I must be out of shape!
Spent the day shunting (with my regular unit, not a shunter/Terberg thing) and winding bent landing legs up and down for 11 hours has left me nearly in traction; arms feel ready to fall off lol
Any other shocks to the system in and around trucking? I remember, as a driver’s mate for Heygates, my neck swelling up like a mothertrucker from carrying 5 tonnes worth of 25 kg bags (2 up).
I was about to praise shunters for their manly forearm strength before I remembered they have a magic button that removes the need for all of that 
Shunting makes it into my top 5 list of things to be avoided in transport
- General Haulage
- Drawbars
- Shunting
- Nights Out
- Energy Drinks
2 classic examples of why some drivers are now called Steering Wheel Attendants !!
Get yourself a proper shunter tug. No more lifting the legs yourself plus you only need to put in the service air line. Its fun watching our shunter fly about the place. Not your usual arsey shunter attitude either.
I did a day shunting when on agency. in normal unit too, but i didn’t do much winding of trailer legs i used the units air bags raised and lowered that instead as it gave enough clearance , and as said plugged the one Suzie in for the brakes
So you made it easy by lifting airbags but then made it hard by jumping onto catwalk to plug red line in? Why not just use the shunt button?
Most compaines are deactivating their shunt buttons nowadays it’s HSE thing. Shunting can be the best job in transport if you’ve got a good number. Shunters at my place have a good number, you see them sleeping in the corner of the yard most days, drivers do the bulk of the work for them!
I used to be a night shunter using an old scania with exhaust fumes coming through the gearbox, legs had to go full way up because of steep hill in yard. Felt like you earned your wages after those shifts.
That’s really how I want to retire when a hit 50 or so look for a good wee 8hr easy shunting shift kinda job.
The op sounds like they may have experienced a strange phenominon called “excercise”, something the average trucker has no experience of.
As for handballing objects, they should try farm work or handballing sacks of flour. On the flour where the 16kg/25kg sacks are 65/40 sacks to the tonne, with drops of 10 tonnes a time we’d hand balled up (to) 2 floors carrying 3x16kg or 2x25kg a time
mike68:
Shunting makes it into my top 5 list of things to be avoided in transport
- General Haulage
- Drawbars
- Shunting
- Nights Out
- Energy Drinks
Wow. Sensitive fairy alert!
Why don’t you go sit in an office all day, would seem the ideal job for someone who won’t do a bit of graft or a challenge.
A.
Truckbling:
So you made it easy by lifting airbags but then made it hard by jumping onto catwalk to plug red line in? Why not just use the shunt button?
You can’t always use the shunt button as some companies have them disconnected due to trailers moving when dropped be cause lazy drivers not checking park breaks put on trailers before picking the trailer up
mike68:
Shunting makes it into my top 5 list of things to be avoided in transport
- General Haulage
- Drawbars
- Shunting
- Nights Out
- Energy Drinks
Out of interest why not general haulage and why does it make it to number 1 on you list? I like it personally for the varied work.
Agree with draw bars, agree with shunting, agree with energy drinks, and nights out can take it or leave it.
Anything with a tail lift 
To be a good terberg driver you must:
- Look down on other drivers
- Only talk to other terberg drivers
- Reverse as fast as you can.
- The trailer must go on the bay in one
- When driving forward make sure you exceed double the yard speed limit.
Maybe thats why they arnt allowed out
merc0447:
Most compaines are deactivating their shunt buttons nowadays it’s HSE thing.
Seems pointless, how do you move it if there is a problem with the air system?
So the consensus is that I’m too soft
Javiatrix:
So the consensus is that I’m too soft
Most definitely.
When i did shunting for a couple of years using road units the only bits that ached were my shins when getting out of lorries with 3 steps thinking i was in another unit/rigid with only 2 steps.
Javiatrix:
So the consensus is that I’m too soft
Yeah you fairy. You’ve probably got nice soft hands that do dishes too! Only joking bud . The way I’ve always thought of it is ; if it makes your muscles ache it must be doing you good! Some folk spend a fortune at gyms to achieve what you are being paid to achieve.
the maoster:
Javiatrix:
So the consensus is that I’m too soft
Yeah you fairy. You’ve probably got nice soft hands that do dishes too! Only joking bud . The way I’ve always thought of it is ; if it makes your muscles ache it must be doing you good! Some folk spend a fortune at gyms to achieve what you are being paid to achieve.
I always try to do things the harder way to give my muscles some sort of minimal activity Makes me cringe watching drivers who drag their heels everywhere, plodding about… Mind you, they’re probably the same ones who’d chastise me for ‘rushing’ about. Helps to get off to sleep quicker next to a busy road too
Giggsy:
To be a good terberg driver you must:
- Look down on other drivers
- Only talk to other terberg drivers
- Reverse as fast as you can.
- The trailer must go on the bay in one
- When driving forward make sure you exceed double the yard speed limit.
Maybe thats why they arnt allowed out
Haha definitely hit the nail on the head there.
Security “so you must adhere to our site rules which includes a 10mph speed limit otherwise we can kick you off site and not unload you”.
“Yeah not problem mate”
Next thing you’ve got a terberg right up your arse when your doing 10mph round their site
