loading docks - how tight can an 18wheeler back up?

This depends on how many spaces that will be built. If this is the only dock in this area and no cars will be parked down there, which is very common in underground structures I used to encounter when I hauled freight. It sounds like enough room for daycabs with 53 foot trailers but tight for the long haul super trucks. We appreciate your thoughtfulness for us truckers. If more designers thought of us when designing delivery areas, our job wouldn't be as stressful. Thank you!

 

Sounds like it would work. It would be tight, but an experienced driver should be able to pull it off. Another thing to remember is to make sure the truck will have enough room to swing out around another truck next to him after he gets loaded/unloaded with the other driver still getting loaded/unloaded next to him. The average over the road truck lenght is around 70-75 feet, give or take a few feet, but day cabs are much shorter and have a shorter wheelbase for better close quarter backing and turning....hope this helps a little.

 

And thank you for making it a sight-side back(can see the trlr out the left hand window). Nothing worse than getting somewhere new and you've gotta blind side it into a teeny spot.
Sounds like it might be a little tight for the LLLLOOONNNGGG nose OTR trucks but it should be manageable.

 

yes you have to allow for backing in next to a truck and trailer not just a droped trailer. it could help if you placed the straight truck docks between the two semi docks so they have more room to swing. Alot of the math will depend on how close together the docks are too. I once picked up at a disney warehouse in CA that had the docks so tight together I had to get someone to crawl under the trailers on either side to hold my dors tight against the trailer or I would have taken off the doors of the other trailers. In that case I had to have enough room in front of the trailers on ether side to fit the entire truck and trailer since it had to be perfectly straight before backing in. If you understand that. The rear of these 53 foot trailers swing a ton when the tandems are slid up

 

From what I read of the original post, this would be a blind side/straight line maneuver. The original poster said you would drive past then docks, then make the 90 degree turn (presumably to the left). This would put the docks on the right (or blind side), but with the 70 ft of additional space in front of the dock, it could be negotiable, although not enjoyable.

If at all possible I would think that having 100ft of space in front of the dock space (which should also be at least 70ft to accommodate a tractor trailer w/a 53' trailer) would be a minimum to execute this dock maneuver. Unless I'm just thinking entirely wrong, this dock would be a nightmare for drivers of anything more than a spotter truck (such as an Ottawa). Even day cabs might struggle with this one, especially when pulling out of the dock after loading/unloading as someone else already mentioned. Speaking for only myself, let me know where this dock is so I can do everything in my power to never have to back into it.

 

if nothing else, make sure that ramp decends quite a ways before it levels out. you wouldn't want a 53' trailer to suddenly stop under the overhead clearance...............if that ramp is shorter than the lenght of a 53' trailer and say a tractor lenght of about 30 feet, given only some tractor configurations that may be going there. not all tractors are the same lenght, just like not all trailers are the same lenght. then figure about 4' to 5' of space between the tractor and trailer as well. an overall lenght may be (at times) 90' to 100 feet.......... that's not impossible to imagine with some owner-operator rigs. you may also want an "exit ramp" of the same lenght to facilitate those times when more than just one big rig is going to "visit" that loading dock. or maybe that'll be a better possibility. have the space be way more outside, and the trucks back into the loading docks from outside. it could end up being a "straighter shot". this is of course if space allows for this outside.

 

Do you have a drawing of what the dock area might look like....



K

 

How tight can a truck turn while backing up??

UNTIL IT JACKNIFES!!