Sliding Tandems For Docking...do You?
Topic 13256 | Page 2
I worked in a warehouse as a Manager for 20 years before driving over the road. We never once asked the drivers to move there tandems to the rear and I have unloaded thousands of trucks all with forklifts. Never once did I ever see a trailer have a problem holding up a forklift with a pallet full of product on it. You do have more overhang on the trailer when you make turns, but I think that is the only concern.
We're told to slide them at our DC for multiple reasons. When tandems are all the way forward it will cause the back end to sit lower when loaded and often times prevents the warehouse from releasing the lock to give you the green light outside. It gets worse when the dock isn't completely flat. If the ground is snow/ice covered and your tandems are all the way forward you increase the likelihood if causing the trailer to slide forward when they're running pallets in. When that happens it puts stress on your landing gear and the locking mechanism that locks the trailer into a door.
Over The Road:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
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".
Excellent points.
I worked in a warehouse as a Manager for 20 years before driving over the road. We never once asked the drivers to move there tandems to the rear and I have unloaded thousands of trucks all with forklifts. Never once did I ever see a trailer have a problem holding up a forklift with a pallet full of product on it. You do have more overhang on the trailer when you make turns, but I think that is the only concern.
We're told to slide them at our DC for multiple reasons. When tandems are all the way forward it will cause the back end to sit lower when loaded and often times prevents the warehouse from releasing the lock to give you the green light outside. It gets worse when the dock isn't completely flat. If the ground is snow/ice covered and your tandems are all the way forward you increase the likelihood if causing the trailer to slide forward when they're running pallets in. When that happens it puts stress on your landing gear and the locking mechanism that locks the trailer into a door.
Over The Road:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
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".
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I have my tandems slid back when in the dock. Some Consignees we deliver to expect drivers to do so, and won't allow us through the gate until doing so. Getting out of the truck to slide them back takes less than a minute, so I do so. Now when I do so depends on a few factors, as others have stated.
How much room do you have around you? Sometimes I have to back up with my tandems forward due to tight spaces and I need as small a radius as possible. Then when lined up in the hole, I slide them back.
Consignee:
The customer the freight is being delivered to. Also referred to as "the receiver". The shipper is the customer that is shipping the goods, the consignee is the customer receiving the goods.
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".