Hooking / driving doubles

There are some states that allow triples. Those are a lot of fun. (not) This is where that "crack the whip" effect that was mentioned earlier really comes into play. And often times that last pup will have nothing in it, you are just shuttling it from one yard to another. Wind bothers it a LOT.

Then you run into snow and ice that was unexpected. In Utah, in the winter time, you will often see a pup sitting by itself in a rest area or on an off ramp. Because the rocket scientist dispatcher told the driver, "go ahead and drag it, you can probably make it before the storm hits."

So there you are, suddenly in driving conditions where triples are prohibited and you have a set of triples. Your only choices is to just park the whole thing, usually NOT an option, or drop the empty pup, to be picked up later. . .

 

I use to pull doubles and triples thru the Columbia Gorge years ago. Wind is fun!
It is a different feeling, pulling those multiples. Different set of problems.
I pull a 53 now. Sure is easier to back.
I think my single most common complaint with D/T was pulling into truck stops and seeing lot's of empty spaces for the singles, and all the pull thrus full...of singles. I don't think most drivers consider that you can't just back a set of D/T into a space and so we end up heading out to park on the side of a road somewhere.
I wish TS would designate D/T parking only and ENFORCE that.
But then I wish I made more money too.

 

Just an FYI for all those who say there is no money in trucking.. My best friend at this company, (Con-way Freight up North) Ballistic Mike will indeed break 100K for 2010. We analyzed his check Thursday and have him around 105K for the year even if he slacks off a little.. It pisses me a little since he's only 33 and I'm 29 but will make a measly 87-90K..haha..

Ballistic Mike will take a Brooklyn via at 6 AM and do it efficiently.. Friday night he took a Brooklyn on his way to Newark and took one on the way out equaling 602 miles once our "metro miles" are figured in.. This is why we call him Ballistic Mike right..haha.. I like my $340 nights and we had him at $435 and he does this 3 or 4 nights per week..

God bless him and keep him safe...

 

Jakebrake,..

Haven't seen yous around for awhile, I figured yous took a couple of weeks of and married the chicka with the bewbies????

 

I haven't officially drivin a double for Fedex yet, but I did take their road test Thursday. The hooking up part takes practice. It took me 2 tries to back up and align correctly. Also the dollys take some strength to turn them, which I don't have enough of yet. As for driving with them. I was nervous, but my boss kept assuring me it is easier than your average 53 footer. He had to remind me several times to stop taking wide turns. I do like that you can take shorter turns. He showed me how well they turn by doing U-turns in the terminal lot at (I felt)excessive speeds. At the end of the day, he said I did nothing that can't be tweaked.

If I can do it, anyone can.

 

Haha.. Just been working a little more than normal. I've gotten into a bad habit of running over-flows from our hub when I get back in the morning. There are 5 terminals within a hunderd miles of us so we can run them if need be. Did 69 hours last week with about 2900 miles.. Cha ching..haha..

 

i don't mean to hi-jack the thread, but could you tell me more about con-way and the work you guys do? You guys are whipping my ### as you can see in my other post entitled "the bottom line." We could do pm if you prefer. i take it this job requires a lot of discipline?

Now about doubles:
1) i would say as far as driving leave even more following distance than you would if driving with a single trailer.

2) Go around curves, corners, and exit ramps even slower, much slower than with a single trailer.

3) When coming up to traffic lights, go much slower than you normally would with a single trailer even though it seems you can stop better, possibly, than a 5 axle tractor-single trailer combo. (?)

As far as hooking up, i would say the 3 most important things are:

1) Both 5th wheels latched.

2) The pintle hook securely latched.

3) Safety chains hooked up.

Check each visually 2 or even three times. Everything else if there is a problem, you'll know as soon as you try to pull away.

Do everything the same way---establish a routine and don't deviate from it.

 

Pulling sets isn't really that much different but everything depends on how heavy you are and where the weight is in the trailer. The perfect set to me is one I loaded with the weight low and forward and the lead is twice as heavy - 20 and 10, 15 and 7500, etc..

1. Following distance - with a perfect set it stops the same. The worst is two mt's or a heavy lead with an mt since the mt will lock up. I stay back with those especially on wet or snow covered roads.

2. Curves - with the good set it's no different. With two light trailers or mt's you can actually really rip through curves hard - it can be kinda fun..haha.. With two heavies or if one box is leaning you do wanna take it real easy through curves though.

3. Lights - it all depends on the set and road conditions. Dry roads with a heavy set it may stop better than a single. On snow with a light set your point of no return is pretty far back even at a very slow speed so I take those very cautiously. I run through a lot of lights nightly on 4 lane and try to stay back and in the right lane so if I lock my back box it bounces off the curb instead of a line of cars..haha..

Just some general information about how sets pull. One thing to keep in mind is that your second box almost exactly follows the first one. If you ever make a tight turn into a yard or gas station through a puddle onto dry pavement, you'll notice the tracks of your kite are only a few inches over that of the lead. This is something to keep in mind - it's fine if you make a turn too wide on a road but you'll be in a bind if you swing too wide into a pull-up space at a truckstop or rest area. Just pretend the second box is not there and make the turn like you're only pulling one pup. It will look like like your kite is gonna side-swipe the trailer next to you but if your lead cleared it the kite will too - it really looks weird at first but you won't hit it. There is a sweeping left turn I make every night from double left turn lanes and I can easily take it in the far left turn lane with room to spare. If there are trucks next to me I always drop to 19 (75% of time with no response) and tell them to just make their usual turn and forget I'm even there. It freaks people out but makes it substantially easier and safer for me to hit the big road ramp I need than cutting across traffic.. The first time I pulled triples I felt i needed to swing really wide but the third box was only a foot or so over the track of the first one - just looks crazy in the mirror right..haha..

As far as hooking goes, the number one thing is to develop a good routine and stick to it. I always use the same hook sequence and have caught a lot of different problems.

I always put a flashlight on both 5'th wheels and double or triple check that my pintle hook is latched - they have a nasty habit of appearing latched even though they're not in extremely cold weather. I always pull the release mechanism 3 or 4 times to ensure it's actually latched.

I only set the tractor brakes once I've backed under my kite with the dolly - the last line I hook is the red line into my lead so when I pull the dummy glad hand the air is blowing out. There are two reasons I do it that way. When I hook the red line into the lead with the air blowing out it should engage the slack adjuster which tightens the eye of the of the dolly to the pintle hook making your back box jump back about an inch. A broken slack adjuster creates a very dangerous situation and I've caught it twice hooking this way. The other reason I keep the air open is you'll hear any major leak in the system while hooking.

Once I'm hooked and release my tractor brakes I always hold the brake down hard to see if I loose a lot of air. I've caught cut open service lines on my dolly this way and I would have never known till I was descending a big hill or hit a light if I did not do this..


One more thing to do while hooking a set if you work for an LTL company is check your seal numbers. I mis-pulled a month or two ago - turned out I had spotted my dolly next to the right trailer instead of in front of it. That sounds like a rookie mistake but it's very easy to do at 4 AM especially if two trailers are close in number.

I hope I was able to shed a little light on doubles for everyone. They are bad in the snow but a lot of it depends on the total weight and where the weight is in the set. 99% of us that pull the are on runs we know very well so don't freak out if we're on the inside of a double turn lane - we can easily do it since they break in the middle and the kite follows the lead within a few inches.


About Con-way Freight.. It is not the most driver friendly company but the pay is great up North even though it takes waaaay too long to hit top rate IMO - 5 years. I hit that two years ago and run mid 400's per night with a night line-haul bid and will be a few hundred dollars either way of 90K for 2010..

It's pretty easy math and our pay rates are posted in the open at most terminals twice per year. Mid .50's per mile and 23'ish per hour so it's pretty simple math. A 500 mile run will pay you $275 to drive and 4 hours on the clock pays a little over $90 which is an easy 365 per night which is an easy 94K for the year. With the way our punches and pay work, 4 hours on line 4 usually is a lot closer to 5 hours of pay. Some drivers take all the work they can and have grossed as much as $2300 for a week while being 100% legal.

 

Pulling doubles is easy. The tail trailer goes wherever the lead goes.
I pulled 48' doubles on the NY Thruway and 28' doubles for CF.
Use your head, don't try to back up 28' doubles more than a few feet-they are not meant for that.
Just pay attention to what you are doing and you will be fine.

 

RE: Con-Way.


So, mainly i'm wondering about the hours----i'm guessing it's mostly at night.

And also, i heard that when you first arrive you got to unload a set, then load your set, then drive to the other terminal (and if you're low-man it will be the closest terminal), unload your set, load another set and bring this set back to your home terminal?