When loading/unloading should trailer air bags be dumped?

A lot of shippers and recievers will have you set the brakes which on most trailers dumps the air bags. One co.I go to from time to time actually comes out and puts a gladhand lock on your brake connection on your trl. Some will have you bring your keys to the shipping office while they load and unload or you have to uncouple and pull away from the trl.

 

i have never minded giving them my keys...since i always have 3 sets anyway....

 

I left them inflated most of time when pulling reefer because our trailers were generally lower than needed when you dumped the bags. I wouldn't say too low, but low enough some weak electric forks would struggle to get out and pallet jacking the freight out was real hard.

What I do now I generally need the trailer as low as possible so I always dump them. Plus we have hydraulic jacks that lift our drop decks to dock height when we hit a normal height dock and setting the brakes prevents anyone from lowering the jacks while you're unloading.

 

slide your tandems to the rear if you are concerned about the trailer height at a dock. with them all the way to the rear, it will keep the back of the trailer as high as possible.

 

Its called reducing repair cost. It takes 2 seconds to dump my bags on my wagon and truck which saves the bag a lot of stress and cuts down on repairs....what cant you see. next time you unload watch when the fork lift if your a van comes out of your trailer how much your trailer comes up..if your a flat watch how much your trailer rises when they pull that 30k off the deck in one pull....a flat bed will come up dang near a foot....

 

I hauled a lot of big single coils (up to 50k) when I had my own truck and trailer. I put quick release valves on each axle.

It sounded like a BIG air line blowing out when the crane man would pick the coil up. The truck and trailer would be leveled out in 2 to 3 seconds.

I have seen some guys about jump out of their skin if I didn't tell them what was going to happen.

 

Only time I dump the bags at the dock is if the customer wants me to.Very rarely that has happened.

 

Yes, especially when dropping a trailer. It's easier on the equipment, and limits catching the frame as well as airbag issues.

For hooking, it's a judgment call based on height of the trailer. Sometimes it's easier to have the bags inflated than it is to crank the trailer down to the 5th wheel height.

 

Ever since they added interal blocks to air bags to prevent 'dock creep' I know tankers started using them w/ an auto dump valve to add some drainage pitch to rear unloading tanks.

Older air bag trailers used to bleed off and creep away from the dock enough to flip the sand shoes on the landing legs when the forklift first enters the trailer.

 

Talking bout trailer bags, not tractor