This is what scares me about doubles

You've been getting feet up there haven't ya. Be safe man..

 

I don't remember what state I was in, I saw a truck with trailer acting like whip, i thought maybe the driver was getting tired so when i came closer, turn out he's pulling triple! that explains why it was fish tailing with heavy winds. I have double/triple endorsement and i don't think i ever want try triple. maybe double but def not triple.

 

My terminal runs triples on a few of our line-haul runs (even some city pickups). After five years driving I'm going to have to be certified if I'm at a terminal that runs triples in Indiana. Not sure of the other states certification requirements (I know OH allows triples and I would guess PA allows them on the turnpike)

 

I run triples all the time when the weather is nice. It is amazing how much of an impact a little wind makes, or even mishooking the trailers in the wrong order of weight. I usually don't have problems with em. I hate pulling a reverse Rocky set (short box on the front), the turning radius SUCKS on them.

 

I pull triples quite regularly in Utah and Nevada. Utah is pretty good about making you break off the third box when the weather is bad. Nevada ? not so much. I love it when our illustrious central dispatch gives me 2 empties and about 6K in the front box, usually on a windy or icy night. I either refuse it, or I just spend all night NOT looking at the mirrors too much. I agree with some of the posters above that a bad con gear on a set is much worse to use than empties or light loaded trailers. A bad gear can ruin your night. I found a couple of good ones and I try and "hide" them for my sets. Sometimes it works. I do like passing people at freeway speed on the 15 when the weather is OK. The look on some people's face when a 100+ foot vehicle passes them in the gorge can be "priceless"..

 

i love my doubles..if i decide to stay a truck driver that is all i want to pull is doubles/triples.

 

Ohio requires 5 years of doubles - pass the tests and take a ride with a dot guy and you're good. No triples on Pa Pike. Way too narrow and hilly. The Pa Pike is actually pretty quick to shut down doubles and empty trailers in the snow anymore.

 

Everyone say "shut down if it gets bad". Watching the weather reports help. But sometimes you just find some crap you didnt expect. Then you just hope your driving skills and luck can get you to the next safe place to stop. And sometimes you only need to get over the next hill and back to some lower elevations and dry roads again. Hard to justify shutting down sometimes, based on the situation, even if you'd really like to.

 

Very very true. The other thing is sometimes if you shut down the conditions are only going to deteriorate further. I kinda ran into that Friday night. It wasn't awful but I was in some pretty steady freezing rain that would really pick up sometimes. Ideally it would have been nice to not drive in it but looking at the radar and listening to the cb it was gonna get a lot worse before it was gonna improve so in my opinion, the best thing to do is just keep going.

You've been at it longer than me but even I've found roads are shut down or placed in emergency status much faster than they were even 5 or 10 years ago. I guess it's better safe than sorry but I think state agencies are way to quick to pull the plug anymore.