XPO | loading P/D vans

[Serene Gene]

3) look at the trailer tandems as a teeter-totter or balance point. Any weight you can get on or behind the tandems removes weight from the nose

Since the actual weight dividing point is halfway between wherever the tandems are and the fifth wheel, you've got a lot of room to play with if you're thinking about it as you load a van. People just don't think about it.

Of course, sliding the tandems around can bring up tailswing / clearance issues, so we have to pay attention.

 

[Fly-by-night]

"Veteran Employee" if you think XPO won't get rid of employee with Lots of Vacation, Top Scale, Higher Company 401k Contributions with Big Mouth you'd better think again. They will do it in a heart beat. The biggest target is on your back.............they can hire 2 new boys to take your place for less $$$, less benefits. XPO is all about the numbers of which you are a number that is costing them greatly. Better use your brain "Veteran Employee" you have NO protection

There's only one problem with you comment: We can't get driver to fill the openings we have so were are they going to get 2 to replace the one veteran employee you are talking about. Like I said earlier if the union is soooo great why can't they get driver either

 

[Fly-by-night]

loading city vans requires everyone to be on the same page, FOS, Dock Workers, and Drivers
1) the tare weight of a single axle tractor and 48' van is approximately 10,000 on the steers, 10,000 on the drives, and 10,000 on the trailer tandems. So most of our capacity is in the last third of the trailer. Knowing the tare weight helps us understand how much and where you can load, 500 - 600 on the steers, 8,000 to 10,000 on the drives, and 24,000 on the trailer tandems (if I roll onto the scales and my steers are heavier than 10,600 I know I'm in trouble with my drives)

You 10,600 can change with the position of the kingpin. The farther the kingpin is back from the nose of the trailer the more weight is put on the steers just like having a sliding fifth wheel.

2) the FOS must route not only by mapping but also by weight capacities when a route is heavy (approaching 20,000). If the FOS told me my stops are out of sequence due to weight issues I thank him for making the effort to keep me legal

We load our 48' vans to a max cargo weight of 34,000lbs. Putting 20,000lbs on a 48" van is nothing I would not even think about how it was loaded unless the freight is piled in the front quarter of the trailer.

3) look at the trailer tandems as a teeter-totter or balance point. Any weight you can get on or behind the tandems removes weight from the nose

Wow I would hate to pull that trailer. Loading heavy weight behind the trailer tandems can do really bad thing in bad weather, other than riding like , like have the trailer wanting to pass you when you go down hill. You know a jack knife. I would love to talk to who ever told you about the teeter-totter or balance point thing because the center point between the kingpin and trailer tandems is the actual weight dividing point. I all my years of hauling construction equipment on lowboy trailers if I need to move weight off the tractor tandems a would move the machine more towards the rear and vise versa to move weight off the trailer axles. I could bore you with the whole bridge weight formulas and the use of jeeps, and stingers.

4) to load 20,000 lbs, load the first third of the trailer light, try to load most of the weight in the center and rear third, getting something heavy behind the trailer tandems

See comment above

5) starting at the rear of the interior of a 48' van use a tape measure and marker to measure and identify feet remaining (4 feet, 8 feet, 12 feet, etc.) writing this info on the wall. Mine's on the right wall about 5 feet up. This info can help loaders stretch the weight out without running out of room... eight heavy skids @ 16,000 need 16 feet. Focus on getting everything else loaded near or ahead of the 20 ' (20 feet remaining) mark on the wall

Ok the max weight XPO says you can put on a 48' trailer with a single axle truck is 34,000lbs and half of that is 17,000. So you can load 17,000 in the first 24' and 17,000 in the last 24' the only thing remaining is were to slide the trailer tandems too. As for were to put you 8 skids that depends on the gross cargo weight of your load and how much freight you have to put on the trailer. Your 16 feet is only 4 skids spaces and I would put them near the center of the trailer, but depending on the amount of freight I have to load I might load them in the front. 3 single then, side by side then a single then the last two side by side that's 24' as an example. A lot of factors come to play, the weight of each skid, and the size of each skids plays a big role on how to load a trailer.

 

[Fly-by-night]

Since the actual weight dividing point is halfway between wherever the tandems are and the fifth wheel, you've got a lot of room to play with if you're thinking about it as you load a van. People just don't think about it.

Of course, sliding the tandems around can bring up tailswing / clearance issues, so we have to pay attention.

There is a max percentage of trailer you can have past the rear tandems. I had a DOT measure a 53' trailer years ago because I had the trailer tandems slide all the way up. He told me but I do not remember.

 

[Fly-by-night]

Let's not let the pro/anti Union debate pollute this thread too, ok?

but he started it

 

[Merdock]

You 10,600 can change with the position of the kingpin. The farther the kingpin is back from the nose of the trailer the more weight is put on the steers just like having a sliding fifth wheel.


We load our 48' vans to a max cargo weight of 34,000lbs. Putting 20,000lbs on a 48" van is nothing I would not even think about how it was loaded unless the freight is piled in the front quarter of the trailer.


Wow I would hate to pull that trailer. Loading heavy weight behind the trailer tandems can do really bad thing in bad weather, other than riding like , like have the trailer wanting to pass you when you go down hill. You know a jack knife. I would love to talk to who ever told you about the teeter-totter or balance point thing because the center point between the kingpin and trailer tandems is the actual weight dividing point. I all my years of hauling construction equipment on lowboy trailers if I need to move weight off the tractor tandems a would move the machine more towards the rear and vise versa to move weight off the trailer axles. I could bore you with the whole bridge weight formulas and the use of jeeps, and stingers.


See comment above


Ok the max weight XPO says you can put on a 48' trailer with a single axle truck is 34,000lbs and half of that is 17,000. So you can load 17,000 in the first 24' and 17,000 in the last 24' the only thing remaining is were to slide the trailer tandems too. As for were to put you 8 skids that depends on the gross cargo weight of your load and how much freight you have to put on the trailer. Your 16 feet is only 4 skids spaces and I would put them near the center of the trailer, but depending on the amount of freight I have to load I might load them in the front. 3 single then, side by side then a single then the last two side by side that's 24' as an example. A lot of factors come to play, the weight of each skid, and the size of each skids plays a big role on how to load a trailer.

You 10,600 can change with the position of the kingpin. The farther the kingpin is back from the nose of the trailer the more weight is put on the steers just like having a sliding fifth wheel.


We load our 48' vans to a max cargo weight of 34,000lbs. Putting 20,000lbs on a 48" van is nothing I would not even think about how it was loaded unless the freight is piled in the front quarter of the trailer.


Wow I would hate to pull that trailer. Loading heavy weight behind the trailer tandems can do really bad thing in bad weather, other than riding like , like have the trailer wanting to pass you when you go down hill. You know a jack knife. I would love to talk to who ever told you about the teeter-totter or balance point thing because the center point between the kingpin and trailer tandems is the actual weight dividing point. I all my years of hauling construction equipment on lowboy trailers if I need to move weight off the tractor tandems a would move the machine more towards the rear and vise versa to move weight off the trailer axles. I could bore you with the whole bridge weight formulas and the use of jeeps, and stingers.


See comment above


Ok the max weight XPO says you can put on a 48' trailer with a single axle truck is 34,000lbs and half of that is 17,000. So you can load 17,000 in the first 24' and 17,000 in the last 24' the only thing remaining is were to slide the trailer tandems too. As for were to put you 8 skids that depends on the gross cargo weight of your load and how much freight you have to put on the trailer. Your 16 feet is only 4 skids spaces and I would put them near the center of the trailer, but depending on the amount of freight I have to load I might load them in the front. 3 single then, side by side then a single then the last two side by side that's 24' as an example. A lot of factors come to play, the weight of each skid, and the size of each skids plays a big role on how to load a trailer.

All accurate comments regarding general loading but within our operation a few exceptions must be considered
1: no sliding fifth-wheels
2) no moveable kingpins?
3) single drive axle, 17,000 in the first half and 17,000 in the second half won't work in our world
4) we're talking city P&D, not machinery or line-haul, routing stops usually trumps loading by weights and size of shipments
5) my comments were addressing how to get all involved, dispatch, loaders, and drivers on the same page

 

[Fly-by-night]

All accurate comments regarding general loading but within our operation a few exceptions must be considered
1: no sliding fifth-wheels
2) no moveable kingpins?

I never said anything about sliding fifth wheels or moveable kingpins. What I said "The farther the kingpin is back from the nose of the trailer the more weight is put on the steers just like having a sliding fifth wheel." Go out in your yard and take you tape measure and measure how far back the kingpin is on pups and vans. On most f the newer company owned trailers, vans and pups, they are about the same distance. Now go measure rental trailer or and old con-way truckload trailer or even a sub-service trailer and that's what I talking about. We have old trailer and rentals with kingpins farther back on the trailer.
Yes there are truck that we have with sliding fifth wheels there on the twin screws.

3) single drive axle, 17,000 in the first half and 17,000 in the second half won't work in our world

So you are saying then that 12,000 in the first half and 12,000 in the second half won't work in a pup either?
It works, 17K in the front and 17K in the back, I done it more than once

4) we're talking city P&D, not machinery or line-haul, routing stops usually trumps loading by weights and size of shipments

I used a lowboy trailer on how to move weight on a fixed axle trailer just like you would need to do on a pup. With a van that has sliding tandems the center point on the weight can be changed by moving forward or back. I don't know about you barn but at mine weight and shipment size does trump routing stops when you are getting close to the max or it will be to much weight in any part of the trailer.

5) my comments were addressing how to get all involved, dispatch, loaders, and drivers on the same page

The problem now is all the new FOS never drove a truck or even loaded one most are only good at looking at the numbers. XPO could get rid of all the FOS's and freight would still move, but we all know what happens when you have no drivers.
Drivers and loaders should know what they are doing and if they have a question on how to load something always ask a driver first, then a dockworker, and lastly the FOS.
I have always loaded trailer like I was the one pulling it down the road, P&D or line haul

 

[Serene Gene]

What I said "The farther the kingpin is back from the nose of the trailer the more weight is put on the steers just like having a sliding fifth wheel." ...We have old trailer and rentals with kingpins farther back on the trailer.

Right, but we're talking about inches- it's not going to make enough of a difference to matter. I mean, unless you like arguing on the internet.

So you are saying then that 12,000 in the first half and 12,000 in the second half won't work in a pup either? It works, 17K in the front and 17K in the back, I done it more than once

Pups and vans are apples and oranges when it comes to weight distribution. I don't think you can distill it down to, "Just load it 50/50, because it works in a pup"

The problem now is all the new FOS never drove a truck or even loaded one most are only good at looking at the numbers.

Having a CDL or dock experience doesn't make someone a competent manager- being a good leader does. The fact that they are paid to "make numbers" doesn't mean anything either, IMO.

XPO could get rid of all the FOS's and freight would still move, but we all know what happens when you have no drivers.

HAHAHA- no, it wouldn't. Two drivers couldn't agree on a coffee brand. Tell me something- if it's that obvious that we don't need them, why do we still have them? Why does any LTL company have low-level management telling us know-it-alls how to do our jobs?