Got not one but two Wyse Two Wheelers!

They are heavy. Never seen anything damaged, though. Only thing not original on mine are the plates.

The disc brakes work really well, until one doesn't and you're off the side of the ramp. Or something breaks and one side locks up, and you're off the side of the ramp.

Only problem I've ever had with the drum brake is occasionally icing up when working in the snow. The pucker factor is pretty high when that happens and you don't expect it, but easily remedied with a little salt.

 

i have to say my company issued Harper convertible has rocked day in and day out for 2 years come next week. And it has gone thru HELL. Not all the sidewalks here are smooth and i have not been easy on it. One of the crossmembers has recently cracked and it still works fine.

http://www.harpertrucks.com/product_details.php?product=36

Really a well made product. Very light too.

i think Magliner is even better and i will probably get one of those when the budget allows.

The only change i made was to switch the wheel to the "ballon" type from the foam type:
http://www.magliner.com/10-inch-ballon-cushion-wheel-101030

The foam type is fine for most applications and i think whoever in our company who made the purchasing decision did the right thing, but our terminal is a little different in that we get much more paper then everyone else and those solid ballon type wheels are much easier to push than the foam type and we frequently carry up to 500lbs of paper. And the thing about pnuematics is that they ALWAYS seem to go flat.

There is a chart that shows how much energy it takes to push each style of wheel, but i can't find it now.

 

Ok, found it. It's on page 6, but read page one very carefully:

ANYONE IN FOODSERVICE IS KILLING THEMSELVES.
More on THAT later.

http://www.transadvantage.com/moving-equipment/documents/handtrucks.pdf

 

Ok, so it looks like the pnuematics are the easiest to push, but only by a small margin---like 0.2 - 0.3 lbs. but the highest capacity---by 50lbs!

But like i said they go flat all the time.

 

I have pnuematics and it sure seems as they wear and get worn out they do tend to go flat more often and they kind of suck to change and fix the air leak. Usually when there new they are okay, but after the course of the year they turn into racing slicks LOL!

 

I've worn out several sets without a flat. I don't buy them though, so I don't really care. Always have a spare, and it takes about a minute to change.

I have one with pneumatic and one with foam. I use the pneumatic all of the time unless the trailer is wide open and I'm loading them both up. The foam tires are hard to bump up a lip, like into some freezers. And they don't push well thru snow. I do like that they don't bounce when I hit the end of the ramp and onto the sidewalk, but that's about the only advantage I see.

My other issue is that all of our new trailers for the last few years have come with these ramps...
https://www.romcorp.com/products/truck-trailer/walkramps/bustin-gladiator
They have a shallow I beam for the side rails, and the short sidewalls of the foam tires grab it instantly and try to throw me off the side.

 

Still too much work. Companies need to go with low deck trailers. Lighter ramps, higher pay etc.

The food companies are making large profits, but don't care about the driver. This is unfortunate.

 

I know for a while Sysco in Michigan did have low deck trailers the trailers were like U-Haul trucks as far as height. I know some of our 28' trailers the way the floor is and the ramp they get pretty high off the ground.

 

We have Todco Ramps there not bad. We used to have way back way before my time those fiber glass moving van ramps. They said those things were brutal guys getting hurt constantly, wintertime they were pretty much like an ice chute they had that style of ramp for ever too and then sometime in the 2000s they said "maybe we should go to the aluminum ramps like everyone else." All of a sudden ramp related injuries and problems dropped over night.

 

I don't tend to wear out the pneumatic tires, but unless I'm slinging salsa I don't have anything any of you guys would regard as heavy. We also use low deck trailers with 17" tires, and we really don't have many places that require a ramp.

So, you've piqued my curiosity...how are we killing ourselves?