Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

[MaceFremonti]

Some scary shiznit here....

So I am inbounding at BALMD with an LC from the railyard and am waiting behind another driver with an LC who is at the phones. Out of habit I always eyeball chassis pins on LCs, even when I am off the clock. I am checking the pins on the LC in front of me and lo and behold no zip ties!

"Dude likes to live on the edge", I think to myself. I look closer and the pins are also WFO! (Wide ing Open)

Holy $ hit!

BURMD just had a container come loose a few weeks ago!

I can't see who the driver is so I get out and walk up to the cab just as he starts his tractor and knock on the door.

"How's it going?", he asks as he rolls down his window.

"Good, you know your pins are open and unlocked right?"

"My what?"

"Your rear chassis pins."

"What are those?"

I'm speechless for a second then say, "Come on, let me show you."

He shuts off his tractor and follows me back. I show him the finer points of container attachment and he says, "Ohhhhh, that's why all you guys have zip ties in your hands when you do a walk around."

"No one ever showed you this before?", I ask.

"Nope! Thanks! I appreciate the heads up!"

"You are lucky, 95 right after the tunnel is pretty rough, the container could have just bounced off."

"Oh wow!"

"How about the front pins?"

"Front pins?", he asks, "Uh, don't know about those either."

We walk back to the front of the chassis and the left pin is zip tied solid but the right one is zip tied OPEN.

My man brought a 100% LC back with only one front pin holding it place.

No one ever trained him or told him about the pins, zip ties, or how they work. But we will get constant messages about eye lead time and following distance.

Some Scary Shiznit

 

[Jones]

I used to see LCs like that all the time at newpa with the latches ziptied open, I'd have to cut them off and redo them while wondering what genius couldn't comprehend how a simple latch and pin system is supposed to work. Picked up a thru load at burmd not too long ago with no zipties and one of the pins open, someone brought it all the way from harpa like that.

 

[silenze]

At least it wasn't empty. No way it would have made it back

 

[UPS4Life]

I used to see LCs like that all the time at newpa with the latches ziptied open, I'd have to cut them off and redo them while wondering what genius couldn't comprehend how a simple latch and pin system is supposed to work. Picked up a thru load at burmd not too long ago with no zipties and one of the pins open, someone brought it all the way from harpa like that.

Now that 695 is all nice and smooth you know you don't need the pins anymore. *sarcasm*. I apologize for the lack of intelligence from our drivers. Our sups don't teach a whole lot and our safety team brought it up numerous times about these and the issues of them not being correct but nobody seems to care. Supposedly we are having a demo next month on it...... I can only hope disaster doesn't strike before then.

 

[Jones]

Now that 695 is all nice and smooth you know you don't need the pins anymore. *sarcasm*. I apologize for the lack of intelligence from our drivers. Our sups don't teach a whole lot and our safety team brought it up numerous times about these and the issues of them not being correct but nobody seems to care. Supposedly we are having a demo next month on it...... I can only hope disaster doesn't strike before then.

lol, not trying to pick on ya I actually liked that run and liked going to newpa, easy in easy out and the guys at the trailer shop are awesome. I pulled an LC out of there every day though and some of stuff I saw made me shake my head.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

My guess would be they don't go over it when they run them thru feeder school. I don't know how many guys I've been sitting next to while we were doing trailer pretrips, and they never even checked the pins or zip ties. When I mention it to them, they look at me like I'm from outer space. I'm thinking the only time on road even brings it up to newer driver is if they happen to pull a container during some time on their OJS ride.

 

[Dracula]

My guess would be they don't go over it when they run them thru feeder school. I don't know how many guys I've been sitting next to while we were doing trailer pretrips, and they never even checked the pins or zip ties. When I mention it to them, they look at me like I'm from outer space. I'm thinking the only time on road even brings it up to newer driver is if they happen to pull a container during some time on their OJS ride.

Haha. We spent almost 30 minutes during our feeder school on how to hook a dolly up to the back trailer. A day? Nope, for the whole school. No wonder I was shaking when I first hooked up a set by myself. I was sure I was forgetting something. Before it was brought to the attention of our management/safety committee, the only reason we had zip ties was because swing doors would pop open and hit adjacent trailers if the doors weren't secured. Only after the 600x LC containers came along did the zip ties find a new purpose. Still, many drivers neglect to use them.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

We actually assigned each mule a pile of bungee cords to secure swing doors when backing/pulling off doors. Of course shifters were too lazy to get down and take them off when they put them on the door. I always kept a few loose plastic straps that came off packages that I found laying around the yard. I never took the chance on poking holes/knocking a door off when backing or pulling. It may have took an extra minute or 2, but it kept me from filling out an LP-880, or whatever they're called now. lol

 

[UPS4Life]

lol, not trying to pick on ya I actually liked that run and liked going to newpa, easy in easy out and the guys at the trailer shop are awesome. I pulled an LC out of there every day though and some of stuff I saw made me shake my head.

Lol now that you have such nice things to say about newpA I'm from harpa, so how do you feel about our building and people? lol judging by some of your posts I've often wondered if your from harpa as well?

 

[Jones]

Lol now that you have such nice things to say about newpA I'm from harpa, so how do you feel about our building and people? lol judging by some of your posts I've often wondered if your from harpa as well?

I had a harpa run for one bid I like your building and people just fine . I still talk to a couple harpa drivers at night.

 

[pharacyde]

Some scary shiznit here....

So I am inbounding at BALMD with an LC from the railyard and am waiting behind another driver with an LC who is at the phones. Out of habit I always eyeball chassis pins on LCs, even when I am off the clock. I am checking the pins on the LC in front of me and lo and behold no zip ties!

"Dude likes to live on the edge", I think to myself. I look closer and the pins are also WFO! (Wide ing Open)

Holy $ hit!

BURMD just had a container come loose a few weeks ago!

I can't see who the driver is so I get out and walk up to the cab just as he starts his tractor and knock on the door.

"How's it going?", he asks as he rolls down his window.

"Good, you know your pins are open and unlocked right?"

"My what?"

"Your rear chassis pins."

"What are those?"

I'm speechless for a second then say, "Come on, let me show you."

He shuts off his tractor and follows me back. I show him the finer points of container attachment and he says, "Ohhhhh, that's why all you guys have zip ties in your hands when you do a walk around."

"No one ever showed you this before?", I ask.

"Nope! Thanks! I appreciate the heads up!"

"You are lucky, 95 right after the tunnel is pretty rough, the container could have just bounced off."

"Oh wow!"

"How about the front pins?"

"Front pins?", he asks, "Uh, don't know about those either."

We walk back to the front of the chassis and the left pin is zip tied solid but the right one is zip tied OPEN.

My man brought a 100% LC back with only one front pin holding it place.

No one ever trained him or told him about the pins, zip ties, or how they work. But we will get constant messages about eye lead time and following distance.

Some Scary Shiznit

In my feeders class, we were never told anything about LC's. I had to hear about it from other drivers. I always wondered though, if I had a relevant accident with an LC, could they charge me since I was never officially trained in how to properly pretrip one?

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

if I had a relevant accident with an LC, could they charge me since I was never officially trained in how to properly pretrip one?

All accidents are relevant as far as management is concerned. Should the scenario happen as you suggest, methinks there is a chapter in the feeder school tutorial that they will say was covered when you went thru school. lol

 

[Jones]

In my feeders class, we were never told anything about LC's. I had to hear about it from other drivers. I always wondered though, if I had a relevant accident with an LC, could they charge me since I was never officially trained in how to properly pretrip one?

If your training was anything like mine on the the last day after they told you that you qualified you sat in the office initialing whole stacks of paperwork acknowledging all the things you had been trained on. If you were like me then you might not have actually read through all that stuff because you were just happy to be done with training and you wanted to get out there since it was friday. Somewhere in that stack was a piece of paper stating that you had received the proper training on how to pretrip a chassis.

 

[MaceFremonti]

Luckily I knew a ton of guys from package who ended up in feeders. They enlightened me on quite a few things that were never mentioned in feeder school...

 

[MaceFremonti]

We got some new 2016 Macks today....automatics w/tag axles and proximity sensors...

 

[UPS4Life]

We got some new 2016 Macks today....automatics w/tag axles and proximity sensors...

I heard that was coming. I wonder if there will be manuals as well. Do they have cameras? Diesel, lng, or cng? Sorry for all the questions lol

 

[MaceFremonti]

Diesel...only saw them briefly...that's all I know so far!

 

[pharacyde]

We have some new KWs with an interesting camera mounted on the windshield...

 

[MaceFremonti]

Well....driver who just had our new 276... auto 2016 Mack told me that the proximity alarms went off all night, even when while he was all alone on a 4 lane highway, and his seat belt warning went off all night long.

To quote him, "Man, that thing friendg sucks!"

 

[UPS4Life]

Well....driver who just had our new 276... auto 2016 Mack told me that the proximity alarms went off all night, even when while he was all alone on a 4 lane highway, and his seat belt warning went off all night long.

To quote him, "Man, that thing friendg sucks!"

Great just what I'm looking forward to.