Question:
When moving your truck under a trailer and hooking it up, or dropping it somewhere and driving out from under it, you encouter some very critical safey situations. You can wrench your back, lose a limb, run yourself over or even get crushed to death between two trailers.... Simple mistakes can easily turn into injury or property damage.
We lost a driver a couple years ago. He backed under a heavy loaded trailer in a gently sloping, rocky pot-holed drop yard. He probably THOUGHT he felt the kingpin lock. He may have THOUGHT he did a good tug test...we'll never know.... But they found him crushed between that trailer and the one next to it. The trailer kingpin he was trying to hit apparently rode up on top of the fifthwheel plate instead of into the center notch. As he raised the landing gear and transferred the tilting trailer's weight, the trailer slid sideways off the plate. As the trailer moved sideways, it pinned the driver against the trailer next to it. That's how they found him hours later.
He didn't bend-down to LOOk and see if the pin was in the slot Even if it wasn't latched, the pin in the slot would have at least kept the trailer from shifting sideways.
The lesson is:
As you learn all these new procedures handling trucks and trailers, develop a thorough "routine". Do it the same way, in the same order, EVERYTIME. Think of these procedures as one multi-task, not individual things you can mix-up in a different order everytime. By performing them in the same order everytime, you don't forget anything.
I have "rituals" of sorts. For example, I always take my hoses and pigtail on and off in the exact reverse order EVERYTIME -- red first when I'm dropping and red last when I'm hooking. I NEVER raise the landing gear till I've completed the hoses/pigtail. And I ALWAYS give a second tug test before I move a new trailer. By developing a complete "routine" or "ritual" or whatever you want to call it, and performing it in the EXACT SAME ORDER FROM BEGINNING TO END everytime, including your pre-trips, you reduce the chances of spacing-out and forgetting something.
When you actually get out here and start doing this everyday, you have a lot on your mind and get tired sometimes. Then someone comes over ,or you take a call on your headset while you're working, and before you know it you've dropped the trailer but forgot to disconnect the hoses -- or you can't figure out why the trailer won't move because you switched the red/blue airlines, or you drive away without releasing your tandem handle, or watch your truck roll away as you raise the landing gear, or drop the trailer on raised landing gear as you pull away........or crush yourself between two trailers... Having a routine helps protect you and the equipment when you're distracted. It's mostly for the one-in-a-hundred chance you leave-out something important, but makes the work easier the rest of the time too.
As you learn new skills performed together, build a routine - a chronological order - to perform them and stick to it. Double check after performing the routine if you want. Anyway, that's my advice -- from someone who arguably lost most of his brain back in the 70s did at least one of the things listed above, and needs all the help I can get when it comes to spacing-out...

Answer:
Shuffler, thanks for the advice. I also have a question for you since, if I understand correctly, you drive for werner. What kind of road test do they give student grads at the orientation?? I'll have a 2 or 3 week layover between graduation and orientation so wondering if I may need to find a place to practice before going.

Answer:

Shuffler is right on the money with this!
No matter how you do it, get a routine down.
My routine is like second nature to me. It gets done without much thought.

I start in the same spot each time for my pre-trip inspections.
I hook and unhook my trailer in the same order each and every time. Double checking before and after.
I make sure my logbook is completed for that day, and a new page is started for the next day as soon as I shut down for the night.

A good routine helps make your day go much smoother.

Answer:
...and get a flashlight and make d*mn sure the kingpin is actually LOCKED in the jaws! Don't just assume it's in there because you tugged a couple of times.

Answer:
Hoss has it right. Get in a routine for everything you do. Always double check to make sure the 5th wheel is locked. It would even be a good idea to check it after you've been away from the truck for a while and during pre-trips. You never know if some one who doesn't like your company or for no good reason at all may have pulled the lever and unlocked it.
Talking about air lines. Always double check to make sure they are disconected when dropping. They make a real loud bang on the cab if you forget. You'll probably end up with some minor repairs also. If yoy forget to connect them it's another story. You wont be going any where until you do.
I like my trailer. You can pull the pin and I can drive out from under it with no problem. It'll drop about 8 inches max loaded or not. I do it all the time.

Answer:

And it's a really awful sound too... Like someone throwing a couple rocks at the back of your sleeper. It makes you feel like you surely deserve the "stupidest driver" award for the day, and then you have to quickly find a place to buy replacements without dispatch knowing what you're up to if possible. Then you'll probably end-up paying for them yourself because you don't want to risk submitting for payment approval since it technically could be considered a reportable accident -- you've carelessly damaged equipment that has to be replaced.....and those hoses aren't cheap.
It's a horrible sound, and most drivers only hear it ONCE in their career before making sure they never have to hear it again. Remove your hoses/pigtail in a chronological "routine" everytime you drop a trailer -- probably after you've lowered the landing gear and before you pull the fifth wheel -- and you may never have to hear it...

Answer:
Consider yourself lucky-over in Europe, they use hose-connectors. Forget to disconnect them, you bust the hose!!
Answer:

Come to think of it, I've only heard that 'BANG' twice. When each gladhand smacked the back of my sleeper a split second apart.
Here's how I drop my wagon.........
1. Pop both brake buttons
2. Unhook air lines and pigtail
3. Dolly down the landing gear, giving it an extra 'crank or two'.
4. Unhook 5th wheel
5. Step on foot brake, release tractor brake, dump air bags & pull out slowly.

Answer:
.
That's how most folks drop a trailer I think.
Somehow, I got used to dropping the landing gear FIRST -- before the hoses -- can't remember why -- but the rest is the same of course and my little deal doing the gear first makes no practical difference.
However, when I hook a trailer I ALWAYS install the air and pigtail first, because I like to pre-trip emptys (lights) before struggling with the landing gear, in case change my mind.
What's important is that we do these routines in the same order every time. We never know how many screw-ups it eliminates because -- it's like defensive driving -- success is measured by nothing bad happening.

Answer:
Forget to unhook the airlines and you'll be lucky if all you hear is a bang.
Have seen several instances where the gladhands have punched holes in the back of the cab. All depends on how hard they hit and at what angle.
Something else to pay attention to is HOW HIGH are the dollies on the trailer you're backing under.
I have seen 2 instances I remember of guys highballing it back only to find out the trailer was cranked so high it missed their fifth wheel completely letting the trailer slam into the back of the cab.

Answer:

Since my 5th wheel height is 50", I haven't experienced a trailer being too high yet.
BUT, I have found them too low. Last night for example.....
I backed up to the trailer, (usually stopping just short of the 5th wheel), but I was stopped sooner.
The trailer was about 1' lower than the trailers on each side of it.
I dumped my air bags and got under it just enough (about 4" onto my frame rails), to raise it up a little when the air bags inflated.
Waited, dollied down the landing gear.
Deflated the air bags again, backed under some more, inflated air bags, dollied the landing gear down again.
Then I grabbed my 'landing pads' that I carry on the truck and dumped the air bags again.
I put the landing pads on top of my frame rails and inflated the air bags again.
Waited, dollied down the landing gear again.
Finally, I had the trailer up high enough that I could get under it without too much trouble.
I wasted about 30 minutes doing all this, just because some schmuck (one of our yard jockeys), was too lazy to crank the dollies down far enough when he dropped the trailer after the dock guys loaded it.

Answer:
Have to remember Dave that most company trucks ride on 22" Low Pro's.
5th wheel height may be only 47".(Have seen some lower)
Another driver with 24.5's (many O/O's) or one who dropped the trailer in a hole, and the yard jockey didn't correct it, can put the trailer high enough to miss the 5th wheel of a co. truck quite easily

Answer:

True, but ya would think that maybe, just maybe, out of the 60+ trailers we have sitting in the yard at any given time, that he'd notice the one he just dropped was THAT MUCH lower than all the rest.
What the hell is wrong with cranking the dollies down until the landing gear touches the ground?
For the trailer to be as low as it was, he had to have cranked the gear up just enough to clear the hump coming out of our docks. He never cranked it down when he dropped it out in the yard.
The guy is a jackass!

Answer:
That's what you call some real dumb drivers. You always get out and check before you hit your tractor with the trailer. Might be why having a routine has been said a few times.
Having trailers to high can happen alot with company trailers. Many companies like mine have several different models of tractors and a whole lotta O/O's. Spme of our tractors have low-pro tires and others have standard like mine. I know at one large company I worked for it was always a problem. Some or maybe alot of it was due to some one not think and dollying the trailer way to high when dropping it. A pretty easy thing to do with an empty trailer. You can dolly them right off the tractor. Lowering it on the other hand can be a real pain in the arse.
Thats what your suppose to do. Alot of drivers who haven't quite got it yet either crank em way up or just let them hit the ground. It always made me real mad when I had to work harder because some one who wasn't thinking did it however they wanted.
It's good to always think about the next guy. Hopefully they'll be thinking about you helping make your job a little easier also.

Answer:
The dropping driver should ALWAYS leave it HIGH enough for the HIGHEST truck
If the next guy has to crank it down because he's got a shorter truck..... Waaaaaa.... Too bad. That's less work than cranking a loaded trailer UP to match a higher 5th wheel instead.
Everybody of common sense and professional good will errors on the side of dropping it for the highest truck, not the "average" fleet height..
It's the least difficult work for the majority of drivers. Cranking-up loaded trailers to get under them is dangerous. You either float it on your frame on a layer of grease like Hoss did, or crank the handle for 15 minutes in low gear -- if you can lift 30000lbs in low gear without wrenching your back.....
So drivers with "low" trucks have to get out more often to make sure they're reaching the plate.
And they have to crank a trailer down every once in a while.
Big deal. It's still less work for you, then the guy with the opposite problem.
Our company swaps/drops more than half our loads. Many are relayed through four or more drivers -- frequently face to face -- and the obvious "rule" is to NEVER error on the side of dropping it too low. Anything else would be the equivelent of fighting words... It's hard to be a total dyk head when the next driver is sitting there waiting or helping. Oh --- I've met a few. .....but we drop/hook a LOT and we most of us consider the highest truck that might be next. You also want to leave empty spring trailers a little low when you drop them to be loaded. Take into consideration how the nose will raise slightly once it's loaded.