Do You Like Backing With Your Tandems Forward And Why?
Topic 18853 | Page 1
Pianoman answers his own question:
I used to back with my tandems all the way forward on purpose because my trainer had taught me it was easier.
Sliding the wheels forward make a shorter wheelbase, and is easier to maneuver/turn. In some places where you don't have much room, the forward tandems make for an easier docking. The trade off is the part sticking back past the axles will swing around, and that's the part that scrapes along the trailers on each side.
But most warehouses want the tandems at the back for better support at the dock. Plus, for the delivery driver (you), wheels at the far back improve your "aim". At receivers like Walmart DCs, there plenty of room to work with, and they do require tandems back.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Sliding the wheels forward make a shorter wheelbase, and is easier to maneuver/turn.
In a way, yes it's easier to turn. I slide my tandems forward before store deliveries because some of the right turns on the way are tight. With the tandems forward you don't have to swing as wide on turns. But as far as backing between two trailers, whether you have the tandems forward or back you still have to have the trailer straight before you enter the spot or you will scrape one of the trailers on either side. So regardless of the placement of the tandems, you still need 70+ feet of clearance directly in front of the spot--so having them forward doesn't save you any room there. But with the tandems forward it's much harder to "aim," like you said, because your tandems are still a long way from the spot by the time the back of your trailer reaches it. The only scenario I can think of in which it's actually necessary to have the tandems as far forward as possible, is if there is a wall or obstacle to one side of the spot limiting the space you have to pull past the spot for a 90 or 45 degree angle back.
Of course, if you don't have a trailer or other obstacle on your blind side it definitely can save you some room because you don't have to worry about the tail swing hitting anything.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
I made a delivery to a Kroger DC (Dallas} and the were trucks and trailers "everywhere". I was forced into a blind side docking. Moving the tandems forward was the only way in. But then once I was lined up to the door, I still had to slide them back. What a mess! At least it wasn't raining!
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
When I was running van or reefer. I would usually back into a spot were ever my tandoms were already set. There were times, that I eather had to slide them all the way back to eliminate tail swing because when docked there was 3 inch's between trailer doors, and it was a 90. There were other times when backing around a pole or something that I had to have the tandoms slid all the way up to make a small as wheel base as I could. Just depended on what need to be done.
Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
I always back with wherever my tandems are driving in, and slide them back at the same time I open my doors. There are a few recievers out there that force you to slide them back at the gate though.
The absolute tightest backs require tandems all the way up, but those are pretty rare (thankfully!).
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I used to run California a lot so I got used to having my tandems pretty far forward. So my mind is more used to tandems being more forward so it is easier to back that way for me. I been slowly adjusting to having my tandems farther back because of the weight of these store loads. The less tail bounce I have the better.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
I do mostly drop and hooks and i hardly ever do any difficult backing, so maybe my opinion doesn't mean much. But i find the space has to be pretty tight before the tail swing causes a big problem, but if you don't have a lot of space in front of you, having them forward can make a big difference.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
It was in truck stops that it was normally most difficult to get backed in with the tandems slid all the way up. You don't have much room for your nose in the first place but then you have a 12 foot tail swinging back and forth a few feet away from the headlights of two beautiful Peterbilts on either side of you? Oh man.......take it sloooow!
And G.O.A.L. is way more critical with a swinging tail. God only knows what the blind back corner of that trailer is gonna reach.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
I was pulling a split axle flat bed for little over a year, then 4 axle chip wagon for about 8 months after that. Both have axles that don't slide and no overhang. Then I went to pulling a dry van and was inches away from hitting a truck on my right one time backing into a tight truckstop. Only thing that saved me was I got out to look even though I felt I was good. I was so freaked out by my misjudgment that I left and parked at a rest stop down the road with pull throughs.
I spent the next 2 months or so driving with my axles in the middle position if my weight allowed it. I had to take wider turns but had less overhang. I eventually got over it and now am comfortable with them all the way up.
Dry Van:
A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.New Reply:
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Drivers regularly come into the DC with their tandems slid all the way forward and proceed to try to back into a fairly tight spot between two trailers without sliding their tandems back. They are supposed to slide their tandems back before they drop their trailer anyway, so I don't really get why they wouldn't go ahead and slide them before attempting the maneuver.
Last night two different drivers at different times blocked almost the whole aisle for several minutes trying to back into a spot crooked with their tandems all the way forward. The back became much more difficult than it should have otherwise been because of all the tail swing threatening to hit the trailer on their blind side.
Do any of you do this? Is there a good reason? I used to back with my tandems all the way forward on purpose because my trainer had taught me it was easier. But now, other than making for more maneuverability during the setup I don't see the benefit.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".