Are doubles/triples a pain in the butt to drive?

I was behind a FedEx truck on I40 for a long time today and his second trailer kept swerving into the shoulder the whole time.

 

Let me tell you a story. I took a driver/dock worker job once. The company had pups and 53 footers. Since I was the only one with doubles/triples guess who got stuck pulling doubles every night?

They are easy to drive forward. The back one follows the front one's tracks. The added pain is dropping and hooking. While the others were backing their 53 footer in and unloading, I was breaking the pups down and had two trailers to dock/unload.

So don't get all gunho over pups. They don't get you extra money, just extra work. Well I think I got an extra $5-10? In the future there might be a doubles only company you might want a job. But I would wait until then until you got your endorsement. It doesn't take long to go down to the DMV. Since probably you are unemployed at that point.

 

+1
I agree and have done the same thing

 

A-dolly doubles and triples will overturn more easily than a single trailer, for one. Not to mention how they always seem to be the first in the ditch when the snow starts falling.
Oh, yes.. and there's a reason they're called "wiggle wagons". Passing a set of doubles or especially triples has turned into a precarious experience for me on more than one occasion. On the flip side of that coin, Buster Brown and ABF drivers usually seem to do a pretty good job keeping them straight.
I ran some B-doubles when I was in South Africa. Took a bit of getting used to, but wasn't necessarily a terrible experience.... in some ways, I found it somewhat comparable to hauling heavy with a jeep and stinger attached to the trailer as far as backing went. However, insofar as the US is concerned, I've only ever seen those in northern Indiana, Michigan, and western New York. Those have a fifth wheel on the back on the lead trailer, rather than a congear.
As for A-doubles (the kind which use a congear and are connected to the trailer in front of them by a pintle and clevice), I had a job which involved some yard spotting where I'd have hook up sets now and then (although if it was a driver I didn't like, I had the liberty to leave it for them to do themselves). That's my only dealings with them.

 

Not everyone can come out of the womb with all the driving experience you have. we all have to start somewhere.

 

how long have you had your CDL?

 

If I admitted to working for FFE I wouldn't be calling anyone names. LOL I would be begging for life preserver.

 

FFE driver talking trash! LOL. So what's yer record for backing a set of doubles or triples?

 

Triples 100 ft. if your lucky. Sets- Depends on wheelbases,seen a few drivers back 2/28 footers around corners and up against the dock. I was impressed. Old timers not green horns.

 

I always thought you got payed double for pulling doubles only seems fair!