Pulling smooth bore tankers

If a company happens to be hauling their own product, or have a long term contract to haul for someone, I can't see why they wouldn't match the tank to the load. The last smooth bore I drove we pulled 6650 gallons, and that was the size tanks we had. There were a few times every month or so we had to pull short loads, but not that often. That makes things so much easier.

 

We didn't start doing chemicals until recently. We only have one Chem trailer and he only runs those loads every other week. He hauls gas the other times.

Our terminal in Tennessee is the one I believe we mainly haul chemicals with sleeper trucks. We just started this because we'll be running a couple sleeper trucks with chemical trailers out of Jacksonville in the future.

He told me it doesn't pay enough though with all the waiting time for loading and unloading. With his experience pay he still only makes about $200/day.

 

No don't get the wrong impression guys, I wasn't talking about propaganda on this website. I was referring to something else, bit I probably won't say much about that because it's work related ...

I believe eve the load it pulled was about 40000 pounds so that would be full. However my trainer was pulling a 3/4 load my first day and I felt that wave kicking my arse.

i probably won't get complacent since the rocking of the liquid keeps me on my toes.

I have always excessively used my jake brake to take off ramps so this technique comes in handy to decelerate smoothly.

 

Sorry, my iphone auto correct makes me look like a ###### , correcting words that don't need to be corrected.

 

Been driving smooth bore, milk tankers for 2 1/2 years now.
The "slow and easy" thing is about as simple as you could make it when it comes to driving these things.
Especially with loads sitting between the 44k and 48k marks, it's like bumper cars when stopping too hard or accelerating after a rough stop.

But like anything else, we've still got our cowboys out here that still think their truck is an F-15 and take it around corners as such!!

 

Great read thanks for the info!

 

I was working at a Farmers Co-op a few years ago, and there were 2 drivers. We pulled liquid 20% nitrogen fertilizer in the tankers. Once I met the other driver at a 4 way stop sign. He got there first, while I was still slowing down for the stop sign, so he went through first. He made a left hand turn from a dead stop, and as he got around the corner his left rear tandems went upward off the road. The rear axle went up first and the other one hung down lower, just barely off the pavement. He must have gunned it the first two gears he hit (like he usually does), and the surge took over from there. I do not know why that trailer did not go all the way over...it had to be as close as you can get to tipping over without actually tipping over.

I could not believe it when I saw it. I called him later on his cell phone and told him about it.

 

iv hauled some smooth bore. a few tips, in the event that you need to come to a stop in a hurry use the heal of your foot to keep a little break pressure as you grab a gear down to keep the liquid forward. then after you come to a stop keep holding firm pressure on the break pedal as the surge can push you forward quite a ways after you have already come to a complete stop. if you find yourself going a little fast for comfort in a corner resist the urge to reach for the breaks and keep applying light throttle. time your shifts, wait till you feel the liquid get to the front and start your up shift because it will be in the back by the time you complete it witch is where you want it as you start picking up more speed. with some practice you can keep the liquid surge to a gentle rocking vrs feeling like you just got rear ended.

 

Hey moloko. Is it still going well? I am also thinking about switching to a Food grade tanker company after pulling reefers and dry vans since 2011. I'm a little nervous just like you were, but then I think about how nervous I was when I first started driving a truck. Now I love it!