Why is it better to have the tandems slid forward when alleydocking?
Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by expedite_it, Sep 16, 2022.
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Me, I've had a hard spot or 2 to get into, and if its tight on both sides, I'll drive the axels back so I dont have to worry about the tail getting the object on my blind side.
And.....
G.O.A.L.lester and expedite_it Thank this. -
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"Are you ONLY worried about tail swing when you have to make a pull up and drive forward during the back, or are you worried about tail swing when you are actually moving the truck in reverse as well?"LtlAnonymous Thanks this. -
I’d say about 95% of the time I slide my axles back before starting into a hole. Just makes it easier because you don’t have to worry about the tail of your trailer getting into the trailer on your blind side. Plus you know where the back of your trailer will be when you start cutting under it to shove the front end of the trailer over.
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Brettj3876, Elroythekid, N00bLaLoosh and 4 others Thank this.
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In general, yes, tailswing matters just as much in reverse as going forward.
However, using the way I do an alleydock back, tailswing is not a factor when going in reverse.
Using the diagram I used in post #32 with the same compass point directions as in post #32, tailswing will never be a problem as long as the nose of the trailer never goes east of the rear of the trailer on a sight-side back.
On a sight-side back, I never let the nose of the trailer go east of the rear of the trailer.Last edited: Sep 20, 2022
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At Shipper X, there were no obstacles to the side of the loading dock. The only thing that made the back difficult was that there was so little forward space. There was about 90 feet of forward space from the dock pads to the fence at the north boundary of shipper X. There was about 30 feet of forward space to the west. There was about 50 feet of forward space to the east. So I had to do a blind-side back.
I made sure that the tandems were slid all the way forward as I did this back. In situations in which there are no obstacles on either side of the parking spot at a loading dock, having the tandems forward still requires less forward space to the North BOTH because the shorter wheelbase trailer reacts much faster if one needs to pull up to make a correction AND because the shorter wheelbase trailer will react to movements of the truck faster, allowing one to move the trailer toward the loading dock (I'm talking about east-west movement here) faster than if the tandems were slid to the rear.
In your last sentence of your post, I don't know why you only mentioned how having a shorter wheelbase allows the trailer to react much faster to do a pull up to make a correction without mentioning that a shorter wheelbase also allows one to move the trailer on a east-west direction of movement much faster than if the tandems were slid to the rear. If you had mentioned it, i would not have needed to make this post. -
After reading through all of this, I’m glad I pull a tanker!
Just back up under the rack and avoid hitting all the pipe racks and tanks!!
Then find the break room and have a cup of coffee. -
When I was in trucking school, I was taught to never let the nose of the trailer go east of the rear of the trailer on a sight side 45 degree alleydock back.
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