Stop it with the high trailers!

Ummm? What exactly are you all trying to say??? Hmmm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by CondoCruiser
There are other factors too you can't avoid like terrain. If you drop a trailer in a lot on an incline and the yard jockey takes it to get loaded and then puts it back on a flat spot or vise versa, the height just changed.

You can look at the legs too and tell by the coloration about where the normal height is if you drop on an incline or your tractor is in a hole. Meat haulers deal with some rough lots.

Scarecrow, sounds like you were pulling out prematurely. You wait a little longer and the trailer settles like putting a baby down. Then you pull out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by truckerdave1970
Would that be considered a "PREMATURE RETRACTION"???


Quote:
Originally Posted by scottied67
Try to stay deep in there until the bags go limp.

I will revise my statement to something with less innuendo--

Try to stay in there deep until your bags are completely drained and limp before you pull out prematurely.

 

The trailer I was pulling when that happened was a fifteen year old POS Trailmobile reefer. The insulation in the walls was pretty water logged. When the cross members bent, I'd only been pulling that trailer for about 6 weeks. Prior to my pulling that trailer, the shop and replaced 8 cross members on it. When they replaced them, they didn't weld them back into place. Instead they drilled holes and bolted them in place. When the 5 cross members bent on me, I was dropping the trailer inside a ThermoKing shop on smooth concrete. I dollied down til the legs touched the ground, deflated the suspension until there was no air left to leak out, and pulled out SLOWLY. As soon as my fifth wheel cleared the apron of the trailer, the trailer slammed down hard onto the frame rails of the tractor.

Now, my suspicions with that trailer is that it was not properly maintained nor operated by any of the previous drivers. IMO (and only MY opinion), the insulation became water logged due to cracks in the inner walls from drivers not using the load locks properly. A load lock does not have to push the walls of any trailer drastically outwards to be secure enough to prevent freight from tipping inside. This water logging added extra weight to the trailer. So much so that one of my boss' trucks could never load more than 40,000 lbs and be legal. I pulled that trailer because my truck is the lightest in the fleet. Now, the added weight could have significantly reduced the structural longevity of said trailer. Especially when some drivers will only dolly down leaving 3-4" of space (sometimes even more that I've seen throughout my career) and pull out without even dumping the suspension.

 

That didn't happen because you dumped your air. It would have happened whether you wound the gear all the way down and then some or let the trailer down easy with the suspension. Either way, the trailer had a serious case of metal fatigue and poor maintenance combined with extremely poor judgment in the "repair" method. You could have done anything and the result would have been the same.

The method BW9 describes, if done right, sets the trailer down easy and you can watch what it does as your suspension deflates. This method of dropping saved Swift a tow bill when the landing gear failed on the right side. I was watching the trailer...left landing gear held...trailer started to yaw to the right. I reinflated my suspension, hooked back up to the trailer and hauled it to the yard. Had it been sitting on the fifth-wheel with the gear wound all the way out, I would not have known there was a problem until I pulled away from the trailer to the point of no return. Right side collapses, trailer falls against the trailer to its right, tow truck is required to pick it back up and there's a big repair bill for the damaged trailer to the right. Well, all of that was avoided.

 

it drives me nuts when guys drop trailers too high

i swear theres some guys who crank it about as high as it will even go, cuz theres times i line up to back under the trailer and its clearing the 5th wheel by 6+ inches

 

I don't know if anyone has said it or not, but I just wish someone would grease the landing gear once in awhile. That would save a lot of heartache as well.

 

Now i understand, man, you were pullin' a pos around. I've pulled alot of bad trl's with my last job, but not that bad. The worst i had was on a multiple stop run and two customers had there fork lifts go through the floor. My last company on there csa sms score for maintenance is 90.3 %, glad i'm not there anymore.

 

It is obvious this was as you call it a POS trailer--but I do not understnad the point of welded crossmembers--you are talking of the cross members that support the floor? Is that correct--I have personally never seen any welded crossmembers--they all are riveted with either 3 or four on each side of trailer at framerail--and all though I am much more familiar with Danes and Utilities--they are done this way for ease of repair--with channels for the air and fuel lines to run through--I have changed many for many reasons--in a shop situation it is a rather quick easy repair--so maybe I am not understanding the crossmembers you are referring to--
Now I have seen--older improperly maintained trailers fail at landing dollies--but they have all either had the floor buckle around the dollies--and/or the dolly crossmembers(which are also bolted) fail--thus causing the legs to splay and collapse--so i guess I am trying to picture what happened--either way it sucks--and I would be pretty #### annoyed(to say the list)at best.

 

I think you your asking the wrong poster, It's scarecrow03 that was talking about the trl. with the bad crossmembers, but with that being said, it was a wonder on what i saw with my last job, with bad maintenance, bad mechanics that make better janitors then anything else.If it could be welded vs bolts so it was done. It seems duck tape,glue,screws, where the tools of choice. But scarecrow03 gets the award on this one.

 

6 inches? I kinda doubt the legs would go that high.....