air ride

[steeltown]

Newbie here with a question on air ride suspensions. Getting conflicting advice when it comes to offloading. Heard you should always put your legs? down so the weight of a forklift won't blow the air bags and have heard also that the suspension will adjust as the forklift enters and exits truck bed with no problems. Any advice? Thanks in advance, lots of info on this website.
ps. if it matters it's a class B straight truck.
steeltown

 

[raceman]

Well the one thing I will tell you. That is if you have a fork truck going in that truck, you better have the landing gear down. Have you ever seen a truck standup? Better yet. Have you ever looked at the sky through your windshield? Anytime other than when on a launching pad. Well depending on your truck design and weight of fork, it can happen. There are times to dump your bags and times not worry about it. Many docks line up much better on empty bags. Many locks will not catch the ICC bar with the bags up. Saving yor bags from the weight of goods and fork is sometimes required. Lot of things go into it. Just be sure that no matter what you do with your bags, keep your legs on the ground. I am talking about the truck.

raceman

 

[LDB]

I have lowered the dolly legs every time except once when I was in a dock that the truck area sloped way down to meet. There was water standing almost a foot deep back by the legs. I didn't swim back and put them down. I always crank the legs down until I hear air and then give another turn after that. It's always very solid that way.

I never thought about dumping the air before docking. So far no one has told me why/when you'd dump the air. I've noticed I am always about 2 or 3 inches higher than the dock. Maybe I'll give that a try.

I also put a bar across the e-track just inside the doors to try to keep them out until I have the legs set and am ready. I've only had one time they took it down and started before I was ready. I'm going to make a sign on the computer next time I'm home saying "wait for driver" and tape it to that bar.

Leo
truck 767

Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[RichM]

Electric battery powered forklift trucks weigh about 12,000 pounds with nothing on the end.Always drop your legs or plan on buying new airbags.

 

[steeltown]

Thanks for the info, I'll keep the legs down before any forklift enters the truck and keeping a bar in the back so they can't get in too soon is a good idea. Thanks again, nothing like the advice from the pros.
Bob

 

[mcbride]

> Well the one thing I will tell you. That is if you have a
>fork truck going in that truck, you better have the landing
>gear down. Have you ever seen a truck standup? Better yet.
>Have you ever looked at the sky through your windshield?
>Anytime other than when on a launching pad. Well depending
>on your truck design and weight of fork, it can happen.
>There are times to dump your bags and times not worry about
>it. Many docks line up much better on empty bags. Many locks
>will not catch the ICC bar with the bags up. Saving yor bags
>from the weight of goods and fork is sometimes required. Lot
>of things go into it. Just be sure that no matter what you
>do with your bags, keep your legs on the ground. I am
>talking about the truck.
>
>raceman

Raceman-
This is one of the most accurate AND funniest posts I have ever read!

mcbride-
--What goes around comes around--

 

[Doggie Daddy]

as LDB stated, there will be times that unless you have a set of waders onboard you will not be able to crank your dolly legs down. the one time that i came up against this problem i did the following: crank your legs down till approximatly 4-5" off the ground before backing into the water(do this very slowly, so that the legs dont contact anything solid while backing) once you are up against the dock let the air out of your suspension and allow the truck to settle onto the dolly legs. just dont forget to refill the suspension befor you try to pull away.DD.


P.S. in the wintertime these downhill docks that are flooded in warm weather will have ice in them. be sure to carry some salt, sand, kitty litter or whatever if you expect to get out.(been there done that.)

 

[jaminjim]

I would be very carefull about giving it one more crank, If you get to much weight on it after you did that you could be looking at being unable to crank it back up.

I like the idea of cranking it down then half crank up.

Jim