Have all the drop frames been retired?

[104Feeder]

Haven't seen one of those in awhile. I remember most didn't know how to load the underbelly & just ended up throwing packages in there. They were always full of debris too.

Those were fun until the legs refused to go up or down. We have a little hill you can drive up in our yard that will knock the legs up. Failing that, you had a prybar made out of a brake shoe. Sometimes you would have to mess with them forever to get the legs to come down.

Once we had a sleeper team drive all the way from L.A. to Phoenix with the legs extended so they just kept scraping on the road and extending until there wasn't much left.

 

[Big Babooba]

The UPS drop frame is a favorite with construction companies. I've seen them used as storage trailers at many construction sites.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

They were on the way out in my short time as a trailer mechanic. Lots were really bad due to corrosion. I tried to get the belt line where the crossmembers are attached replaced at Eagle Systems, but the extrusions were nearly impossible to get even then. They were corroded all the way through to the outside. Most were approaching 20 years old at the time.

 

[cachsux]

We had one show up for the first time in who knows when during this peak. I remember spotting it and then looking at the leg valves and trying to remember which one did what.

An almost guarantee in life. If you had to spot one and work the valves to get the legs down it would start raining every time to add insult to injury.

 

[Nimnim]

They still exist, but they are indeed fading out. When I was in the unload some 8ish years ago probably half or more of the trailers being unloaded were dropframes here. Now we get maybe half a dozen a night. There are still some facilities that have to use them because of equipment, but it's significantly less than it was even 5 years ago.

​I'll never have an issue with not having to unload 20+ trailer hitches from below the flaps in a dropframe.

 

[Bagels]

They were on the way out in my short time as a trailer mechanic. Lots were really bad due to corrosion. I tried to get the belt line where the crossmembers are attached replaced at Eagle Systems, but the extrusions were nearly impossible to get even then. They were corroded all the way through to the outside. Most were approaching 20 years old at the time.

I'm surprised to learn that most were only 20 years old -- they were in rough shape & appeared much older. When I hired in 2000, they were in the process of refurbishing (or re-manufacturing, as they preferred to call it) most of them-complete with new interiors- although they only hung around a few more years in my area. I'm also surprised they're still hanging around in Florida -- I was thinking they'd be mainly out West, where humidity is a non-factor.

 

[BrownBrokeDown]

In my hub, they still use one everynight for the inbuilding load. Luckily they moved it out of my area and into a different about a year ago.

 

[PiedmontSteward]

I'm pondering if all the drop frame trailers have been retired from regular usage? We had several in our yard as operational spares, but they hauled the last one away (to the scrap yard, I assume) recently. Nor do I see any more leased SWIFT trailers -- at the beginning of the year, we received a half-dozen 53' SWIFT every day, but now it's all Company equipment.

View attachment 9359

I hope they backed every drop frame in service into a giant pit and set them all on fire. I hated loading those things when I was in the outbound; nothing says ****ty quite like a 300+ piece straight shot of 50-60 lbs Dell computer boxes on the top rollers of a drop frame in the middle of summer. Those things were back destroyers; thankfully, I haven't seen one in my hub for at least the last two or three years.

 

[raceanoncr]

As a feeder driver (and, yes, having to unload many in slack times) I drove many 40s, 28s, 26s and even 24s. When we had to pull MT or loaded flat rail boxes, it was a pain in the arse compared to the drop frames, drive wise, that is. Then we started getting the flat floor 45s, 28s, etc. and I STILL preferred driving the drop frame.

Seemed to be much smoother ride, be it loaded or MT, doubles or single. The drop part of the frame (IMO) kept some of the wind from underneath and made a much smoother airflow. BUT, I was just a driver.

This, boys and girls, was just my observation.

 

[PiedmontSteward]

I saw that mentioned in another thread except they referred to it as a 4 inch penis.

Hmmmmm ...

I never felt at home if the trailer I was loading didn't have a giant penis, a giant marijuana leaf, or "**** UPS" scrawled on the wall.

 

[pretender]

We had one show up for the first time in who knows when during this peak. I remember spotting it and then looking at the leg valves and trying to remember which one did what.

An almost guarantee in life. If you had to spot one and work the valves to get the legs down it would start raining every time to add insult to injury.

Most of the time, if you put the lever at the half-way point, the legs would stay in position and you could just raise the trailer the same as a manual crank.

 

[pretender]

As a feeder driver (and, yes, having to unload many in slack times) I drove many 40s, 28s, 26s and even 24s. When we had to pull MT or loaded flat rail boxes, it was a pain in the arse compared to the drop frames, drive wise, that is. Then we started getting the flat floor 45s, 28s, etc. and I STILL preferred driving the drop frame.

Seemed to be much smoother ride, be it loaded or MT, doubles or single. The drop part of the frame (IMO) kept some of the wind from underneath and made a much smoother airflow. BUT, I was just a driver.

.
This, boys and girls, was just my observation.

I preferred them also, as long as the loader filled up the bottom and they were not top heavy. In the snow, I always thought the drop frame 40's handled the best.

 

[norcal10]

Our building has three. We have one that is used as retain ever night as its not road worthy anymore. I'm an equipment geek so I looked at the build plate and was manufactured in 1987 by Kentucky trailers. The other is a tan 40ft drop and there is a very old 26ft drop that is from the 60s both of those are used for storage.

 

[brett636]

I still see them from time to time. The few that we have left stay mostly local going between my hub and another building about 20 minutes away. As an unloader I despised those trailers because of rollers that didn't want to work to flaps that would randomly fall on your head(those things were heavy!). We used to have a 40' one that went between my building and the customer counter, but it was retired years ago.

 

[Old International]

We are still using them. I have seen several in the last week coming and going. We have one at our center that we use to cap of the pattern park.

 

[cosmo1]

We are still using them. I have seen several in the last week coming and going. We have one at our center that we use to cap of the pattern park.

So, if someone steals it, no one cares?

 

[Jackofalltrades]

We still rotate 3. One time I unloaded one of those bad boys in 15 mins. Rollers sounded like a thousand maracas lol

 

[vowl]

We have one from the OKC to Tulsa route. Every time I worked in that drop frame I had a minor injury. a finger in a roller, a knee hitting the rollers when I was jumping up and down. Just glad I never unloaded one.