Hooking doubles with dolly attached to lead

Discussion in 'LTL and Local Delivery Trucking Forum' started by 2BucTruck, Dec 20, 2017.

  1. 2BucTruck

    2BucTruck Medium Load Member

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    Curious how many of you do this? I made it a point to practice it and now do it all the time. It eliminates two steps. My next goal I wanna accomplish is learning to back a set of doubles.

    I asked a few jockies for some tips before I started backing with the dolly attached. They mostly said to keep it lined up with your trailer. As with most backing techniques, over-steering can quickly lead you astray. I do it now with an average of 2-3 pullups before I'm good to connect. Feels great to hook a set like this.
     
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  3. MACK E-6

    MACK E-6 Moderator Staff Member

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    Good job if you can do it. I just think it’s more trouble than it’s worth.
     
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  4. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    I learned this after a while - however, when driving team, less jolts were felt from 2-3 pull ups if I did it the regular way, so I quit the practice. I like learning new skills either way. Feels good when you clunk that puppy with 1 or 2 pull ups.

    Though it may be hearsay, I heard the safety man frowns upon the practice. Stupid Safety Managers. Might want to ask the question anyway.
     
  5. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    Good to see you back here too, BTW. :)
     
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  6. road_runner

    road_runner Road Train Member

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    I respectfully disagree. And maybe it has to do with our circumstances. I hook and break sets about 3-4 times a day. I usually double into town and use a drop lot to break there.

    I do my LTL pickups first and if I have to do a trailer load pickup, I do it at the end of the day. It's just way easier coming back to the drop lot with a T/L and just hooking a con and backing it against your LTL or empty trailer. If course you can always spot your empty or LTL in front of your con as well. But different circumstances ECT ECT...

    The main reason why I learned to back a con is cause virtually everything is covered in half a foot of snow. It's just way easier to move a con already attached to the back of a trailer than to try moving it around by hand.

    Side note, I got some cool pics of me spotting a third trailer behind a hooked set with con. I need to dig it up.
     
  7. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    Snow. I had forgotten about playing with Dolly in the snow. Good point.
     
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  8. sdaniel

    sdaniel Road Train Member

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    Do what works for you. But I have had to wait a half hour for guys to hook that way. Felt like running over and spotting their dolly by hand for them, then hooking it when they line up. He may have been learning how, but others have work to do.
     
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  9. russtrucker

    russtrucker Road Train Member

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    Only done that once. Took me 3-4 pullups to hook the tail.
     
  10. Naptown

    Naptown Road Train Member

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    It's generally faster for me to just drop the dolly in front of my rear and get on with it, but it's a useful skill to learn. I'm at a terminal right now with a rutted dirt lot, and I'd still be trying to muscle the dolly onto the pintle hook if I wasn't able to back it under with the lead.

    There's another place that stores its empties on a section of the lot that has a pretty significant incline. Drop a dolly there and it will take off as soon as I let go.
     
  11. 2BucTruck

    2BucTruck Medium Load Member

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    Yeah, when practicing I made sure I wasn't in anybody's way.
     
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