New To Trucking Tricks of the Trade

[Injun]

This thread is where we can post little tip tricks that can prevent stupid mishaps or just make your life easier.

There is a ton of experience on this forum. We can offer it to our new members here.

(there might have been a similar thread somewhere, but I can't find it)

 

[mndriver]

I was taught to stop three to four feet from the end. When you roll it, it will push the top end to the bottom and even them out.

Otherwise pretty much as the video showed

 

[Slowpoke KW]

Currently?

View attachment 58478
I’ve used about everything, any oil works but I like this the best so far. My binders are almost wet but the work easy. Guys always comment when they’re helping me on the way my binders work vs the other driver. I also on occasion take them apart and clean them up real good.

After seeing this recommended elsewhere I tried it and liked it. It worked better than WD40 or PB Blaster in my opinion. I’ve got several cans of it scattered around between the KW and pickup’s and house.

 

[Hammer166]

Currently?

View attachment 58478
I’ve used about everything, any oil works but I like this the best so far. My binders are almost wet but the work easy. Guys always comment when they’re helping me on the way my binders work vs the other driver. I also on occasion take them apart and clean them up real good.

I have one post that's c-channel that I use this on. I love how long it lasts, but it's just too messy to use elsewhere on the truck and risk tracking into an interior. The only lube that lasts anywhere near as long is chain lube, but it's way too tacky in normal temps.

Liquid Wrench makes a lube-only spray that seems to hold up fairly well to the elements, comes in a blue label can.

 

[BlackBart]

I have one post that's c-channel that I use this on. I love how long it lasts, but it's just too messy to use elsewhere on the truck and risk tracking into an interior. The only lube that lasts anywhere near as long is chain lube, but it's way too tacky in normal temps.

Liquid Wrench makes a lube-only spray that seems to hold up fairly well to the elements, comes in a blue label can. View attachment 58551

I just used some white lithium grease on my pallet jack and trailer door. Seemed to work good but also messy as all hell

 

[Uncle Birchy]

Can you carry a "Tire Thumper".

View attachment 46795

I'm a cheap Bastard just got a regular old six dollar hammer from the hardware store..

It's actually better quality than the one the Truckstops sell for $15/$20 ...

 

[Uncle Birchy]

I have one post that's c-channel that I use this on. I love how long it lasts, but it's just too messy to use elsewhere on the truck and risk tracking into an interior. The only lube that lasts anywhere near as long is chain lube, but it's way too tacky in normal temps.

Liquid Wrench makes a lube-only spray that seems to hold up fairly well to the elements, comes in a blue label can. View attachment 58551

Howes makes a good penetrating spray too and every once in awhile TA will have it for Six bucks a can in the "clearance" bin and I'll buy 3/4 cans of it

"NEVER" had Rust or Corrosion on battery cables since I started wiping that stuff on em

 

[Electric Chicken]

I'm a cheap Bastard just got a regular old six dollar hammer from the hardware store..

It's actually better quality than the one the Truckstops sell for $15/$20 ...

Truck stops sell Harbor Fright tools at Snap On prices.

 

[Uncle Birchy]

Truck stops sell Harbor Fright tools at Snap On prices.

That's why after afew jobs I got "SMART" and started bringing a Toolbox with me so I didn't have to buy cresent wrenches that snap apart anymore

 

[SuperCuriousMan]

I have a 6 inch piece of 3/8 OD copper tubing I carry with 4 small clamps.I have that for when/if one of my air lines kink.The 3/8 tubing fits inside the air lines fine. ... I cut the kink out and patch it with my copper tubing kit,Then I double clamp each end for a fast fix to get me to a truck stop safely.

QUESTIONS ARISING: How/why INSIDE it? Cut-n-patch? This brings to mind something I've been wondering (maybe too much) about lately, since the bit of studying of the trucks at school. Cuz, well...I'm a too-newbie here, super-ignorant and yeah super-curious with a basic "Boy Scout"-y mindset. Been thinking ahead lately to my upcoming training deployment, and what if my mentor is pretty new too, not mechanically inclined and unprepared for weird stuff to go wrong...So no point asking then, and soon s/he's gone and I'm on my own. I naturally envision the obvious vulnerabilities and if we can be ready to deal with them... Like...what if.....

Say I have to park somewhere not-so-safe from crazy creeps and in the night one of 'em sabotages an air line, so at some point I'll have to come out to get mugged, or just for fun or spite or insanity? This handy tip from tommyh seems to imply that with a simple "kit" the air lines can be easily field-patched. (I read that even a pinhole is a problem.) Obviously I don't know enough about all the brakes either, so... If it seems too dangerous to get out of the truck, is it doable (I doubt "legal" except in emergency) to limp to the nearest safe spot and temp-repair the line oneself?
--E.Z.

 

[Rigjockey]

QUESTIONS ARISING: How/why INSIDE it? Cut-n-patch? This brings to mind something I've been wondering (maybe too much) about lately, since the bit of studying of the trucks at school. Cuz, well...I'm a too-newbie here, super-ignorant and yeah super-curious with a basic "Boy Scout"-y mindset. Been thinking ahead lately to my upcoming training deployment, and what if my mentor is pretty new too, not mechanically inclined and unprepared for weird stuff to go wrong...So no point asking then, and soon s/he's gone and I'm on my own. I naturally envision the obvious vulnerabilities and if we can be ready to deal with them... Like...what if.....

Say I have to park somewhere not-so-safe from crazy creeps and in the night one of 'em sabotages an air line, so at some point I'll have to come out to get mugged, or just for fun or spite or insanity? This handy tip from tommyh seems to imply that with a simple "kit" the air lines can be easily field-patched. (I read that even a pinhole is a problem.) Obviously I don't know enough about all the brakes either, so... If it seems too dangerous to get out of the truck, is it doable (I doubt "legal" except in emergency) to limp to the nearest safe spot and temp-repair the line oneself?
--E.Z.

If you just want to limp it to a safe place, All you need is a pair of vice-grips.

Here is what you do. Clamp/ crimp your red line and set it on the cat walk or hang it up if possible.
Move your blue line the red glad hand and pull down and keep your spike down.

You will have no brakes on the trailer but you will be able to move to a safe place.

 

[SuperCuriousMan]

But what happens if upon firing up the truck after say, hearing some suspicious sounds out there in the dark, and needing to get going, I see the loss of air pressure on the gauges and sensing it may be unsafe to get out and do anything there, I slowly, carefully headed to the next possible place to pull over and deal with the "leak"? There's still SOME limited braking capacity, right...or not? Do-able but illegal? (Obviously I don't know enough about the braking system or the law yet, but via this question, am about to.)
--SuperCurious...

 

[Electric Chicken]

But what happens if upon firing up the truck after say, hearing some suspicious sounds out there in the dark, and needing to get going, I see the loss of air pressure on the gauges and sensing it may be unsafe to get out and do anything there, I slowly, carefully headed to the next possible place to pull over and deal with the "leak"? There's still SOME limited braking capacity, right...or not? Do-able but illegal? (Obviously I don't know enough about the braking system or the law yet, but via this question, am about to.)
--SuperCurious...

You're gonna have usable brakes until they lose enough pressure to lock up the parking chambers. That's what that buzzer/warning light is for.

 

[MichaelJT]

keep some white chalk in your tool kit or brief case, to "color around" the holes in your tandems slide rails, so you can line them up with the hole you want.

Or use the bar provided for that purpose.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Or use the bar provided for that purpose.

There's a bar for marking which hole you're trying to hit?

 

[MichaelJT]

Before I wised up and quit pulling reefers for good (I swore off them three times before it took) I always had a long enough piece of heavy duty wire that would reach from the truck batteries to the ThermoKing battery. When the alternator failed on either the truck or ThermoKing I could charge one from the other. Be damn careful how you route it. Secure it with duct tape or zip ties.
Company drivers may not be allowed to do this (I did when I was company) depending on where you work. But it got me home more than once. You might have to run the unit on a load that doesn't require refrigeration but it will get you home or someplace safe if you have a failure at night or when you're in BFE.
And I already know all the warnings and precautions somebody is going to feel they have to point out. If you have no common sense or have no mechanical knowledge (and no tools except your cell phone) maybe you shouldn't try this.

 

[MichaelJT]

There's a bar for marking which hole you're trying to hit?

No. There's a bar you slide through BEHIND the hole you're trying to hit to stop you where you want to be. Unless some idiot lost it or ruined it trying to use it as a pry bar or some other unintended purpose. Almost every van or reefer trailer with sliding tandems I've ever seen has had one.

 

[MichaelJT]

And while I'm on the subject of sliding tandems, if you've got an older trailer that has some wear and the unlocking handle is jammed and won't pull out you can do one of a few things. Keep bumping back and forth, and walking back and forth to see if you finally found the sweet spot where it will release (been there, done that) or you can buy an expensive spring loaded tool with a clamp and springs or you can do what I did using things you should already be carrying.
Take a vice grip and clamp it on the bottom of the trailer side panel just out from the slider release handle. Wrap a tarp strap around the handle, pull it tight and wrap around the vice grip. Now go set your trailer brakes or pull down what we used to call the Johnson bar and gently rock the trailer back and forth until you hear, CLANG! You're now unlocked.

 

[mndriver]

No. There's a bar you slide through BEHIND the hole you're trying to hit to stop you where you want to be. Unless some idiot lost it or ruined it trying to use it as a pry bar or some other unintended purpose. Almost every van or reefer trailer with sliding tandems I've ever seen has had one.

Because I have air pins, I don’t have that locating bar you talk about.

 

[ironpony]

Because I have air pins, I don’t have that locating bar you talk about.

Its so easy to determine how far to slide the tandems to get within a few inches of your desired hole position by just looking at the ground as you move the truck, why would one bother carrying a bar around?

 

[BlackBart]

Its so easy to determine how far to slide the tandems to get within a few inches of your desired hole position by just looking at the ground as you move the truck, why would one bother carrying a bar around?

On the ones Ive seen it slides in the hole from one side and has a keeper on the other end so it stays put