milk tanker

[cmayer315]

hi all well tommorow i get my first taste of artic driving its a milk tanker so if anyone could give me any tips or advice it would be great
thanks

[steve-o]

do not take your foot off the brake before putting the hand brake on because you may surge forward depending on the fluid level

[cruise_control]

cmayer315:
hi all well tommorow i get my first taste of artic driving its a milk tanker so if anyone could give me any tips or advice it would be great
thanks

there is a lad on here, he does milk tankers, he sometimes does a diary or two, sure he can give you few tips (on how not to take out the corner of farmer giles’s new barn ) when he logs on but his screen name fails me at this minute

EDIT: his screen name is C-Kay

[trux]

treat it with the upmost respect as though it were a live load of animals standing.

have a slow steady drive in yard 1st and apply brakes gently so you get a feel of how it handles and how the slush between baffles (if any) makes it rock - especially when you come to a standstill.

Hope you dont get seasick, cos your going to find out soon enough

Make sure all taps are closed and all plastic seals are fitted too.

If your unsure of anything at the depot your starting from ASKthem, its good to talk

Oh , and can i have 2 pints of un past your eyes please no cream

Last of all , if anything should go wrong (god forbid and hopefully not), dont cry over spilt milk.

[cruise_control]

trux:
If your unsure of anything at the depot your starting from ASKthem, its good to talk

ask them if your milk tanker has baffle plates fitted

[eddster1979]

cmayer315:
hi all well tommorow i get my first taste of artic driving its a milk tanker so if anyone could give me any tips or advice it would be great
thanks

used 2 do the milk on weekends when i passed me test,make sure its a full one!and dont 4get to vent the tank when offloading!

[conor]

cmayer315:
hi all well tommorow i get my first taste of artic driving its a milk tanker so if anyone could give me any tips or advice it would be great
thanks

To give you an idea of how bad it can get, whilst still in the yard get up to a decent speed in the yard then brake fairly hard to a stop. Keep the brake on for a few seconds and whilst in neutral, let the brake off. It’ll give you an idea of just how much it can move you forward or backwards on its own.

Drive smoothly and try to use engine braking rather than the footbrake on approaches to junctions etc. Be smooth in your gearchanges. When stopping, remember to keep your foot on the brake before applying the park brake. Forget “sitting on the clutch” at junctions. When setting off, do it as you would for the test, finding the biting point on the clutch before removing the park brake. Try and “feel” what the load is doing and time when you set off from standstill so that you’re not doing it as it is reaching the end of a surge backwards as it can result in you going backwards or standing still!!! Also when setting off, leave a slightly larger gap from the vehicle in front as you can find that when you take the brake off, it surges forward without any help from you.

When reversing, let the load settle first for a bit if you can. Be prepared for sudden surges backwards as the milk slops around.

Who are you doing it for?

[gates]

some advice C-Key give me

try and keep your braking smooth, it will reduce the slop. It’s quite a weird feeling when you’re going along and the milk is going back and forth.
If you’re in an automatic, be prepared for many gear changes, the liquid pushes you forward and changes up (sometimes 2 gears), and when it slops back it will change down a gear

[44_tonne_ton]

cmayer315:
hi all well tommorow i get my first taste of artic driving its a milk tanker so if anyone could give me any tips or advice it would be great
thanks

Your first experience is a tanker…

Is anyone coming out with you?

[cmayer315]

thanks for all the advice dont worry the roads will be save i have a driver with me so il get some training thank god or i might be messing my pants

[dieseldave]

Cruise Control:

trux:
If your unsure of anything at the depot your starting from ASKthem, its good to talk

ask them if your milk tanker has baffle plates fitted

Hi Cruise Control, milk tankers don’t normally have baffles fitted… otherwise the load would become some kind of cheese before you could deliver it…

They’d also be next to impossible to clean out correctly.

Given that the OP has mentioned that it’s an artic, it’ll probably be run either full, or empty. If so, then surge shouldn’t be a problem.

[the_maoster]

dieseldave:

Cruise Control:

trux:
If your unsure of anything at the depot your starting from ASKthem, its good to talk

ask them if your milk tanker has baffle plates fitted

Hi Cruise Control, milk tankers don’t normally have baffles fitted… otherwise the load would become some kind of cheese before you could deliver it…

They’d also be next to impossible to clean out correctly.

Given that the OP has mentioned that it’s an artic, it’ll probably be run either full, or empty. If so, then surge shouldn’t be a problem.

Not a sentiment I’m sure I’d agree with Dave. That may be the case on trunking work, but I’m sure you like me have seen plenty of artic tankers collecting at individual farms, until the tank is full.

[farmer]

the maoster:

dieseldave:

Cruise Control:

trux:
If your unsure of anything at the depot your starting from ASKthem, its good to talk

ask them if your milk tanker has baffle plates fitted

Hi Cruise Control, milk tankers don’t normally have baffles fitted… otherwise the load would become some kind of cheese before you could deliver it…

They’d also be next to impossible to clean out correctly.

Given that the OP has mentioned that it’s an artic, it’ll probably be run either full, or empty. If so, then surge shouldn’t be a problem.

Not a sentiment I’m sure I’d agree with Dave. That may be the case on trunking work, but I’m sure you like me have seen plenty of artic tankers collecting at individual farms, until the tank is full.

i know C-Kay is on bulk collection work with an auto unit as well

[stoke_trucker]

Having been doing milk tanker work for 9 yrs now the best advice I can give you is make sure the tank is sealed and all the vents are shut, these could be either manual handles on the lids ontop of the tank, or they could be screw caps inside just under the lids, make sure all lids are tight, if it’s a fairly new tank it could be just a case of pushing or pulling a button usually at the back of the trailer which shuts the vents , about 90% of milk tankers do have baffles in them and these are great to pull, if it hasn’t got baffles in be VERY carefull with it, check you have the paperwork and the farm tickets that match whats gone on your tank, check the wash sheet is upto date , should of last been washed within 24 hrs of been loaded. take your time ALL the time until you get use to them, if you’ve got a good load on say 28000 litres plus you shouldn’t get too much sloshing about and it will be quite stable whilst moving, just be carefull when braking though as you will get some movement , always either keep your foot on the brake pedel or best of all put the handbrake on when stopped, don’t go fast around corners as many of the new tanks have EBS which brake themselves if it thinks its going to tip over because your going too fast , this can be quite scary when you going around a bend and all nof a sudden the brakes come on and pull you back many a tank has gone over on roundabouts and corners,try not to brake suddenly .
When you get to the dairy if possible take the sample from the lids at the top if you can get to them, the samples often fail from the sampler at the back, make sure you vent it before it’s tipped , if un sure leave the lid open, If it’s got the push button vents keep an eye on your air gauge whilst tipping and when on cip (clean) as if the air drops it will shut the vents and could ■■■■ the tank in, get the paperwork signed fill the wash sheet in , oh and one last bit of advice before you pull off the bay , make sure the pipes have been taken off, I forgot to for the first time in 8 yrs this January , sure enough it was the one time they hadn’t taken them off and ended up pulling the pump through a false wall and removing 5 wall panels as well not to mention ripping the pipes out and the ones on my tanker , cost about £60k repairing everything , had the pee taken out of me quite a bit since then , the boss called me a dozy ■■■ and was ok about it.

[dieseldave]

the maoster:
Not a sentiment I’m sure I’d agree with Dave. That may be the case on trunking work, but I’m sure you like me have seen plenty of artic tankers collecting at individual farms, until the tank is full.

Hi the maoster, I imagined that it would be trunking work because it wasn’t mentioned one way or the other in the OP.
Maybe that will be made clear later, but it seemed logical to me to start/introduce a new guy on trunking, then let him ‘grow’ into doing collections after he’s got used to the job for a while.

Of course, there are collections from some individual farms in exactly the way you said, which would then call for ‘surge’ to be taken into account whilst driving.

[dieseldave]

farmer:
i know C-Kay is on bulk collection work with an auto unit as well

Hi farmer, maybe I’ve missed something…
… but what difference would an auto make??

[wheel_nut]

stoke trucker:
make sure the pipes have been taken off, I forgot to for the first time in 8 yrs this January , sure enough it was the one time they hadn’t taken them off and ended up pulling the pump through a false wall and removing 5 wall panels as well not to mention ripping the pipes out and the ones on my tanker , cost about £60k repairing everything , had the pee taken out of me quite a bit since then , the boss called me a dozy ■■■ and was ok about it.

We know, we heard him from here!

[dieseldave]

Wheel Nut:

stoke trucker:
make sure the pipes have been taken off, I forgot to for the first time in 8 yrs this January , sure enough it was the one time they hadn’t taken them off and ended up pulling the pump through a false wall and removing 5 wall panels as well not to mention ripping the pipes out and the ones on my tanker , cost about £60k repairing everything , had the pee taken out of me quite a bit since then , the boss called me a dozy ■■■ and was ok about it.

We know, we heard him from here!

The boss probably realised that fitting brake safety interlocks to the whole fleet would probably have left him in profit from his 60K.

Add to that 60K the possiblity that somebody could have been hurt and the possible compo claim(s) arising from that.

The ease with which the mistake happened, or could happen again, suggests that some fail-safe system to prevent inadvertent vehicle movement needs to be considered in order to avoid a repetition.

Glad that nobody got hurt though.

[the_maoster]

dieseldave:

farmer:
i know C-Kay is on bulk collection work with an auto unit as well

Hi farmer, maybe I’ve missed something…
… but what difference would an auto make??

Hey Dave, I think the auto reference was regarding the “surge” and an auto boxs’ habit of “hunting” for gears (for want of a better word).

All my tanker work has been on gas or chemical tankers which have had (in the last 15 or so years) brake interlocks fitted to prevent “drive aways”. Maybe as milk isn’t classed as hazardous per se the need for interlocks hasn’t been addressed. Having said that £60k worth of damage kind of says that it does I reckon. Also, try telling the river authorities that milk isn’t hazardous and watch thei little faces turn red.

[c-kay]

Hi mate, i dont know who you’re driving for so it could vary on what to watch for.

If you’re on for someone like Wincanton, S.J.Bargh or Gregory’s, you wont be doing farm collections as they just collect milk from one dairy and take it to another, so it’s likely you’ll have a full tank and not have much problem with the milk pushing and pulling you.

If you are on farm collections, then things will be different. This was my first artic job as well (i didnt even have any clas 2 experience),but you’ll soon get used to it.

As said above by one of the lads, first thing to check is that the trailer is sealed properly, and all the valves and plugs are shut. Dont trust that the guy before has done it, i’ve sat there for 20 minutes vaccing the tank up, only to discover the git hadn’t closed the top valve, so i couldnt pull aything on and had to start all over again

I know this is obvious, but go gentle with it when breaking/going round corners, fluids can catch you out because you dont know which way it’s going and it can push you forwards (up to 6 feet i’m told) when you are stationary, so always use the handbrake at lights and when coming to a stop.

I’ve got used to having thae auto box in manual now, but being new you might struggle to get used to how it all works, like i did, but if you can pick it up quickly it will be a massive help. There’s nothig worse than going up a hill, being pushed forwards by the fluid and the box changing up 2 gears and losing any momentum you had

Sorry i haven’t got timeto go into everythng, (off to work now), but if you need anything else answered, i’ll gladly give you what advice i can.

Good luck