In twenty years i reckon containers is the only area i aint tried don’t know how or why but thats where I am at this minute,
so here goes this is what I reckon this site is brill for …
Your mission is you have a rookie container driver …what advice would you give 
Dont worry about the driving tips and how long the tip takes etc… im nearly OK with that side of it 
but the stuff that takes yer by suprise …even when yer think yer know it all
Containers are a walk in the park. Be careful on roundabouts; they will go over v. easily as the floor of the container sits 6’ above the ground. They are quite easy to jack knife because the pin sits way back on the unit. The skellies were designed to run @ 32T gross but are now running @ 44T , so they are a bit top heavy. Double check the cont. number when you receive it & look for damage & the seals. Get someone to show you how to set it up for a 20’ or 45’ box.Make sure all your twist locks are straight when you pick up or lift off . Stand well back when you open the doors. Take lots of books with you & have a nice time. When I did it I was booking 16 hrs every day & sleeping most of it.
The doors normally go at the back. Don’t laugh, it’s been done.
as has been said they are top heavy and can easily tip over i was pulled years ago at 5 in the morning by an unmarked lexus because i had a little bit of wheel lift as i was going around an island,he thought it was going over and was going to do me for dangerous driving until he saw my tacho showed me doing 15mph.
although i have not been driveing class 1 long i’m now on containers.
its very scary at first. the first trip onto felixstowe docks was a nightmare.
so if you can get someone to show you how things work keyside all the better.
never shorten the skelly when you have a 20 ft box on until you are backed onto your unlaoding door. because you can’t move them around with all that weight on the arse end.
take your time on the docks dont rush things.
if your unsure ask another driver they are a good bunch.(if you can find one that speaks english that is).
i got stopped the other day by a driver who had been driving for 15 years and never done containers before and it was nice to give some help back.
each skelly is differant when it comes to shorten them.
but the basics are.
put the trailer brake on.
then your red airline goes on another connecter at the front of the trailor.
there should be another button on the side of the skelly to retract the locking pins.
then push the trailor back. sometimes you have to shunt back and forward to losen the pins.
when driveing on the road make sure the pins are set for the size box your pulling. vosa can do you for incorrect loading if you pulling a 20 when your skel is set for a 40.
Always carry a little lump hammer.
And learn the mantra “Have you got forty quid in your pocket ?”
Many Thanks Lads, All advice is appreciated 
The newer sliders are built to be very lightweight - our latest batch are just 4.5t - so it is VITAL that you use the right pinholes for the box you are carrying. They are only reinforced to take the weight in those specific positions.
This means that the days of carrying a loaded 20ft box in the 40ft position are gone. It’s a pain, albeit a minor pain, but if you don’t make that extra shunt to engage the 20ft running position, you WILL warp the trailer and you WILL end up being one of those numpties who are too idle to do this and have to spend 20 minutes trying to persuade their trailer to slide after they have warped it. If you see one of these prats, sit back and snigger because it’s usually their own fault. 
(yes, I know it may not have been them that bent it, but it’s not hard to tell when one’s been bent, so it should have been defected and VOR’d, not taken out on the road and struggled with.)
In case you think I’m mithering here, worst case scenario was nicely illustrated when one of our now ex-nightmen dragged a 20+ tonne paper box across the N York Moors like this and the entire back bogie of the trailer fell off.
The easiest way to engage those positions which are not at either extreme of the trailer (the reason why most of the aforemention numpties don’t bother - they have to do more than just drag until they hear a bang) is to pull out all the way to 40 ft, then shrink again slightly (you’ll have to check where the pinholes are to get a rough idea how much, the different designs vary).
Do whatever you need to do to make the locking pins come out again (push/pull button, move airline, whatever) then whack the trailer brake on and slide the last few inches slowly until you hear the clunk when they engage. Then take the brake off. It’s pretty simple when you get the knack, to be honest - certainly easier than trying slide a bent trailer or explain to the gaffer why you need a crane out after the back end has fallen off and rolled down a hill…
With the newest Dennisons you can leave the trailer brake off as the brakes will stay on until the locking pins are engaged, then they automatically release and you can drive straight off. Best to put it on if you’re in any way unsure, though.
In a different thread, Lucy:
It’s not difficult if you have the right kit…Which brings us neatly full circle…
Which reminded me of a vital piece of kit - Save a bit of the seal that’s been cut off with bolt croppers. The bit that looks a little like a mis-shaped “T”
They can sometimes have a couple of good uses.
Lucy:
In case you think I’m mithering here, worst case scenario was nicely illustrated when one of our now ex-nightmen dragged a 20+ tonne paper box across the N York Moors like this and the entire back bogie of the trailer fell off.
Think my induction will be a quick run round the trailer and a this does that and this does tuther kind of thing so the info above will be very helpful so cheers for that.
I had a quick look at one of the trailers the other day when parked next to one…and the ones they use are not new and have another air connector for stretching and shrinking (I Guess 
)
looking down the side of the trailer i noticed two pin holes one marked 3 and the other marked 4 (not a clue what they mean 
)
Toward the back of the trailer it looked like there was an arm at either side that could be moved over in two directions not sure what they were either.
any ideas anyone
dambuster:
Always carry a little lump hammer.And learn the mantra “Have you got forty quid in your pocket ?”
I usually carry a three foot piece of scafold pole for stroppy security guards… ■■■■■ diesel thiefs .etc etc…but I guess a lump hammer would be more civilised
harry:
Containers are a walk in the park. Be careful on roundabouts; they will go over v. easily as the floor of the container sits 6’ above the ground. They are quite easy to jack knife because the pin sits way back on the unit. The skellies were designed to run @ 32T gross but are now running @ 44T , so they are a bit top heavy. Double check the cont. number when you receive it & look for damage & the seals. Get someone to show you how to set it up for a 20’ or 45’ box.Make sure all your twist locks are straight when you pick up or lift off . Stand well back when you open the doors. Take lots of books with you & have a nice time. When I did it I was booking 16 hrs every day & sleeping most of it.
Hey up H where you been hiding m8 . long time no hear
thanks for the info above
Some of the doors (handles) can be real pain in the arse to open - hence the little lump.
That other air connector is (usually) indeed for sliding. Sometimes, all that you need to do is put your red line onto it for sliding. It obviously puts the trailer brake on, but also frees the pins.
The pin holes that are numbered will relate to 20’. 30’ 40’ positions. There should be a plate or sticker somewhere telling you which is which.
The “arms” at the back or for carrying boxes other than 20s. You need to “fold” them down to slide for tipping/loading 20s or the skelly won’t slide all the way to the back. Most have some sort of locking bar/pin, but some just have a gate latch type thing.
Don’t be too scared by the loud bangs and rattles you’ll hear when cornering/turning. It’s usually just the two parts of the skelly shifting under stress.
Oh - and as someone earlier said - DON’T attempt much (any) manoeuvring/shunting with the skelly closed up with a loaded 20 on - You’ll have very little, if any, traction. No matter how much air you dump.
thecoder0:
I had a quick look at one of the trailers the other day when parked next to one…and the ones they use are not new and have another air connector for stretching and shrinking (I Guess
You can’t judge age by appearance, sadly - and when I say new, I mean less than about 5 years old. The one of ours it happened on was about that age. Basically, if it has a 20ft position, use it.
looking down the side of the trailer i noticed two pin holes one marked 3 and the other marked 4 (not a clue what they mean
There’s usually another sticker somewhere with a guide telling you which is which. If it had positions labelled 3 and 4, and 2 sets of twistlocks at the front (making it a “14 pinner”) it will have a 20ft position, and I would guess that 4 is for 40ft or 2x 20ft…3 is for 45ft (using the front-most pins) and loaded 20ft…2 will be for 30ft and 1 will be for tipping 20fts ONLY.
If only one set of front locks (so a “12 pinner”) then 4 will be for 40/45/2x20ft…3 will be for 30ft…2 for running loaded 20ft…1 for tipping 20ft.
That said, we recently had on hire an SDC which looked like the first type above, but actually wanted you to put 20fts in the position normally used for 30fts - position 2, in the above case.
It sounds really complicated, but the quick way to tell if there’s no sticker is to get underneath and see where the chassis has been re-inforced. You’ll see large pieces of metal welded or bolted vertically to the rails. With a loaded 20ft, you need a reinforced position which will allow the weight to be distributed sensibly, basically. You have enough brains and experience to be able to work the rest out, I reckon.
Another trap not to fall into is using the shunt button to go the last few feet onto the bay with a ready to tip 20ft rather than faffing about with lines and locking the pins in to release the brakes. That bends the chassis too - the locked pins are an integral part of the strength of the trailer. These things are built to take 32 tonne boxes, so need to save weight at every turn to stay legal. Ditto running with your empty 20ft still fixed in tip position back to the docks. Not stable, and won’t do the trailer any good at all, never mind your underpants!
Simple rule is that if a position is available, it is available for a reason. Use it or damage it.
Ps. Just to complicate the issue further, the one exception to this is the instruction which tell you to not to use the front pins on a 14-pinner for 40ft boxes. We always run like this, have been pulled like this, etc etc and have never had any problem. Ditto not putting 45s on the second pins. No idea why it is not recommended - does anyone else know?
I know that a 13.6m swapbody will be overlength on the second pin, so that makes sense, but since we are only talking a couple of inches, it’s fine with a 45 AFAIK? 
Toward the back of the trailer it looked like there was an arm at either side that could be moved over in two directions not sure what they were either.
Those are your rear bolsters for 40 and 45ft boxes. They will swing up into that position when needed - various methods of fastening, all obvious.
When you need to slide a 30ft or 20ft right to the back for tipping, they would be in the way and prevent you from doing this (as well as causing yet more damage should you try as the top half of the chassis slams into them…), so you swing them down into stowed position (it’s all about position in this game ).
You don’t HAVE to do this before you get to your tip, but they don’t half clank around if you don’t, and the more obsessive types (like me ) will tell you that it looks crap and lazy running that way too, so best to stow after you get lifted on. Sliders clank like nothing else at the best of times, never mind having something more back there flapping about - the first time you do a blindside reverse and hear a BANG you’ll be out like a shot to see what you’ve hit, only to find out that it was just the weight making the two halves of the chassis shift about… 
HTH. 
Ps. Rereading that, I think I need to get a life…away from containers!!!
Some sliders, well I know I used to have one have a sliding mechanism similar to the handle used in a fifth wheel. Put the trailer brake on then pull the handle then pull forward or push back. Think they were called “lock and go” or something. Anyone know if they still make these?
Also Familiarize yourself with the rail head or docks, some places ie. Liverpool insist you get out of the cab before they load while others insist you stay in the cab. There is nothing worse than being newbie and havig some crane driver hooting at you to get out!
Also its been said before, but make sure you have undone your twistlocks, cos its a longway down!
Always open the doors and check empty containers if you are going to get loaded if it’s a garment box it’s no use for paper/plastic bales or for scrap metal. Also check the roof to make sure there are no holes in it, not good if you are loading chemicals or coal for that matter.
If you are loading scrap check for holes in the sides or roof and make sure the roof isn’t bent upwards. Freightliner etc may refuse it if it’s not in good nick.
I have been on Containers for 8 years and its the easiest job I have ever had as a Container driver you are just a chauffeur driving it from A to B, you have no part in the loading or unloading.
Before containers I spent 17 years chasing my tail and it took me 6 months to slow down…
“Ay ,Ooop ! Cody lad ; long story…”
harry:
“Ay ,Ooop ! Cody lad ; long story…”
Hope all is well H …nice to know your knocking about M8 keep telling em how its done