Hi there all,I was listening to an agency driver at work the other day,and he was telling someone to ‘avoid working on tilts at all cost as they are bloody hard work’,and he doesn’t do ‘hard work’.His philosophy seemed to be ‘work SMART not hard’.
Now,as a fairly new driver who has no experience of anything other than box trailers,what do they involve to strip down,and whats hard about it? I apologise for my ignorance,but I would just like to find out.Also,why do all the foreign wagons use them,but the Brits would rather avoid them.
hello glenn. ive just finished after ten years on tilts and they can be very hard work! not sure if youve seen them? basically a flat trl with a frame on covered with heavy canvas tarpaulin. (probably not the best description-any help?). most of the large shipping companys have them- p+o, dfds, etc etc. they spend a fair time being shipped unaccompanied to europe and scandinavia, they get covered in sea salt and dirt. loading or tipping thru the rear isnt normally a problem. through the side involves usually throwing a rope over the trl, tying it to the side your loading through and pulling like a good un from the opposite side-lifting the sheet. you then have to take the side gates down-normally four or five if a full side out, and take the boards out which sit in the frame-between sixteen and twenty usually(more if a mega-cube). the real fun starts at places such as corus steelworks(my own fave was corby-what a bunch of zb`s) where you have to strip the roof allowing them to load from overhead cranes, this involves removing the tir cord which runs around the base of the sheet, and then pushing the whole sheet to the front, then taking approx 16 to twenty roof bars out, and four cross-members out. sometimes you get a hand(never at corby!). its even more fun in winter having to do all this outside in the wind and rain… and then once loaded you have to build it up again. i never had the pleasure of going to cardiff bar but was told if you had a mixed load they made you build it up between sheds. why oh why did i do it for ten long years? not sure really… must be a masochist i think
Hi Glenn
before the arrival of euroliners everyone used em, the only hard part about that i would imagine drivers complaining about is if they have to be stripped down to load, or unload, in the case of euroliners its just undo straps and pull curtain back and remove wooden slats if fitted, tilts to get anything out the side you got to unlace the TIR cord ( plastic coated wire cord threaded through metal eyes on the side gates) undo lace on each corner again threaded through metal eyes, then bit of rope thrown over top of tilt through eyes in tilt and pull it over exposing side of trailer you want to get at, then drop side gates remove wooden slats or metal gates, then you can get at what ever it is you want to unload, if its through the roof, in the case of loading steel its undo both sides bit of rope through the flap at back, assuming you aint got barn doors on it, ask the guy on the crane nicely to pull the tilt over for you. As to why there are still a lot about, In my opinion they are more universal than a taut or euroliner, safer as well in my opinion, Also its only in last 10 odd years that customs have started to recognise the taut euroliner as a sealable form of transporting goods under a customs seal, remember once loading a taut in Copenhagen many years ago got it plumbed by customs only to get to Swiss (I was going to Italy at the time) to be told by the nice guy that tautliners could not transit swiss, changed now, proberbly why i dont like tauts. Hope its cleared it up for you
sdj
I never disliked working with Tilts although building one up after a full stripdown in the pouring rain on a windy day has to be at the bottom of my “fun things to do” list.
I’ve worked on tilts on and off for 10 years, never had to do a complete strip down. did have to pull the tilt back once for something to be craned out. Loads of side strips, but once you get used to it they arn’t a big problem. I prefer them over curtiansiders becuase of the drop side giving a bit more load security.
I used to work for a company that only had a few drivers on tilt work the rest were on general haulage. The general haulage guys were given the normal run around and did the RDC stuff, but on tilts the drivers ran the job without interference from the office this made it a great job, but you should have heard the general haulage guys moan if they were asked to do tilt work, then again they moaned about everything.
Tilts are a real pain sometimes. My worst experience was driving 30 miles from the depot, stripping down the whole tilt to have a large machine lowered by crane, building the whole tilt back around it then driving 30 mile back only to have some [zb] take the load out.
The Tilt work is ok for what they were designed for. Load them up and drive for a week or a month before having to unload. If you operate your own trailer and keep it in order they are ok. The problem comes with the abused ferry trailers or the ones dropped off damaged and not reported
Best job: Morocco with step frame tilt
Worst Job, 3 seven tonne coils into swiss at 28 tonne. 3 strip outs in a day
I had a curtainsider in Czech and they put a seal on every buckle and the doors
…you get caked in all the grime of the road, it’s usually beltin with rain or blowing a gale & when you’ve built it back up again the sheet’s never on straight !!!
Alcan at falkirk, best for tilts. the woman loader pulled the sheet back with an overhead crane, loaded the aluminium rolls and pulled the cover back over.
Worst spot. Scunthorpe rod mill. Strip out in the rain outside, back in with sheet flapping and load then back outside to lace it all up again.
The reasoning for this was blamed on Health & Safety, at both factorys
Thanks again,see thats what so great about trucknet,you get put right everytime,and never have to wait long for a reply.It’s true,you never stop learning.I’m gonna do me best to avoid tilts from now on.■■■■ r definately ok by me though!
