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Peter(bilt) Parker - slide your tandems!

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  • Peter(bilt) Parker - slide your tandems!

    Last week I had a run to Tete Du Fromage, Wisconsin. Just down the road from my delivery was a driving school owned by a major trucking company. In the short distance from my delivery back to the highway, I saw FOUR of that company's vehicles with the tandems (trailer axles) slid all the way back.

    For those of you not involved in trucking, the legal maximum wheelbase is 41 feet from the kingpin (engages the 5th wheel) to the center of the trailer axle group (except for California, where the maximum is 40 feet from the kingpin to the last axle - as the Gatlin Brothers said, "It don't matter at all where you've played before, California's a brand new game"). On a 53 foot trailer, having the axles all the way back puts you WELL over the limit. Even with a 48 (i.e. they had passed older equipment on to the school), you're pushing things. For a DRIVING SCHOOL to be operating equipment with an illegal wheelbase is ridiculous. Considering the reputation of the company involved, however, it's sort of to be expected.

    As for the title, they were operating Freightshakers, not Petes. Still, if you know your comic books, you'll probably get the (bad) pun on the name of the trucking company.

    Note that my post from roughly a week ago (driver not knowing how to slide tandems) didn't involve the same company as this one.
    Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

  • #2
    I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but my knowledge of trucks is limited to anything I thought about asking my (now ex) boyfriend while I was dating him. Granted, that gives me a little bit more knowledge than the average person, but not by much.

    What is the advantage of sliding the tandems all the way back? Or are they doing that just because they're too lazy to fix it?

    At any rate, it sounds really stupid to try to teach drivers to maneuver those things with the wheels in the incorrect position.
    At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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    • #3
      The reason for sliding the tandems all the way back is so that the tail won't "dive" as far when a forklift drives in to load/unload the trailer. Having the "stretched" wheelbase with the tandems all the way back makes it less manouverable, and it's not street legal (but if you're on the customer's property, and slide them forward again before you leave, that's not a problem, since you aren't on a public road with the tandems all the way back).

      When I'm at a "slide your tandems back" place, my normal procedure is to get lined up with the door, slide the tandems, back in, get loaded/unloaded, pull forward, close the doors (if enough space to the sides, otherwise this waits until I'm in the aisle), slide the tandems to a legal position, finish pulling out.

      Something I forgot to mention - one of the trucks delayed me because he was trying to make a left turn onto a narrow street, and was barely able to do it because of his wheelbase.
      Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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      • #4
        Actually there are a couple of reasons to slide them, and the Pumpkin used to be better than that. Still, they might've done it as part of a lesson. Adjusting the position of your tandems and fifth wheel can help you balance the load. Also the position of the tandems effects turning, as it changes the pivot point. Still, aside from balancing the load, you just leave it alone normally.
        Seph
        Taur10
        "You're supposed to be the head of covert intelligence. Right now, I'm not seeing a hell of a lot of intelligence. Covert, overt, or otherwise!"-Lochley, B5, A View from the Gallery

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        • #5
          Quoth Javarod View Post
          Actually there are a couple of reasons to slide them, and the Pumpkin used to be better than that. Still, they might've done it as part of a lesson.
          But if it were part of a lesson, it would need to be done ENTIRELY on private property, since running with a wheelbase over 41 feet is ILLEGAL on public roads. Of the 4 "all the way back" trucks I saw, 2 were already on public roads, and 2 were in the driveway waiting to turn onto public roads.
          Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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          • #6
            And if you do slide 'em, don't forget to lock 'em.

            I saw a video on youtube a month ago, filmed from a truck cab, of a stretch of interstate that had the left lane closed for construction. In order, what you saw:

            1. A tire (no rim)

            2. Another tire.

            3. A bent-up end on the guard rail on the left.

            4. Two rims.

            5. A pair of axles, missing the above, still attached to each other, on the left shoulder.

            6. A very long gouge in the asphalt, leading to . . .

            7. A tractor-trailer on the right shoulder, with the ass end of the trailer on the ground.

            There was some discussion in the comments as to what the heck had happened. The consensus seemed to be that he'd forgotten to lock the tandems in place when he went out on the road. At some point he hit the brakes too hard and locked his wheels. The bogey stopped, the trailer didn't, whereupon the tandems slammed back so fast that they busted through the stop at the end of their track and parted company with the trailer entirely.

            (Turns out this was incorrect: the poster of the video stated that the truck in question had swerved to miss something in his lane, causing the rear end to swing wide to the left. This caused him to catch the bogey on the end of the guardrail, ripping off first the tires, then the wheels, and finally the bogey itself. It didn't help that the left lane had just been repaved and was a few inches higher than the right lane.)

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            • #7
              Quoth Shalom View Post
              There was some discussion in the comments as to what the heck had happened. The consensus seemed to be that he'd forgotten to lock the tandems in place when he went out on the road. At some point he hit the brakes too hard and locked his wheels. The bogey stopped, the trailer didn't, whereupon the tandems slammed back so fast that they busted through the stop at the end of their track and parted company with the trailer entirely.

              (Turns out this was incorrect: the poster of the video stated that the truck in question had swerved to miss something in his lane, causing the rear end to swing wide to the left. This caused him to catch the bogey on the end of the guardrail, ripping off first the tires, then the wheels, and finally the bogey itself. It didn't help that the left lane had just been repaved and was a few inches higher than the right lane.)
              I wonder if that's what happen in an accident I "saw" back in the 80s.

              I was sitting in a Burgerville one night when there was this LOUD bang/boom noise.

              I and most of the other customers went outside and saw a tractor with a long Cargo container attached at the front to the fifth wheel. From there it sloped down towards the road until the last 5+ feet were *flat* on the road. And about 10 feet behind that was the rear wheel assembly *upside down* on the pavement.

              It was pretty obvious that when the driver had hit the brakes for the red light, the rear wheel assembly had locked up and then pulled off.

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              • #8
                Quoth wolfie View Post
                But if it were part of a lesson, it would need to be done ENTIRELY on private property, since running with a wheelbase over 41 feet is ILLEGAL on public roads. Of the 4 "all the way back" trucks I saw, 2 were already on public roads, and 2 were in the driveway waiting to turn onto public roads.
                Of course, is anyone enforcing it? If they're certified as a school (they are in Green Bay), they may be permitted to do it. As to what they're teaching, wouldn't want to corner like this, it'll certainly teach them how to do that.
                Seph
                Taur10
                "You're supposed to be the head of covert intelligence. Right now, I'm not seeing a hell of a lot of intelligence. Covert, overt, or otherwise!"-Lochley, B5, A View from the Gallery

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