Pulling a 40' End Dump trailer

Notarps- If you worked with us you would scare every trainer and our safety officer senseless, plus you would be playing with losing your job since that is a good way to tip a trailer. If dumping on the ground the proper procedure is to make sure the ground under your trailer tires and in front of your tires is solid even and level. Set your trailer brakes and leave the tractor free. Start raising your trailer watching that the tub goes up straight, if it starts leaning get that trailer down right away. Once the load starts coming out you can start breathing easier. Once you are all the way up and you have put the pto in neutral put your foot on the brake and the truck in gear. Release the trailer brake and take your foot off the brake, the load will push you forward. Let out the clutch and pull forward until the tailgate slams-easy does it on this step. Finally set the trailer brake, put the pto in the lower position, get your foot off the brake and hold on for the ride. This is how we taught to dump on the ground regarless of whether it was a pad or unpaved. We used to dump into pits a lot because we delivered to coal fired power plants. This was a lot easier- drive onto the pit and put the trailer in the air. Everything went into a hole in the ground so we didn't have to pull forward to get the load out. (You haven't lived until you have hauled flyash.) One more thing- especially in freezing weather it is a good idea to open the tarp before dumping that load can cause suction that will pull the tarp into the trailer and tear the tarp.

 

Hello I dumped on a concrete slab.......... and I did what you do except for setting my trailer brakes or putting my truck in gear. I could not roll back I backed into our gravel pile.

 

i agree with notarps on this i dumped corn, potash,soybeans and gravel and i always let the truck roll out. Once your product hits the ground the tip over factor is greatly reduced. If the ground is level and it is a full frame dump notarps is right, now if it is a scissor dump well that might be different.

 

We only had frameless dumps. If you don't watch what you're doing you go over in a skinny minute. I saw a trailer go over and the aftermath of several others, I had a few myself that I thought might go over. Basically you want the tractor moving back to the trailer when going up and the tractor moving forward when the trailer is coming down. I know a lot of you do your own thing and when I was by myself I did a few things I would never teach a trainee. What I am saying is for a trainee or newbee and I am speaking as a trainer would. I know with Curry if you drove forward or back and then slammed your brakes with the trailer raised you could be fired even if the trailer didn't go over. Sometimes you had to do it anyway to shift weight or dislodge a load but the consequences could be pretty severe. I hauled coal, ash, ca7, ca16, 1", 3", sand, gravel, corn, soybeans, lime and anything else they could get in the back of the trailer.

 

I've never had the pleasure of pulling a frameless so I have no clue of how they dump other than watching them. I've heard guys say they are as good if not better than a frame type when dumping.

I used to haul coal, scrap, sand, gravel, flyash, heavy melt and lime. The worst was probably lime dust, that stuff would pack in on your way down the road. I had a load of that pack in so bad once that I had the bucket in the air and nothing came out. It finally let loose after letting it sit in the air for a cpl of minutes.

Some of the heavy melt stuff I used to haul was interesting. I've had pieces in the trailer that was as big as a small car...lol. We had special trailers to haul it. The trailers were lined all thru the inside with 1/2" plywood and covered with stainless sheets. My light weight was 40k, that was with 4 axles on the trailer. The place we hauled the salt cake into was very unlevel. You would back into a tall building and they had vertical steel I beams all the way to the ceiling. You'd get back as far as you could hook it in gear and didn't look back! If your trailer was falling over the beams would stop it and they would get a front end loader to push you back over! You'd only go over about 3-4' either side. I seen it happen to one guy.

 

The worst load we carried was flyash out of ADM in Decatur. They burned tire shreds with the coal and lime and kept it dry. It flowed like water and they had to load it through flaps in the tarp. When it got wet it would set like concrete. When you dumped it you had a cloud that covered everything. This stuff was so nasty that we were required to wear dust masks to keep it out of our lungs.

 

if I came here a few days earlier, I would of avoided it. Unfortunately for me I tipped over on monday, and it was all my fault. The place was leveled where I dumped, a couple feet after it sloped so when I started pulling foward I tipped Unfortunatley.

 

Well atleast your OK! You'll learn from this as we all do when we make mistakes.

Was your load froze in the nose?

 

Glad your ok, also. If you still have a job, use this as a learning experience. That's why Curry gave new drivers a minimum of two weeks in a trainer's truck, then another week in their own truck "shadowing" their trainer. Even after that we continued to watch out for each other. Sometimes you could do everything right and the ground would give out, or a tire would blow and over you went.

 

about 5 tons of septic gravel. loaded towards the left. I was just glad th trailer didnt fall on nobody.

yes it was a hand me down, so I pretty much stiill have a job. but never again!!! will I work when its windy, and if the jobsite is too ugly I will take the load back. It's not worth it.

I've actually dumped from that angle about three times, not counting this one. and I've had close calls. I was very distracted even though I was paying full attention to the trailer. but the wind was a huge factor on this aswell.