Make it tougher than it needs to be

Why do we…

Never reverse a trailer all the way back to the bump-stop? Over the years I’ve noticed without fail that if we’re given trailer parking at 45 degree angle, no one ever goes all the way to the bump-stop. Both places I’m working at have angled slots which are made much harder to get into because every trailer there is about 4 or 5 feet further forward than it could be.

Ok, it’s not the end of civilisation as we know it but, I’m curious as to why when the space is there we frequently never take it.

Folks scared of smashing lights perhaps. Or leaving room to look in the back doors.

Mudguards too. They’ve put new bump bar things in at Unliever Cannock where we do a drop and swap daily.

Problem is that the mudguards are taking a battering - last week my intended trailer upon inspection had both rear mudguards ripped off.

What’s happening is at normal ride height you can push back against the buffers, but when the Terbergs cone along and lift the trailer to a 45 degree angle :unamused: the back end drops, the mudguards catch on the buffer so when the shunter drags the trailer out the space at 9000mph the get ripped off.

The back part of the yard is full of broken mudguards :laughing:

Standard lazy lorry driver attitude, I reckon.

Can’t quite judge whether you can push all the way back? You could get out and look… but that sounds dangerously close to putting a bit of effort in :open_mouth: much better to just shrug and stop short.

It’s very similar to what to do if you’re not sure whether your unit has lifted up enough to catch the pin. You could get out and look, but again, that sounds like work. Instead, just ram her under. If you are at the correct height, brilliant, if not… ■■■■ it, it’s not you truck.

If you mean the bump stop where the back wheels catch it, that might be because too many people have gone over too fast and jumped them. So everyone is being more cautious?

toonsy:
Mudguards too.

This. Air drops out of trailer, shunter picks it up, sets off and rips mudguards off.

Tesco Reading have the same problem. I used to walk along at night picking all the mudguards up to get them out of the way as they always seemed to land nail side up

toonsy:
Mudguards too. They’ve put new bump bar things in at Unliever Cannock where we do a drop and swap daily.

Problem is that the mudguards are taking a battering - last week my intended trailer upon inspection had both rear mudguards ripped off.

What’s happening is at normal ride height you can push back against the buffers, but when the Terbergs cone along and lift the trailer to a 45 degree angle :unamused: the back end drops, the mudguards catch on the buffer so when the shunter drags the trailer out the space at 9000mph the get ripped off.

The back part of the yard is full of broken mudguards :laughing:

A while ago, somebody had neatly stacked about ten of them in a nice pile. Very thoughtful of them! :laughing:

Simples reverse up gently to the bump stops, guide bars whatever you want to call them. Feel the gentle bump and then roll forward a few inches to ensure the mudguards are not trapped between the wheel and them.

And yes it’s easy done to rip them off with a tug if someone has parked right up to them trapping the spray suppression between them and the wheel when lifting the 5th wheel up.