Pulled A Tank For The First Time…

Sick was the 'acid test' for new drivers. One product was water reactive but the shipper insisted on monthly cleaning.

We would send the new guy to the company wash rack in a nearby town.

The driver would not notice the personnel chaining the rear bumper down and the man overhead gingerly wiping the spinner head dry.

He wouldn't notice the last guy out the door hitting the pump switch.

When the water hit the product, the trailer would jump up and down violently.

The guy who came back saying "I owe you one!" was a keeper...

 

That's how you weigh tankers, on a level scale with the brakes off. that way you weigh the product and not the surge.

Had a bunch of trainees stand there watching it roll back and forth just waiting for it roll away. Never did.

One old Chem plant in Tenafly, NJ had a huge sign saying SCALE IS NOT LEVEL, PLEASE USE CHOCKS so you wouldn't roll off.

 

I switched to tanker from dry van. The quickest way I found to dampen the surge and let everything settle when weighing was to get on the scale come to a gentle stop, wait a few seconds and then let off the brakes. Let the surge move the truck back and forth. This lets the weight of the truck and trailer act as a damper. If I just sat on the scale with my brakes applied, I could sit there until next May waiting for the liquid to stop moving. Of course the better technique is to slowly, very slowly pull onto the scale and let it coast to a stop or gently apply brakes, not enough to stop the truck, but just enough to slow it so that it would stop rolling very soon on the scale.

 

been a while

 

Tanks come in an amazing amount of shapes, sizes and complexity hauling everything from mouthwash to 1234Kill'yaQuick.

Many of these various 'yanks' is unique and many are out and back supporting a particular plant or terminal location though there is a substantial amount of OTR as well.

It is also one of the factions of trucking where training and safety equipment get more than lip service.