Tandems forward or back when backing into tight spots ??

Also, if you want to reduce bounce drop, drop the legs to the ground. Receiver in California told me to do this if I wanted to get sleep because it was going to be a while. I thought it was odd, but I tried it anyway. Well, he was right, took virtually all the shaking and bouncing away.

Just remember to raise them back up before you leave.

 

Yeah, my father in law drives for the same company I do and he didn't realize about the Michigan law. We don't run in Michigan all that often so I can understand why he didn't know. He was at the 41 foot mark with near 34k on the tandems. He made it to Warren without incident though.

 

Its going to depend on the situation. In general though in a tight spot its easier with the tandems slid forward. However, like another poster mentioned, you have to be very careful of the trailer swing. Don't forget that you have a lot of extra trailer hanging past those tandems and when you are backing at an angle you must watch out for the truck on your blindside. Make sure to get out and look!

If you are in a tight spot but have room in front of you it maybe to your advantage to slide the tandems all the way back. It takes longer for the tandems to react to your steering adjustments but you know for sure exactly where the back of the trailer is because the tandems are right there at the back of the trailer.

A lot of shipper/receivers require that you slide the tandems all the way back when you load/unload. If this is the case, most of the time you should back first then pull up straight, open your doors and slide the tandems all the way back. When you are loaded/unloaded, pull forward, close your doors and then adjust your tandems back to where you think they should be. Then after you scale and have your weights you can precisely put them where they belong. If you are empty, you can set them to the legal set point for your destination.

When traveling to or through tight areas its best to ride with them all the way forward. Once again though, be very careful pulling in and out of parking spots (especially angled ones like in rest areas) your trailer will swing out and could strike the truck next to you.

 

41' is fine in MI -- the law is 40'6" +/- 6" (40'-41')

 

But it's 40.5 at the center of the rear axle, right? He was at the 41' mark in the center of the tandems.

 

If I'm not mistaken the minimum in MI is 36.5 I know someone just hung a copy of their "under bridge" ticket in the break room. I'll look tonight.

 

Nah double yellow had it right, it's 40.5 ft from kingpin to center of rear trailer axle for tandem axles plus or minus 6 inches in Michigan, so you would be fine with 41 ft at the center. I just looked it up in the map, page A14 in the motor carriers and the italic is ++ at the bottom for Michigan info, nice catch, even I missed that one when I read it and I go to Detroit every Sunday and back to Louisville every Monday!