backing in tanker

And unlike bumping a dock, you are usually backing to a "spot". Close enough for your hoses to reach, but far enough away that you can work at the back of the trailer to hook up your hoses.
If you "bump" anything, you got to close, and probably bent something!

 

Don't kid yourself, you still do plenty of backing in a tanker. I've spent most of my trucking career being a tanker yanker, and I've done it all. What's great though is you don't have to mess with the tandems. If I have to adjust the weight I've got a sliding fifth. You just have to get used to the sloshing around. It's kinda like dancing with a 800 lb gorilla. You're done when he's done!!
good luck

 

In the east Acids use hoses w/ a 4 bolt flange connection so adding an extra hose is a big deal. Prior to hoses that could withstand some concentrated acids; they used solid pipe w/ 'barco joint' swivel elbows. You had two lengths of pipe nested under the bumper and two swivels to reach out about 10 feet and bolt on... those deliveries were all back in places, new hoses did not move the hookup so you still have to back in today.

I have backed into buildings and streached out hoses to various tanks around the place.

Tankers do it all.

 

ok i didnt read all of this thread so if i repeat thats why. I deliver gasoline up here in new england. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut
I probably back up more than anyone who bumps a dock.
I start the day pulling up to the loading rack, pull just about completely thru and back up to line up the loading arms from the rack to the loading heads on the trailer. Pipes, steal bumpers ( so you dont hit the rack arms) large cement barriers so you dont run into the ethanol blender all must be avoided.
Now you get your BOL and get on your way. Arrive at the station and pull in avoiding the cars that always seem to be in the way, wait cause there are always cars in parking spots that your going to block, pull up so you can see the tanks in your mirrors and figure where you need to be so you can reach with your hoses and not have to drain more than 20' of hose. Gas is heavy. Now back up to where you want to be avoiding the cars that are pulling in and leaving and oh yeah the people that walk around the lot that could give a rats ### if your there or not. (70yo lady telling me to #### off today cause i was in the way). Now you can leave the station.... sometimes you can drive out trying not to hit the horse shoes that protect the pumps and cars and telephone poles that are near the driveways. Go back and do it all over again.
You always get the station where you can pull right in..... however you have to back up into the street in traffic.

 

Back up as close as you can get it in the first try, hook up the glad-hands, charge the system (block the back tires of the pup) release the brakes (if you are on level ground and the trailer is empty you can even roll foreword and backward by rolling the tires) you should have no problem moving the pintle a foot side to side. So if you can get the pintle hook within a foot of the pintle then it will go easily.

 

Backing while in the loading bay at the Kinder Morgan rack in Phoenix will get your loading card pulled for 30 days. Why dont you just stop when the arm is lined up with the loading head?

 

Mobil E. Providence R.I. is the same way however there is plenty of room to pull straight in. Motiva Providence R.I. you have to make a hard left into the rack. Any rack past 2 your going to have to pull up and any past 4 you might even have to take two bites just to get in. I'll try to snap a pic next load out.

 

Sounds like an interesting rack. All of the racks I load at are pull in, load, and roll out. But if you back up without a spotter at one of them, your card is suspended. Amazing how each rack is different… Some are all about poe, others you just roll in, load, and leave, no ppe required.

 

not sure where he got the idea tankers do less backing...Ive been doing cryo 14 years did some tar buggies before that and foodgrade when I started in 89 I would say I do as much backing in 1 day as most otr freight guys do in a week...Im running a daycab and a 42' tanker but going into places designed for nothing bigger than cars most of the time...so if hes thinking he'll do less backing than a otr van hes wrong...

 

I pulled dry vans for years, and delivered a lot of LTL furniture to mom-and-pops, Rent-a-Centers, as well as plenty of other places not remotely suited for sleeper cabs and 53' trailers, including in the northeast. I can say definitively that some of the backing I've had to do with a tanker has been much more difficult than anything I ever did with a van. At some of the loading racks and chemical plants I've been to, just driving forward is tricky enough. And I'm not even talking about the overhead clearances.

Another point the OP is overlooking is where he's gonna park. Even if you're working local you're still gonna need to park at truckstop every now and then, and you'll need to drop your trailer at a customer or tankwash. Show up to drop a trailer at most tankwashes on a Sunday and if there are any spots at all left open, they're the tricky ones every other driver has been avoiding since Friday afternoon.