the pin has been pulled. He can get out on the road and then lose it. Pulling a fifth wheel pin is a very dangerous thing to do.

Twice, I had inconsiderate drivers block me and force me to maneuver in what I consider an unsafe manner to leave the parking lot. My punishment of choice was to inconvenience them more than they inconvenienced me. Slip a quarter between the supply line's gladhand and the trailer and walk away. It's funny as hell watching them try to figure out why their trailer brakes won't release.

[K7SGJ]

This sort of stuff never ceases to amaze me. I guess in every type of business, there are "specialized" ways to jerk around others in the same profession. I can't speak for all branches of the military, but in the Army, the primary MOS was learning all the ways to rat fuck another soldier. And, believe me, the options were only limited by ones imagination. Even though it could quickly escalate, for the most part it was all just harmless fun and a good way to deal with frustration, monotony, and boredom. For the time I was in, I don't recall anyone purposely trying to hurt another, although I guess it can happen.

[KK4AMI]

I get to pretend to be a "Trucker"! Just got my 10 ft 10,000lb U-Haul loaded. Driving it to Edenton, NC tomorrow and then unloading it. Luckily, I could not find a 5th wheel so I guess I don't have to worry about anybody messing with it! :lol:

[K7SGJ]

I get to pretend to be a "Trucker"! Just got my 10 ft 10,000lb U-Haul loaded. Driving it to Edenton, NC tomorrow and then unloading it. Luckily, I could not find a 5th wheel so I guess I don't have to worry about anybody messing with it! :lol:

On a Uhaul truck, it's the one you steer with.

[KG4NEL]

And the sixth, too.

[NQ6U]

10 foot, 10,000 pounds?? That ain't no real man's truck. Bet it's only got two axles. Wimp.

[KG4NEL]

I have more than ten feet of cargo space in what I drive every day, lulz.

[NQ6U]

I'd be thrilled to be hauling only 10,000 pounds. It would be a light load for me.

[W5BRM]

Good Lord!

https://m.facebook.com/truckervern/posts/564015267034943

[KG4NEL]

I had a snake that lived in a Volvo air dam for a while. Ironically, it was a trucker that pointed it out to me as I was walking in for a coffee and the little guy was getting some air.

[KG4NEL]

More disturbing were the venomous ones that liked to crawl up the rear mowing deck when I did the lawn at my folks' place. I kept a machete on the tractor for that reason, and very rarely did I make it through a season without having to wash it off...