Con-Way Freight or UPS?

A set of 28.5 foot doubles (like the pups in my signature) is right around 60 feet without the tractor. Triples are around 95 feet without the tractor. You can turn doubles tighter than you can turn a 53 footer because they bend in the middle.

Triples turn wider than a 53 footer.

As for backing, you dont have to back doubles or triples. You can always break the set down.

 

Not a dumb question at all, because it happens. Anytime I am pulling a set, I am even more cautious and double and triple check for low bridge, dead end, no outlet etc. signs.

But, like I said, it does happen. If you find yourself down a dead end street with a set, and there is absolutely no way to turn around, you break the set down (pull the pups apart).

You might be able to turn around with just your lead pup with the dolly on the back, drop it, then go get your other pup....You might have to drop the dolly off the lead, and back the lead pup out of there isnt even room to turn one pup around........Then go get your dolly and other pup....No matter how you have to do it, it will be a pain in the ###.

I have never had to do it, but came extremely close one time. I was at a warehouse and thought I could drive around the building because it really looked like you could. Turns out, you couldnt go around the building, and I had myself in a situation with cars 10 feet to my left, and a ditch 5 feet to my right. Ended up backing the set slowly but surely back to where the docks were. (Maybe 50 feet)

 

I've had my close calls too. Knock on wood though.

 

Nah nobody was around..........Atleast not that I saw. It was very late at night in Greenfield, IN.

 

Absolutely right. I've also been close but fortunate that I've never had to do it. As you know, the second trailer only tracks slightly off from the first so I went very very slow and made it by about an inch.

Just some random doubles stuff for everyone that hasn't pulled them or is new to pulling them.

If you cut too hard you can pinch them together. This normally happens when drivers try to make "u's" and lumpy terrain will make it happen a lot sooner. Some of it depends on kingpin setting and dolly length, but I know of two drivers pinching them together making U turns in dirt lots - when they hit a hole it made the tops of the trailers crash together. Also watched one bend it too hard in my yard with a shorter dolly and crunched them on a perfectly level smooth surface.

You can break things with just a lead trailer and a dolly. It all depends how your dolly and the back of the trailer is set up with air lines but at Con-way, you can snap off a glad hand if you cut the dolly too sharp on the back of the lead trailer because the dummy sticks out.

This should apply to every company with dolly's and pintle hooks. Hook a safety chain when you have the dolly hooked to the tractor. 3 different times I've seen dolly's come off and do damage. I was at a night hub a few years ago where the lost dolly went through the fence into the employee parking lot striking a car. That's just stupid. If the chain is hooked to the truck, the worst you do is break a light or bend the plate holding the light cluster.

And the most common mistake I see from drivers new to pulling doubles by far is swinging too wide... And instead of stopping and spitting the set, which is a pain, they keep going and hit something. I've seen it in my yard, rest stops, and even on US Highways.

A set of doubles tracks very close to a single pup because of the extra pivot point - the pintle hook point connecting the eye of the dolly to the lead. Like the UPS driver said, a standard pup is 28.5 feet and a set without the power is about 60 and new drivers tend to allow for 60' when you really want to allow for about 29 to 32 feet depending how tight the turn is. The terminal I work at has a tight yard and I've seen so many new drivers here end up with passenger side clearance issues on the kite doing pull through parking.

Bottom line.. Split it and hook it before you crunch it... Just hook the safety chain to your truck while doing it..lol..

 

I forgot about the kind of valves you all have on Conway trailers...Now that I think about it, Estes had the same kind when I drove there while laid off.

And I definitely agree about hooking atleast one chain. It takes a split second and could save somebodys life. Im no Mr Safety by any means....But the pintle hooks they put on tractors are usually junk, and poorly maintained. We have had plenty of runaway dollys over the years in our yard, and some have done damage. I believe a dolly weighs around 2000-2500 lbs, and if youre going 15mph in the yard and that dolly falls off, somebody could get killed.

 

Only doubles I ever pulled were 48' flats on the IN toll road. I never had to turn-around or back up down a street as we used a drop lot off the toll road.

Sometimes I don't know how you city guys do it. I've seen some doubles drivers in Chicago back up a set of pups like it was a straight truck into a curved dock!!

 

No doubt man. I'm as far away from a safety Nazi as you can get. There are two types of safety - practical safety and ridiculous corporate safety. You and I understand real world safety.

This is so dumb but these are truths according to me.. This is so stupid but it's all true..

I'm finishing up my year on a yard bid and I get bored. Con-way dolly's weigh between 600 and 900 lbs depending on model and tire size. Earlier this year I weighed a set that gained 2000 lbs of snow and ice over 272 miles. It was all caked and nasty with brown ice and and snow but I would have never guessed it gained 2000 lbs. An empty Con-way set weighs 36,900 in a 2006 Sterling. That seems heavy to me but I weighed it.

I'm on a roll.. I'm gonna keep going..lol..

We can load 36K into a van with a single axle truck and be under gross but it's impossible to axle scale. We tried it years ago in the city and now I've try it in the yard and it's true. You cannot axle out over 32K of freight in a van with a single axle truck unless you have a ruler.

I just got a brand new off the step deck 2012 Ottawa yard truck last week and it's nice. I think the truck is bent or something because I can no longer hit a dock dead on with my foot to the floor - or pulling up 42 times for that matter.. It's getting embarrassing.. I can still back up a hooked dolly to hook a set but I can't back into a door with a yard truck. I'm pretty much pathetic at backing up trailers even though I'm in a yard truck - I was great at it three weeks ago but this new one threw me off.. I'm blaming new yard truck smell..

I should probably be done now..lol.. As of 1/16/2012 I'll be back on line-haul and I can't wait..lol..