Pulling doubles?

I have had to break the set apart twice because I got stuck. I sucks because u have to hook at weird angles to pull the trailers out. When you pull up to a customer someimes its hard to find a safe spot to break. I have broken up to a mile away because four wheelers dont care and will zoom by you with no regards to your safety. Other times its a chill street you got a nice long curbside to yourself carry cones or extra triangles and set them up where you want so four wheelers wont park in front of your trailers or dolly. Again they dont care. I had that happen twice also where they park so close to my trailers like they are going to hook up to them. They will park between your equipment and guess what your stuck doing a lot of extra work it sucks if your on a tight load. But my truck looks bad a s s pulling them thats why Iike it lol.

 

Who are you working for that they want you to have doubles? I went and got mine because it will make doing my job more efficent and will give me more work on my dedicated account.

 

Good luck okiejon! be safe out there and be careful. I found myself trying to concentrate more on my lane changes today as if I were pulling doubles. Hope to be company certified next week or so.

 

Mark down the number of the dollie or con-gear that you like the best. Over time you will find some you like using more than others, that is if the company has a lot of them. sometimes the fifth wheel plate sits higher than others, so the back trailer will be high in front and low in the back. That can cause problems if the trailer is full to the top, if you ever have to open the door on the back trailer. Moving the con-gear around in the snow by hand can be difficult, but sometimes you have to. Using the tractor to pull the con-gear around works a lot better. The veteran drivers will be grabbing the good equipment, and leaving you with the warn out dollies. Do a good PTI on that con-gear. Good Luck with the new job if ya take it !

 

First Time I pulled pups was in snow, came in 15 minutes early, put the dolly on the back of the lead and backed it under the kite, over time I got to the point I could do it with 1 or 2 pull ups.

 

Always put your heavier trailer in the front, if the back one is nose heavy it will give you the wiggle effect

 

Yeah that would suck, but lesson learned. Breaking and hooking a set of triples in a situation like that would be 3x worse though I bet.

 

In no particular order: My thoughts and impressions, and certainly not the gospel of how to pull doubles. Aplogies for the obvious writings. Kinda thinking out loud here.

The kite trailer is prone to tip over. If an unknown to you exit ramp is posted 25 MPH, 20 MPH is not a bad idea. The driver behind you will survive the ordeal of having to wait an extra half second.
Overkill? Maybe. I like to feel 99.999% confident we'll make the corner, if only for a small dollop of stress reduction in motion. Some of the very poorly designed old highway northeast US ramps have done this to me. See also CT 691 East to 91 North and Freebie 90 East to 90 East ramps. Both include a "Dang but I'm glad to be going only the speed limit" happy ending.

Take your time during setup and breakdown, especially when fatigued. I like to test the air flow out the back of all trailers during setup to be sure all the axles are getting air. This helps blow out moisture as well, and you know we all likes us some dry (as possible) brake lines.

Never unlatch a dolly's pintle from the lead trailer while the dolly is still under the kite trailer. The front of the dolly can in some instances fly up and make you think Mohammed Ali in his prime tagged you under the chin with a sledge hammer. Always pull the dolly free of the kite before unhooking the dolly from the lead. This will work itself out for you as you go along. Just something to keep in mind the first few times.

A good hefty rolling trolley valve brakes test at start-up is a good idea.

Aim high during driving to the far horizon and farthest visible forward traffic and your brain's built in auto pilot will automatically center the vehicle in the lane. Try it. It works in any vehicle. The safety and fuel savings aspects of aim high are evident as well.

I reckon the carrier will help train you too.

Forgive me the obvious here -- Like always and every time on every semi trailer - a flashlight visual and I can see for myself by getting under the vehicle that the kingpin is fully latched. Pre trip post trip means under the vehicles again with the flashlight. Springs, torque arms, brake linings - the whole package at every change of duty status. Check it like your life depends upon it. It does. Short of a tire pressure gauge, check tires with a 2 or 3 lb hammer at the minimum. The softies will appear this way. Good tire "donk" vs. soft tire sound "dumff" -- I know -- sounds corny, but it works. Toe tap or wood tire billy tire check = waste of time and dangerous, in my opinion anyway. If the kite axle is running on one good tire in a turn? Not my idea of fun.

Depending upon dolly's fixed air lines configuration, and they do vary by company and manufacturer - blue glad hand will mate with red glad hand on air lines to keep rain and water out when dolly is parked. The next driver will much appreciate the lack of a slug of water in the airlines, especially below 32 F.

I think you might find backing up a lone 28' pup is easier than one might imagine. My first time I thought it would be all over the yard with me chasing it because they're so short. I'm glad to report this wasn't the case. They back up nice and easy, I think anyway. The dollies when backed by the tractor's pintle hook require a little zigging and zagging, but all in all, weren't as bad as I had imagined they would be.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I very much like pulling doubles. It seems to give a little more to think about while in motion which keeps me interested in the ride. Kind a like a car vs. a truck - a car I'm bored in an hour - a truck I enjoy the ride, the sound, the whole deal - well, maybe except the stop and go urban traffic part.

Here is a brief scenario of how it works, again, forgive me the obvious parts --

You position the dolly in front of the lighter kite trailer. You have it aimed as best you can so it is centered -- the same way you would center your tractor's fifth wheel when hooking up to a trailer.

You back the heavier lead trailer up to the dolly's pintle hook, and hook the dolly up to the lead trailer

You then back the dolly under the kite trailer using the lead trailer to shove it under there.

That's it in a nutshell.

Add in air lines and system checks high hitch etc etc etc.

Once you see how it works, the other stuff will follow. Your trainer will help with this too.

Then there are those special days when someone else did all the setup, and you pre trip and go. Never hated that scenario as opposed to find two trailers and a dolly to set up among 500 parked trailers.

A little off topic -- Next time you see a UPS package division double, try to get a close look at their dollies. The springs are under the fifth wheel, not between the axle and dolly frame. The axle is mounted rigid to the dolly's frame (at least where I worked this was the case.) The pintle arrangement is only around a foot off the ground. I think theirs are unique, but could be wrong. Very clever engineering for kite trailer stability. I would be inclined to believe these dollies are custom built for UPS, and can only work within their system. Not sure.

 

I have seen the UPS con gear. They have a low pro tow bar and the suspension set up you mentioned. I have also seen these without the low pro tow bar for fedex and fedex ground. The doubles I will be pulling for my account I have put together and broken down many times. I definitely know which con gear I would want to pull all the time. Luckily the trailers don't weight that much. I think once I do get to do it enough times I will get more comfortable pulling them. Also have to man handle the con gear. no pintle hooks on our trucks.