Will it fit?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by texman23, Sep 18, 2023.

  1. texman23

    texman23 Bobtail Member

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    I hope this allowed.
    1st off, truckers, 98% of them, are awesome.
    2nd. I'm not a trucker.

    My question is towards truck drivers because I don't want to piss off drivers, where I'll have 7 different drivers a month.

    I'm building a dock to unload deliveries. It'll be 48 inches tall and I already own a dock plate.

    The red line is my preferred location, I've cut back any tree obstacles, passenger side will be on asphalt driver side on caliche. There's 11 to 12 feet between the garage and the fence. They will only need to back even with the garage.

    The 2nd option is the blue line. It'll be dock high and they barely have to back at an angle. With this one I'd have to put down gravel to sink in to keep the trucks from getting into mud.

    The last option is the green line, same issue, need to rock it to prevent sinking into mud. And with this option I'd have to pull a dock plate out for each delivery behind the delivery trailer.

    I gave the measurements I thought was best, length of dock to street (70ft). Across the street to my fence that will allow for backing (30 feet showing 26) and 126 feet fence for just straight parking.

    Please ask any clarification questions you may have, and I appreciate you helping me make this decision.
    Screenshot_20230918_211334.jpg
     
    pumpkinishere Thanks this.
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  3. Cattleman84

    Cattleman84 Road Train Member

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    I could get a 53' trailer into any of the locations with ease... But if you don't want to risk some moron backing into something parked in the driveway I'd make sure nothing was parked there if using the red location.
     
  4. texman23

    texman23 Bobtail Member

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    Cattleman84,
    Thank you, and definitely, that trailer on goggle is already moved and the driveway would be empty for deliveries. Would you say even a first 6 months driver could maneuver that?
     
    pumpkinishere and Albertaflatbed Thank this.
  5. skallagrime

    skallagrime Road Train Member

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    Depends on the road width.

    Btw, at 70.5 feet, dock to road, i would have 4.5 feet of my long tractor out in the road pulling a 48 foot trailer
     
  6. texman23

    texman23 Bobtail Member

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    Sep 18, 2023
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    Skall,

    I can go as far back as needed but if I go back more then the 71 feet, when their rear wheels hit that 71 feet itll drop about 4 inches and they have to navigate 10 ft wide straight back. I know they can, but 3 or 4 feet they'd still have probably no issue.

    I think both people who replied understand I'm just wanting to make life as easy as I can for the drivers but also make it easy on myself and my needs.
    Since I'll have to build the dock, I don't want it to be a pain for drivers and then have to move it after the first 2 drivers.
     
    pumpkinishere and Albertaflatbed Thank this.
  7. Opendeckin

    Opendeckin Medium Load Member

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    May 20, 2018
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    You might want to put up some Bollards at the corner of the building and/or the edge of the fence at the street and make sure your dock is reinforced or has some bollards right in front of it if your dock plate is long enough as not everyone is going to hit it gently. Like previously said most rigs are about 75' long so they'll be sticking out into the street 5 feet. I'm an owner op for a grocery warehouse and we deal with all sorts of old stores way worse than this and in the past they've tried to put newbies on the gig and the results have been rather catastrophic. Just a couple of stories.

    1. A lady panicked and floored it while in reverse and just held it down hitting the grocery store dock at full speed fully loaded and shifted the grocery store foundation doing 20,000 dollars of damage.

    2. A driver was backing into a dock that was only about a foot from the building wall and instead backed through the wall as he didn't straighten it out in time.

    Considering it's probably going to be randoms you don't know bringing this product if you're relying on brokers to line up the deliveries you're going to want to set up as much protection as possible. Definitely don't leave any vehicles or anything in the driveway on delivery days.
     
  8. texman23

    texman23 Bobtail Member

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    Open,

    Thanks. See that's why I posted here. I didn't even think about the corners. I probably would have found out the hard way, and it's an older garage so a corner taken out would likely collapse it.

    Would "tire guides" help? 20 ft 3 inch pipe I could put in some holders at 5 or 6 inches off the ground to move the trailer to find the dock? Or would that be just an annoyance?

    I can easily put some concrete reinforced bollard or 8 inch pipe on the corner, maybe not on the roof that's its own issue. Maybe I could put a pipe out of the corner support that when touched it could turn on a light, but that won't prevent a full throttle reverse.
     
    Bean Jr. Thanks this.
  9. Opendeckin

    Opendeckin Medium Load Member

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    I personally find tire guides to just be an annoyance that potentially damage equipment. A painted line to line up with from the dock forward would be far preferrable and ultimately if the driver sucks the only thing that's going to stop them from doing damage is Bollards.

    Looking at all the options you presented I think the blue line is probably the best for you and the drivers as the driver won't have to 90* back off the street and you won't have to pull out a dock plate everytime. Also the driver won't even be getting close to the building so the worst that happens is he damages the fence or the ground. That would also protect the property across the street from you as drivers who don't know how to set up would likely wind up putting their tractor in the yards across from you while trying the 90* back.
     
  10. texman23

    texman23 Bobtail Member

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    Here's what I'm thinking, based on yalls feedback.
    The purple is the 8 inch concrete reinforced Ballard.
    The red is the garage. Blue is two 3 inch fence supports to hold the fold down dock (orange).
    The bottom of the image is front view from the road, top is a top down view to show spacing.

    I live 50 minutes from the nearest rentable dock warehouse, and it's 1500 a month. This will allow me to save 2500 (fuel utilities etc) until I can build a true dock warehouse in the future.

    I'm not sure I can prepare for a full throttle backing mistake, but a few oops maybe I can.
    The garage roof being the biggest idk, maybe put a motion spot light so if they don't see the light, they know they are too close.

    The worst part is they'll be backing passenger side, I just can't think of anyway to make it work backing driver side. .

    I've thought of putting up red reflective tape to let them know they need to keep turning, then yellow then green when they are good.

    Any ideas to make this as easy as possible for anyone is my goal.

    Thank you all for yalls help. Dock.jpg
     
  11. texman23

    texman23 Bobtail Member

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    I understand. There's a solid pipe fence about 35 feet from my fence line (abt 22 to 25 feet from the asphalt). When they are fully straight there's a dumpster barely off left, meaning if they drove straight out it might hit their left corner, barely. Or barely miss. But the pipe fence wouldn't help. There's no access or home across (south) in the photo. Mainly there's that 32 to 35 feet to turn using the road and my easement to my fence.
     
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