***The Truckers Thread***

[JeepHammer]

The FUNNIEST 4 wheeler story I have...

So, the truck owner is backing into a dock in a shopping center, and the location of the shopping center prohibits docks in the rear.
There are 3 truck docks in the front between stores, and as usual, the 'Landscapers' put in traffic islands, curbing, shrubs & trees, the usual crap.
So the truck has to come in with the cars, battle the cars to get lined up with the docks,
And when a 53' van gets in there, the tractor sticks half way out in the intersection inside the parking lot, not a city streets.

So I see a driver trying to get situated and the 4 wheelers paying NO attention, I blocked one side with my vehicle, and got out and blocked off/waved off the idiots.
So the guy finally gets into the docks, and he starts unloading, truck nose blocking the closest lane of cross traffic...

Now, keep in mind all they have to do is run next to the curb to one of the THREE other crossovers, but they pull right up to the truck and blow the horn...
"MUST drive closest to store fronts, can't use common sense" types.

So I'm getting back in my Jeep, and some idiot LAYS on the horn,
And the truck driver leans over the railing of the receiving man door (passenger side of the truck & 80 feet to the rear) and asked if I can "See what that clown's problem is"... (No profanity)

I walk around the nose of the truck and it's a mini-van covered in polka-dots, it's full of balloons, and there is a CLOWN in full makeup, rainbow wig and all!
I laughed so hard I had to wave the truck driver over, and when he gets close enough I start saying "That clown wants to talk to you"...
He rounds the truck and we both have to lean on the truck to stand up!

A balloon delivery clown for party store is giving us 'The Bird' with both fingers, wearing big Mickey Mouse clown gloves and just melting down mad....
The more he ranted the harder we laughed and the more unhinged he got, so the harder we laughed!

Now keep in mind this clown only has to back up 3' off the front tire of the truck and go around the nose of the truck, but he just WILL NOT do it!

Just when you thought your job couldn't get worse, then there is a delivery clown job...
The sad, angry, mini-van driving delivery clown job!
If it came down to taking a delivery clown job and mopping out a XXX theater, I mopped a lot of floors in the Marines...

 

[AtTheMurph]

Call The Hammer!

Repeatedly!

 

[2A_Tom]

This is all I got.

[video=youtube;ISmgOrhELXs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmgOrhELXs[/video]

 

[ditcherman]

Talk to teddy bear!

I really like how ya handle your rig.

 

[Spear Dane]

 

[boogieman]

I wouldn't want to back into tight spaces with that rig! Do drivers have to do that, or do you separate the 2nd trailer somehow?

.

Backing doubles doesn't happen. You have 3 pivot points in there because you have the front of the converter dolly and the fifth wheel. I used to be able to back 1 trailer with the dolly and that took alot of practice. When you pull in somewhere you really pay attention and make sure you are not putting yourself in a situation to be blocked in. You then would have to break down the set and move them 1 piece at a time which is really no fun.
Driving down the road I prefer to pull the doubles over a 53' anytime. The doubles maneuver much better and pull smoother. With the extra set of tires and having the axles spread out it is a smoother ride. You can turn a set in the same area as you could a 45' trailer because they just follow along like a snake instead of offtracking. The biggest problem on the road is that a combined set is 8 feet longer than a 53'. That may not sound like a lot but when you are passing someone and looking in your mirror you really see the difference.

 

[igotdiesel2]

We do some tight maneuvering to get into/out of some of our stations. But I've done the same station so many times, it seems second nature to me.

With the big 6 axle trailer, it's easier to maneuver than a tandem. The pivot point on the trailer is about 5 feet closer to the kingpin. We just have to watch out for tail swing.

I bet that is a huge tail swing. The rule out our dock is all tandems must be slid to the rear while at the dock for loading or unloading. The foreign trailers that come in sometimes just drop in the yard so the hostler has to break the seal, open the doors, and put it in a door. Sometimes those pins won't break so we have to put them in with the tandems up. It is a completely different animal when that happens. It does get you used to the tail swing for sure. As a LTL when I go out with a 53 footer I won't be sliding the tandems every time I hit a customers dock.

GOAL is the best tool for a truck driver for sure. No shame in getting out as many times as necessary to complete the task safely. And if I have to pull up 4 times to hit the dock so be it. I've blocked traffic to hit docks and had to get out and look all the while some jack wang was blowing his horn. It doesn't take THAT long.

My career as a truck driver has just started. I plan on making this my last. NO ONE is going to pressure me to do something fast that will endanger someone, my license, or my job. -Jason

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

Where I work we have internal docks which according to the driver's makes it even more difficult during daylight hours. Even with extremely bright LEDs the drivers say that it's like completely backing in blind due to the different lighting. We've had our aprons ripped off, drivers have ripped mirrors off, doors off, and even had one driver back in to the dock well and right into a straight truck that was already occupying that dock. The most recent event, a driver's swing door came un-latched while he was backing in and he hit it square on the metal frame of the dock apron broke the door off the hinges ...and wedged it perfectly vertical in the trailer.

 

[IndyDave1776]

Where I work we have internal docks which according to the driver's makes it even more difficult during daylight hours. Even with extremely bright LEDs the drivers say that it's like completely backing in blind due to the different lighting. We've had our aprons ripped off, drivers have ripped mirrors off, doors off, and even had one driver back in to the dock well and right into a straight truck that was already occupying that dock. The most recent event, a driver's swing door came un-latched while he was backing in and he hit it square on the metal frame of the dock apron broke the door off the hinges ...and wedged it perfectly vertical in the trailer.

When it is daylight outside and relatively dark inside it is a matter of backing into a black rectangle where you can't see anything on the other side. Fortunately, there is only one place I do this and know it well enough to know without seeing.

 

[bigcraig]

I move and "recover", weird and big things.

 

[Bigtanker]

Here is one of the articles on the 379 drag truck. The article is from 2013. I'll see if I can find a newer one.

https://www.overdriveonline.com/andre-gagnons-coga-power/

[FONT=&amp]Under the hood is a 1,200-hp Cat 3406E, of which the upgrades are a closely guarded secret other than the ECM allows it to turn 3100 rpm with an Eaton 18-speed backing it up.[/FONT]

https://bangshift.com/bangshiftxl/w...-saleen-mustang-and-a-dodge-viper-muscle-rig/

 

[DoggyDaddy]

There is ZERO depth perception in a mirror...
*SNIP*
Your tractor wheels have to turn the OPPOSITE direction you *Think* they should go,
AND,
You are trying to hit a slot not much wider than the truck, 80 feet behind you with the truck/trailer bent in the middle...

I'm not a truck driver but I did learn the trick to backing a trailer (20' pontoon). I hang on to the BOTTOM of the steering wheel and move it in the direction I want the trailer to go. That way I don't have to "think backwards". Once I learned that, it got a lot easier!

 

[Bigtanker]

I'm not a truck driver but I did learn the trick to backing a trailer (20' pontoon). I hang on to the BOTTOM of the steering wheel and move it in the direction I want the trailer to go. That way I don't have to "think backwards". Once I learned that, it got a lot easier!

A phrase that stuck with me was "Turn towards trouble." Turn towards the thing you don't want to hit.

 

[JeepHammer]

I'm not a truck driver but I did learn the trick to backing a trailer (20' pontoon). I hang on to the BOTTOM of the steering wheel and move it in the direction I want the trailer to go. That way I don't have to "think backwards". Once I learned that, it got a lot easier!

Yup, turn the bottom of the steering wheel the way you want the back of the trailer to go.
It doesn't help with depth perception, but at least the trailer is headed in the direction you want...

I'm the KING of oversteer!
If an inch is good, I'll get 4 feet

I'm still used to those short farm trailers, and the box I drag is 53', so OVERSTEER! And in a big way.
I get it figured out about Delaware, then get home & can't get the 18' delivery trailer behind a pickup backed up when I get home, still trying to push a 53 footer...

Growing up, we switched from short grain trailers & dump/equipment trailers to long boxes, and that always screwed me up too.
MANY pull ups and try again, the only way to learn.
Backing those short military tag trailers was a pain...

We had a 30 foot, and later 40 foot pontoon boat, and it pivoted dead in the middle, that was interesting to back up...
Backing DOWN a boat ramp is like hitting a lowered dock door, that trailer don't go where you think it *Should* go!
Without the boat, it was even harder to back the trailer, you couldn't see it behind the truck, pontoon trailers were MUCH narrower than the truck, fits between pontoons, by the time you saw it in the mirror you had major corrections to make.

It doesn't help I'm a perfectionist, so I get REALLY aggravated with myself, and that doesn't help the situation...

 

[Bigtanker]

So after a day or night at work, say I stop at the store and try and back my pickup into a spot. I can't. I have to stop and think about it because I turn the wheel the wrong way.

 

[JeepHammer]

So after a day or night at work, say I stop at the store and try and back my pickup into a spot. I can't. I have to stop and think about it because I turn the wheel the wrong way.

I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE!
I thought it was just me!

I get out of the truck and it takes me two days to back up without a trailer, I'll turn the steering wheel the wrong way EVERY TIME for the first two days...
What gets stuck in your brain it takes 2 days to clear?

Ever swing WAY WIDE pulling in somewhere before you realize there isn't 53' of trailer behind you?
I've seen people PANIC in drive ways thinking I'm going to hit them before I get turned, but I'm swinging wide for that invisible trailer...

 

[DoggyDaddy]

The hardest thing for me to back up is the garden cart behind my lawn tractor. It seems like 1/2" of oversteer on the wheel and that sucker's going every which way.

 

[Mark 1911]

I'm not a trucker but maybe you guys can answer something I've always been a little curious about.

My wife is Canadian, and every time I go up there I always notice that a lot of the big rigs up there are bigger than in the USA, or at least have a lot more wheels than the standard 18. What is that all about?

 

[confused89]

They have different weight laws than most of the US concerning how much they can have per axle. They do like their 3 axle trailers. It's all about the bridge laws. They also have more stringent length laws up there. In BC they are only allowed to have a 286" wheel base on the truck and an over all length limit of 75'.

I drive, sometimes. Less now than I use too.

 

[Bigtanker]

I'm not a trucker but maybe you guys can answer something I've always been a little curious about.

My wife is Canadian, and every time I go up there I always notice that a lot of the big rigs up there are bigger than in the USA, or at least have a lot more wheels than the standard 18. What is that all about?

Axle weights. Most of the US has an 80,000 lb limit. Ohio, Michigan, Washington, and a few others allow heavier loads, as long as there are enough axle on the ground. Indiana had a 24 hour heavy weight permit available that has a max gross weight of 130,500 lbs. But it is only on certain roads, mainly in NWI.

In Canada, a lot of the loads go to very rural areas. By raising the GVW limit, it decrease the number of trucks needed to get the job done.

A standard 5 axle semi (your basic 18 wheeler) has axle weight limits. 12,000 on the steer axle, 17,000 on each drive axle (34,000 for the set) and 17,000 on each trailer axle (34,000 for the set). A spread axle, like you'd see on flat bed trailers, can have up to 20,000 axle limit depending on the length of spread (8 ft is 18,000, 10 ft is 20,000). But the total weight is still 80,000.




Now take my tanker in the pic above. I can have 14,000 on the steer but only 16,000 on my drives (32,000 total). The front lift axle can be 18,000 and the following 5 axle set are limited to 13,000 per axle. That gives me a total GVW limit of 129,000.

Our standard tandem rig can legally load 8,800 gallons of gas. The big tanker in my OP can load 13,400 gallons. That's over 50% more gas going to the station with the big truck vs the small truck.