Tanker to Dry Van

Dry van? Piece of cake. I rarely scale loads anymore, and I pull dry vans and reefers. Whenever I love load, I always slide the tandem to the rear. It helps me to set the tandem properly on heavy loads. After airing the trailer, pulling out the buttons to draw in the pins, I slide them forward but only a little a time. I'm listening for the weight to be released off the drive axles, which is a loud hissing sound. Now for me, if I slide the tandems all the way forward, and there's no hiss, that's an indicator i may be overweight on the drives. At that point I'll weigh. For me, I prefer to be slightly heavier on my drives than the trailer axles, especially in the winter time. Then I have to account for the weight of the fuel too. It'll definitely take practice and experience. I do like the aforementioned idea of going with a trainer. I think this is more of a hands on lesson.

 

Tanker to dry van?, Sorry, but that is an unusual step, usually, it's t'other way 'round. Going to a box, you are in for a rude awakening, and I highly recommend you stay with a tank. Pallets, ( yours are never good enough to use), or worse, floor loads, appointment times, crabby receivers, or don't need your product, pull it around back, we'll call you, ( crickets) then the loading, most every load is different, and multiple products, all go on separate pallets, sometimes SMALL WOOD,,yep, I think Sysco still uses them, point being, you aren't going to like it. Tanker is a whole different set of rules, the customer orders product when they need it, load/unload unassisted day or night, rarely any weight issues, please reconsider, I'd hate to see you make a big mistake.

 

Which company is your new gig with?

 

This one is reefer and has a reputation for very good paychecks. Take as much time off as you want between California turns without fear of losing your job.
Florida Beauty Flora Transportation | Job Opportunities
3400 NW 74TH AVENUE
MIAMI, FL. 33122
~
CENTRAL FLORIDA RECEIVING
C/O PIERSON SUPPLY
407 S. CENTER ST
PIERSON, FL. 32180
~
Long Haul Truck Driver

• Over the road for 7 to 10 days
• Unlimited home time
• Competitive pay
• Florida Beauty Flora Transportation | Drivers

 

This may well save you some serious aggravation later....

Sometimes, dry van/reefer tandem mechanisms will be on the stubborn side, when you are trying to retract the tandem pins...to move the tandems.

When this happens -- I have found that....in all too many cases....a good squirt or two of WD-40 does an A - MA - ZING job of given the problem/sticky parts a wonderful "attitude adjustment".

-- L

 

What I do with stuck tandem pins is attach a bungee to the pin release handle and to the outside frame of the trailer.
With the tractor, gently rock the trailer, with the trailer brakes locked, and the bungee will pull the handle and release the pins.

 

Well, best wishes and best of luck with the new job.