Backing Doubles

Never been able to do this with a complete set, I have backed the rear pup with the dolly on a regular basis...

 

We have a driver at the Orlando terminal that has won lots of $ from people that think the same thing... There are yard jockeys that can do it as well.

He said that he can tell as soon as he starts off with a set, if he will be able to back them or not.

I can't back a set, in fact I'm not even going to waste the time trying to learn.

Every once in a while, I can back the lead & gear to the rear trailer, but most often just push it into position.

It saves me time, and I am not concerned with impressing anyone...

 

It can be done, I have seen it. With a LOT of practice I could do it but since I don't pull sets much why bother...

 

On the Michigan doubles that I uesd to pull, the rear tanker had a pin that would lock in to allow you to back the set up. It operated off of a brake type air chamber, and went into a corresponding hole in the dolly. This was a setup where the dolly under the pup was permanent, mounted with a turntable fixture rather than with a converter dolly that could be removed.. Haven't seen the backing pin used on any regular convertor dollies, so it's probably not a very common deal to come across.

 

i would do this fairly regularly when i was a jockey, now i just back the
lead and dolly to the rear now that i drive.

the only tips i could give is when you back up a trailer i always looked at
my tandems, when backing a set i would just look at the dolly. what it
does is where you are going. go slow, and once you get off track its real
easy to start snaking the rest of the way. i would always get a little angle
going and watch the dolly.

the only time i would ever do it was if a set came in and they were going
to add to the rear, instead of breaking it and rehooking i would just back
it up and leave it. also we were buying a assload of new pups and terminal
manager wanted us to break all of them down...even though we were
sending them out as empties time to time. so i would back them on the
line and make it look like they were double stacked lol

oh and the only time i ever need to back them up as a driver, i was going
from indy to grand rapids. i went up 131, one part of it bends to the right
real quick and i wasnt paying attention. took me straight into a residential.
so i backed out...good thing it was the middle of the night.

 

The main set I pulled was an old fuel tanker converted over for hauling liquid lime and liquid manure for farm use. 24 foot lead on 3 axles, and the pup was a 19 footer with tandem dolly and three axles on the rear. 17,000 gallons capacity, total of 11 axles on the combo, gross legal weight of 154k. Not quite as much as the legal limit, but we only had a 12 k steer axle which cuts off 6l in potential weight vice an 18k axle, and the spacing isn't quite as favorable on the shorter trailer as it could be on longer ones. Mich allows up to 164k on the right combinations, but you have ot hve the right lengths and axle spacings to make it work out right to the maximum.

No one uses the lead/pup set up for fuel anymore. Now fuel tankers are single trailers, 8 axles set up under them in combo to get up to gross. Trailers are safer that the old setups, because they have a lower overall height and center of gravity. The old pups liked tro whip around some, and could be dangerous in winter or foul weather.

 

Your best bet is the most work.....break 'em out and do it one at the time. It usually takes less time anyway and hey It's cheaper than the gym!