Sliding tandems horror stories

6 hours me my co driver and another team,
Come to find out the pins were wielded by previous driver when he dropped trailer just before quitting

 

I'm bored so I'll post this again!
Old trailer when you pick it up? Is it MT? SLIDE THE STUPID THING while it's MT! It's a lot easier!
At a shipper?
Pull the pins and slide it to about 7 holes or all the way to the back which is the best location for loading and unloading. But don't lock it back. YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, if they're hitting the trailer THAT hard to move it then go in and tell them to SLOW THE HELLO DOWN! They're not doing the trailer or tractor any good by hitting it so hard.

Now for what I've been using for years after a flatbedder showed me.

For flatbedders just grab a few tarp straps and hook to the handle after pulling it out as far as you can and then to the side rail. Go rock the truck a few times watching the handle and listening for it to pop out. Go back and put the handle in the locking notch. Remove the straps as they'll break when you slide the tandems.

But what I use for reefers and vans is called rubber rope. It can be found at some truck stops or from any tarp manufacturers with the pieces to make "ends" for the rope. This stuff looks like a big round piece of rope made from rubber. Get about a 10' long piece with 2 ends.

You also need a pair of GOOD vice grips (not some POS made in china!) This will work for all sliders! Clamp the vice grips onto the side of the trailer. Then reach in and pull the handle out as far as it'll go. With luck it'll come out and lock down! BUT if not get it out without hurting yourself. Take one end of the rope and put it on the handle and then stretch it back and around the vice grip and back and keep doing this till you have reached the ens and put the other end on either the handle or vice grip and head back to the cab.

Rock the trailer until you hear and see the handle come out and set the brakes and go back and take the rope off and set the handle in the locking notch.
DO NOT SLIDE THE TRAILER WITH THE ROPE ON THE HANDLE! You WILL break the handle off! YEP I did it the first time! Lesson learned!
If the handle does not lock in then use the vice grip and keeping the handle out clamp it around the rod and go slide the trailer but leave it until you know you are where you want it to be.

This method WILL work on the pull up type of locking bar! You just clamp the vice grip to a cross member and when you have pulled the handle up as high as you can get it which will be far enough to allow the rope to stay on it until you rock the tractor.

Now for a slider that doesn't want to slide. Do not waste your money spraying WD40 or oil all over them! Go to the fuel island or a water faucet and use their hose or yours and spray water back there from both sides and then go slide the trailer. Yes it works! it also will wash out any sand and dirt that is causing your no slide problem! Besides WD40 and other oils will attract dirt and well there you go again!
Refrain from putting chocks and lumber of hitting curbs trying to slide a trailer! Ever see a dog legging trailer going down the road? This is one reason they are out of alignment! Someone hit a curb or rail road tie or chock trying to slide the tandems and knocked it out of alignment!

Why doesn't it slide? Are the tires rolling as you're trying to slide them? There is your answer! The brakes are OUT OF ADJUSTMENT! If those brakes were in adjustment they will NOT turn! If they have manual slack adjusters then crawl under there and adjust them! I worked for a guy that actually thought that you turned them back out 1 1/2 turns! No wonder he got hit so many times for brakes out of adjustment! If they are auto adjusters then don't touch them! AT ALL! Let a shop do it but many drivers and yep, owner operators do not know how they work and that could be another thread but it's been addressed BUT I'll do it again!

Automatic slack adjusters are not to be adjusted manually except by a certified mechanic and usually only when installed or at a brake replacement.

The way automatic adjusters work is when they are applied! YES! WHEN APPLIED or coming to a stop!
They adjust at about 30 pounds of air pressure.
The BEST time to adjust your brakes is when you do your PTI or before you pull out starting your day. You will actually do three things when you do this. One is adjusting your brakes another is testing your low air warning horn and light and the third is the emergency brakes!

Release your brakes and roll SLOWLY forward a foot and then put your foot on the brake peddle and apply AT LEAST 32 pounds of pressure and let the truck stop. Do it several times and you will feel the brakes going into adjustment. Then do it in reverse several times. Do this every day and you'll NEVER get a writeup on brakes!
Now: NO IT WILL NOT WEAR OUT YOUR BRAKES! I can hear O/O's saying it will but you don't as you are NOT creating heat which is what will wear them out!

For those of you who do a lot of city driving or mountain driving you need to do this maybe half way through your day. When I was doing my NYC multi drops about halfway through as I was coming up to a stop light I would slow to a crawl and do this 2 or 3 times just to be safe as with any big city, you have an accident there is a big chance that, that driver is looking at that truck and seeing $$$ signs and already has his lawyer on his cell! Brake adjustments are the FIRST thing DOT and police look at next to that log book!

Anyway, keep the brakes in adjustment and sliding tandems work better. Stay away from sprays and petroleum products that attract dirt. The little bit of rust will break loose so anti rust sprays really aren't necessary and are a waste of money unless you own the trailer. Use that rope deal and it makes like easier and you aren't throwing a back out or maybe hurting someone who stopped to help! An added extra to having this rubber rope and vice grip over some chain and spring or handle puller is you have more than one tool! The rope can be used to tie something to the deck or a spare in the rack if there is no chain hold a bumper up that someone ripped off for you and those vice grips have a number of jobs they can do!

OH that water hose I mentioned earlier? I keep a 25' one in my milk crate of tools. Ever driven up to a fuel island for water and some down on his money trucker has either taken the whole thing, cut half of it because he needed a siphon hose or left it laying and drove over the end and crushed it or a lot of drivers left it laying and now it has cracks all through it because they were so lazy and didn't roll it up or because "it ain't mine, so what do I care" attitude!

 

Bungie that p.o.s to the rail if you can.

 

5 hours at Plainview, Tx one time. Most of that waiting on a wrecker to come out. Somehow or another, one of the rectractable pins, was actually sitting on top of the rail it was supposed to go into. No idea how that happened, just had to deal with it. Beat on it for a couple of minutes with a sledge, but with 43 k on it, it just wasn't going nowhere!!! Then the dang brakes had to be adjusted. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

 

Mine (3axle reefers) were the pull out handle type. My technique was: pull handle as far as possible, lock vice grips. Then beat pins in (3 lbs hand sledge, 1-3 blows), repulling/locking the handle after each one is pushed in. When all were in, repull handle and lock. Then I'd mark my target hole with chalk and adjust. This would take about 10 minutes, but was hard on the pins.

*This assumes the pins wouldn't release after rocking.* Cheap trick: to center the pins, rolls forward slowly (1-2 mph) and hit the trailer brake. Normally, this will rock the pins to center. (Hope the load is well secured!)

Oh and I would have loved the chance to adjust them empty.... Cosco pre loaded them. They were supposed to adjust the tandems before putting them on the pickup line. If I was dispatched on them (4 axle Freightshaker), they were always too heavy for the standard 3 axle Volvos. They used us 4 axles to cover the overloads (85-95k gross).

 

Figured these pictures would fit in good in this thread. Their from the short time I spent at Werner dealing with their junk equipment.

1st find another trailer (ty, wooster motor ways) preferably not hooked to a truck and run your cargo strap from that trailer to your release handle..


Tighten your strap until the release handle is out.. then slide away..


Now put it all away and hit the road!