Instructions for drivers

Quick links: Main instructions page

• Safety rules:
• Please, no texting or talking on the phone while driving.  Studies (1) (2) have shown that even hands-free phones increase your risk of having an accident.  Remember, Dave spent over six years of his life making CaveSim!
• Obey the law.  Wear seatbelts, no DUI (no drugs, no alcohol).
• Tired?  Pull over.
• Wipe clean the red and white DOT tape on the trailer if it's dirty.  This reduces crash risk dramatically (3).
• Check your connections.  This includes electrical connection, safety chains (cross them!), breakaway switch cable, hitch (make sure hitch latch is engaged!)
• Check your lights and signals.
• Check your brake controller periodically.  Make sure the indicator light(s) show that you're still electrically connected to the trailer.
• Security rules:
• When trailer is connected to a truck, keep the hitch latch locked.
• When trailer is not connected to a truck, apply the yellow ball lock to prevent anyone from connecting to the trailer.
• When the trailer is sitting for more than a day, chain the two wheels together on one side and apply a lock.
• Keep all doors locked when not in use, include the side doors.
• Trailer hookup procedure:
• Connect weight distributing hitch to truck.  Don't connect spring bars yet.
• Use the rolling floor jack to raise the trailer tongue above the level of the ball.  The tongue jack is junk and needs to be replaced, hence the floor jack.
• Back the truck up to align the ball and tongue.  The truck and trailer must be in a straight line to make the spring bar installation easier.  Ensure sufficient grease on top of ball.
• Lower the trailer tongue onto the ball.  Latch the receiver and apply the lock.  Add safety chains.  Use carabiner to connect breakaway cable to the truck (not to the safety chains!)  Connect electrical.
• Insert the spring bars into the sockets.
• Align the driver-side spring bar chain with the driver-side rotary holder.  Position the floor jack under this spring bar near the chain end.  Put a piece of wood between the jack and the spring bar to protect the coating on the bar.
• Jack the spring bar up until you can slip the 5th chain link into the rotary holder.  To find the 5th link, start at the u-bolt.  Count links (not including the u-bolt) until you get to link 5.  Put link 5 in the small notch.  Use the special BlueOx wrench to rotate the holder until it latches (until the release knob seats into its hole).  A regular adjustable wrench will damage the latches (trust me!)
• Repeat for the passenger side spring bar.  There is very little clearance for the chain on this side.  Have patience and work the chain through.  You may need to raise and lower the bar using the jack.
• Remove chocks.  If the wheels are locked together with a chain, remove the chain.
• Check breaks (you can hear them actuate) and lights.
• Check for for obstacles/forgotten gear around trailer.
• You're ready to roll!
• Trailer disconnect procedure:
• Choose a location for the trailer carefully.  
• The entrance and exit sensors may not work properly in direct sunlight, so choose a location where the sun will not hit the entrance/exit directly.
• People will be more likely to use CaveSim if they see the entrance as they walk by.
• If possible, set up with the entrance/exit and monitors under the cover of a building or awning.
• Set chocks both sides, both directions.  Remove electrical connection, chains and breakaway switch cable.
• Use floor jack and a block of wood to push up on the driver-side spring bar.  Once the chain is no longer tense, rotate the small release knob either left or right.  Use the special BlueOx wrench to rotate the holder to loosen the chain.  Lower the floor jack.
• Repeat for the passenger side.  Due to tight clearance, you will need to work the chain through carefully, rotating the holder back and forth to free the chain.
• Unlock and unlatch the tongue.  Raise the tongue using the floor jack.  If you start lifting the truck above its normal height, ease it backward or forward to allow the ball to drop out of the tongue.
• Move truck away.
• Trailer stabilization procedure: The trailer needs to be raised carefully off its suspension to prevent it from swaying as participants crawl through.  Trailer movement causes formation sensors to detect movement.
• Go to the back of the trailer with two jacks and some wood scraps (plywood, 2x4, etc.)  You can use the floor jack and the truck jack.
• Locate the two receivers on the back of the trailer.  These are your safe jack points.  Do not jack on other parts of the trailer (I have crushed the trailer framing before).  Never use the trailer suspension components as jack points.
• Place one jack under each receiver.
• Drop the sand feet by pulling the small cotter pins out of the bigger pins, and then pulling the bigger pins out.  The small cotter pins are hidden under the trailer.  Put the cotter pins in a safe place, like your pocket.  If the big pin won't come out, tap it with a hammer, taking care not to hit the electrical cables under the trailer.
• Using two people, raise the back of the trailer.  To protect the axles from bending, try to raise both sides up evenly.  Have a third person observe the trailer wheels to determine when the trailer is high enough to be off the suspension.
• Once the trailer is high enough, put the big pins back in the sand feet, and add the cotter pins.
• Put wood scraps under the sand feet.  Lowering the trailer onto the sand feet
• Make sure the doors still open (both front, back and side).  The trailer may warp when jacked up.  If this happens, bring one jack to the nose door of the trailer.  Look under the trailer and locate a large steel beam to jack on (find one of the square tube beams).  Locate the point fore and aft on the trailer where the side of the trailer meets the v-nose.  This is how far fore/aft your jack should be.  Jack the trailer up here, monitoring the doors to ensure that you can open the rear, side and front.  If you have trouble, call Dave.

Quick links: Main instructions page