More fun in this biz than a barrel of monkees

tknight · Nov 30, 2011

The fun of being an o/o never seems to end, hows this one, I just lost a good drive 800 bucks, why, because I have a liftgate on my truck! Now that's a new one for me. I got 50.00 for making the trip there, they refused to load me. Fotunatly I only had a 20 mile drive to the pick-up point. Is this comon?

Bruno · Nov 30, 2011

Some customers will not load trucks that have lift-gates because they can lock the truck into the dock.

Moot · Nov 30, 2011

Do you carry a palletjack? Maybe asking to speak to a manger about loading your truck yourself you could have kept the load. Did they give you a reason for not loading a truck with a liftgate?

usafk9 · Nov 30, 2011

Some don't have ICC bumpers underneath, allowing the dock locks to work, Moot. My guess is that's why.

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x06col · Dec 1, 2011

On my liftgate trucks I always installed a removable ICC bar for the shippers that were anal about not wanting to load a truck they could not lock onto,or would not allow me to load with a pallet jack. Did very little good tho when I was a contractor......the dispatchers usually didn't read the truck specs, and all they saw was liftgate, so i'm certain I was passed over for a number of loads. Always worked well later tho.

Moot · Dec 1, 2011

usafk9 said:
Some don't have ICC bumpers underneath, allowing the dock locks to work, Moot. My guess is that's why.

I realize that. My suggestion was for the OP to ask permission to load his truck himself with a pallet jack if the freight was pallet jack friendly. Personally if I owned a straight truck, when ever possible, I would load and unload with my very own pallet jack. Also before automatic dock locks there was the lowly wheelchock.

x06col · Dec 1, 2011

In all fairness ther Moot, you really don't expect many of the drivers to go thru the aggrivation of mess'in with a pallet jack or wheel chocks. Do you???

Seems you'd be a "mean old" fleet owner.

tknight · Dec 1, 2011

I do carry a pallet jack, and have no problems doing it myself, however these were new docks and they have a guard at the end of the leveler, which will not work if the truck isn't locked to the dock, no one has the code to bypass it, at least no one willing to walk the extra 50' to do it. I'll be now looking into a icc bar, my own concoction, and will post a pic when I figure out the bet way to do it, I'm handy and creative so I'll get to work on it, come springtime after the cold has passed us over.

tk

usafk9 · Dec 1, 2011

Sorry, Moot. I assumed.

Mine's not a factory job, tk. Let me know if you want photos for an idea or two. The bumper's a bit of a pain when removing for liftgate use, but the gate is WELL worth having.

FWIW, I have a pallet jack and always load my own....except when my wide forks don't fit. Think I may invest in one of those jacks with adjustable-width forks. I love getting into spats with some of those union folks that think their bargaining unit agreements give them carte Blanche to drive their forklift into the back of my truck.

tknight · Dec 1, 2011

I', always looking for ideas, lets share them with others.

tk

Jefferson3000 · Dec 2, 2011

tknight said:
I do carry a pallet jack, and have no problems doing it myself, however these were new docks and they have a guard at the end of the leveler, which will not work if the truck isn't locked to the dock, no one has the code to bypass it, at least no one willing to walk the extra 50' to do it. I'll be now looking into a icc bar, my own concoction, and will post a pic when I figure out the bet way to do it, I'm handy and creative so I'll get to work on it, come springtime after the cold has passed us over.

tk

A lot of trailer repair shops could do the fabrication for you, especially if they already do liftgate work. They just have to weld a crossbeam across the struts on either side.

greg334 · Dec 2, 2011

I wouldn't do a thing to add an additional ICC or move it back.

The dock people can deal with not having the truck locked to it and you can put a chock on the wheel, lower your dollies and show them the truck isn't going to move.

You have a chance of screwing up the lift gate by having them lock it to the dock, the lift gate is not part of the truck and can't handle the pressures that may be put in it if the truck moves. The damage to the pump and the release solenoid can happen not to mention blowing a hose or bending the liftgate.

Out of all the loads I have done, I have had only two complaints - one place complain about not having a "valid ICC bumper" (which I do) and still loaded me when I showed them my truck won't move. Another (Caterpillar) who I told them not to lock my truck to their dock for any reason who also told me they would not load me but I told them they will be charged for the use of the truck regardless and they loaded me anyways. Cat had a problem that when they locked any truck to the dock, it may be there for a long time because the mechanism would jam up and the dock service people would have to be called from 100 miles away.

What's the purpose for the dock lock anyway?

Anyone?

Isn't because the union drivers thought they were done being loaded and drove off with a forklift on the truck?

BigCat · Dec 3, 2011

Greg many place have tried to refuse loads we have done because their higher ups wouldn't allow them to load/unload without being locked in. We had to hand load unload at these.

greg334 · Dec 3, 2011

I've been to several UPS places, never had an issue. Been to GM and Ford, not a problem. I tell them right up front, can't lock my truck to the dock and they look at me and say 'ok'.

I think it should be on the company not the driver/owner. If they won't load you, then the company still needs to compensate you for that truck, meaning full pay that was agreed to.

layoutshooter · Dec 3, 2011

We had a "problem" at the Chrysler plant in Perrysburg, OH. The "doc man" first tried to engage his lock. LOUD noises.

Then he tried to lie to me. He told me he could not lower the dock plate onto my truck with the lock on override, except that the lock was at that time, overridden, and it was on my truck. He continued to say that could not be done.

They then sent me to another door, no dock. They then had a verbal fight between about 6 of them. Union and management. Finally the union steward told the first guy to get out of the way so someone else could unload my truck. The lock was on override, the dock plate worked perfect.

tknight · Dec 5, 2011

Solved the problem, I finally came up with a simple design for the icc bumper add-on to my maxon lift-gate. I will be using a 3.5 x 3.5 square tube with a .250 wall thickness, mounted between the left and right step on each side of the truck, it's right at the back, and just at the right height, the tube is very heavy duty, and weighs in at 81 lbs, it will be fastened in place using grade 8 hardware bolted to the vertical support of the liftgate steps, I'll follow up with a picture when I get it completed. I plan on coating the bolts with anti-seize, so it will come on and off fairly easy.

tk

jelliott · Dec 5, 2011

A number of UAW plants will not unload or load a truck that they can not dock lock on too. We have had times where we have had to send the unit to a cross dock and redeliver.

We have made similar modifications in our shop free of charge for our guys. Make sure you keep it greased up a bit as they do tend to not want to come off if they have been on there for a while. We have had really good luck with them. Also make sure you add the reflective tape to it as some states require it.