Here's another good "old newbie" question. I used to haul furniture, and I never thought about scaling out. Sliding is something I studied in school a long, long time ago, but never did until recently.

Our newer trailers have either air sliders (about 75% of them are broken, and the knob won't stay out to keep the pins released) or some kind of EZ-Slide gizmo where the handle pulls right out, even if the pins haven't moved yet. The older ones have the old fashioned sliders that people have been dealing with for 40 years.

I ran into one that needed sliding the other day, and I had to pay some maintenance man on the yard a pack of cigarettes to pull the @#%#@%#@ handle for me. He was able to pull it without batting an eye, but I was using both arms, one leg, and every ounce of effort I had in me.

I collapsed onto the ground sweating, panting, and thinking an overweight ticket would be cheaper than medical bills if I blow out my back, so f*** this. That's when the maintenance guy happened by, and rescued me.

My upper body strength ain't what it used to be, but this can't be a case of pure muscle. I must have been doing something wrong.

I ran into another one of that same model of trailer later on, and I had to just pray for the green light on the pre-pass. I was over on the ass, and I couldn't slide it to save my life. (Not over gross, not more than 1,000 pounds over, I might have gotten by, but I prefer to distribute my load evenly, with a thousand pounds to spare on the drives and the trailer tandems.)

 

Some of are older trailers have the pulls that fit in a groove when the handle is in the store position if its one of these you lift up on the handle then pull it out and then set it back in the groove to hold it there. The air sliders is whats on alot of our new trailers, on those you have to have the trailer air supply button pulled out for the pins to stay out of the holes,
push the trailer supply button in and they lock in the holes. Hope this helps ya

 

Silvan, assuming the pins aren't warped, damaged, etc., this method works for me...

1. Set trailer brakes / release tractor brakes.
2. Back gently until tandem pins are at the front of the holes.
3. Set tractor brakes, try pulling pin lever.

If no go...
4. Set trailer brakes / release tractor brakes.
5. Go forward gently until tandem pins are at the back of the holes.
6. Set tractor brakes, try pulling pin lever.

If no go...
7. Set trailer brakes / release tractor brakes.
8. Rock trailer gently until you think the pins might be in the middle of the hole.
9. Set tractor brakes, try pulling pin lever.

If no go...(lever is out, but pins are still set)
10. Roll forward slowly, put 'er into neutral, set trailer brakes. (for nudging tandems backwards)
11. Roll backwards slowly, put 'er into nuetral, set trailer brakes. (for nudging tandems forward)

If no go...
12. Take a hammer/sledge and tap pin(s) out of locked position.

If no go...
13. Say a few choice words and find the nearest maintenance man! :lol:

If no go...
14. Cross your fingers and toes that you are invisible to the DOT! :lol: :lol:

If no go...
15. Tell the DOT it was your dispatcher's fault! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Ive had the newer trailers, where the pull handle comes out real easy, and the pins release when you begin the sliding of the tandems. They generally work pretty well.
For the older trailers that you cant even pull the handle. If you have to pull with effort, dont even try. They to should pull easily. I just get back in the truck, usually take the truck for a spin in the yard, then when the truck and trailer are straight and moving about 5mph, apply only the trolley brake to stop the unit, this will sometimes "free up" the stuck pins. Go on back and see if you can pull the handle. You may have to try it again, maybe even back up a few feet and stop the unit again with only the trolley brake. Sometimes, you may have to leave the trolley brake set and gently rock the unit back in forth to help free the stuck pins.
One thing is pretty much for sure. If you cannot move the pin release handle with very little effort, dont try to overexert yourself on it, it probalby wont release. You may have to get help from another driver to hold the release handle out (preferable with a pin puller) while you gently move the unit.

 

By "trolley" brake, I'm assuming you mean the trailer brakes?

 

The trolley brake is another term for the trailer hand brake. It is the lever (often located on/near the steering column) that you pull down to apply brakes to the trailer only.

I believe that most of the mega-carrier tractors no longer have them.

 

If you have an "air ride" trailer, with air released "pins" and the button won't stay out and the pins won't stay in..... you forgot to set your trailer brakes! :shock: :lol: Done it many times.

If you have a handle release of either, or any type, and you can't get the pins to retract, get out your can of WD-40 (you have a couple of them, right?) and spray all around the pins and up and down the rails, in every hole.

Now, look at the pins and see if they are "binding" against the rail. Pull your trailer forward or push it back to release this "bind." Check out the OTHER side of the trailer to see if the "binds" are the same or opposite. If opposite, relocate the trailer to another, more level piece of ground. (Your trailer is "racked.")

A stuck pin can also be released using a flat head scredriver to pry it away from the rail. A pin stuck in the OUT position can be "persuaded" with a gentle tap (ha ha) from a 2 lb sledge hammer!

Necessary items for tandem "relocation." 2 lb sledge, WD-40, screwdriver, FLAT ground.

Or a newer, air ride trailer!

 

I'll have to check that, but I don't think that's the case. It works beautifully on some of them, but I've run across several where the knob wouldn't stay out, and its ears were broken off, like somebody had been trying to pull it a little harder to persuade it to cooperate. I think it's probably a defective design, and this is the failure mode.
Damn. Yes, of course I have a can of WD-40. I didn't think of that.

As far as binding, I understand all this advice about rocking hither and thither to try to free them up. The problem is that on older trailers that have had a lifetime of hard jacks to the sight side, the whole tandem carriage gets bent out of whack so that the pins are binding at the front on one side, and binding at the back on the other. I never could get them centered after half an hour of wiggling.

This one had one of those L-shaped handles where you have to lift, pull, and hook a slot in the handle into a notch. I constantly lacked four inches of getting it there. I could see which pin was binding, and I mangled the ever-loving piss out of it with a sledge hammer, but I never got it to budge.

Not until the maintenance guy came by and just pulled the thing as effortlessly as I pull one of the EZ-Pull types.

That's why I'm afraid there's some wuss factor here.

I should have read ahead. You covered what I was just talking about. Yes, racked. I was straight, on flat, level ground.Or a handy maintenance man.

 

What's a "maintenance man?" :shock: :roll:

 

Slide what? Another good reason to pull a spread axle flatbed. BOL