air spring suspension on trailers

smoother and less noise specially pulling m/t or light, spring setup rattles away

trailer can move up to ~ 6" away from a dock if you don't take care of biz after first docking, gotta wait for the air to dump and back it up again, otherwise there could be probs like a dock plate won't work (can't load then & could be trailer was dropped & left), hook may not release/hang etc.. depends what dock setup is,

sometimes need a key to override dock sensors, just to unhook,

basically can end up/have (what did the last driver do) way more dock issues, delays.. someone else may have to be called in (or just around) just to unhook

 

only setups i've seen are no dock hook (first) then hydraulic ramp/plate setup doesn't work

 

One of my Utility 3000R reefer trailers has something called Haldex(?) anti-walk, which is supposed to solve the problem, but it still walks 4+ inches, so I dunno.

 

spring ride is like a 5X4 trans. old school. you can tell why spring ride is out and air ride is in just by the way you truck will bounce around. spring is not very good for hauling freight on pallets. the last two pallets will usually b on the floor if you are not careful. you will have less suspension problems with air ride. that being said you will not have air problems with spring. and you should b able to buy a spring ride trl dirt cheap. lots of luck

 

the only time I have noticed having an issue with dock walk is when I am forced to set the trailer brakes.

Dock walk occurs because the trailer tires CAN'T roll and as the suspension is compressed, the tires are torqued over and then they stay exactly where they are put and the trailer is pushed away from the dock.

You can tell the brakes are set the way the trailer moves forward.



This also causes people to have the dock locks hook their DOT bumper and they pull against them and then they bend the hell out of them. It's also a good idea to back up to a dock before you attempt to pull away just in case the dock lock hasn't actually released your trailer.