why landing gears ?

[moose]

Same trucks ,hundreds of thousands of them working locally .
doing ten times more PU/Del.
almost none have landing gears .
yet all expediters straight trucks have them .

why ?

 

[Dynamite 1]

alot of the p&d trucks have spring suspensions not air ride as to squash and pop the air bags. but they all would have if smart. that alot of rough wear and tear on a suspension. also some places require landing gear or they wont drive on the truck.

 

[bluejaybee]

Same trucks ,hundreds of thousands of them working locally .
doing ten times more PU/Del.
almost none have landing gears .
yet all expediters straight trucks have them .

why ?

Understand now, that I am a just lowly straight truck driver, but I have been told that a single axle, air ride needs them to protect the air bags when forklift enters truck. Plus, with air ride, your truck will drop below dock level if air bags are dumped. I have noticed most of your local trucks have springs and not air ride. But then, what do I know?

 

[greg334]

SAFETY
​

Many 'expediter' trucks allow forklifts on them, where P&Ds don't.

The forklift, some small ones weighing up to 8000lbs can cause the truck to shift laterally and in some cases actually cause the truck to move forward if the driver is an idiot and races onto the truck. Chocking the wheels doesn't stop the truck from moving and can cause some damage to the truck and if the driver is a real idiot, the dock or cargo.

It is all about Physics.

The air bag issue is a secondary issue, the air bags are usually rated for 40 to 50% more than the maximum load that the truck will ever see, in some cases 100% more - all depending on the truck configuration.

 

[Deville]

I rarely use the landing gear. When I have it's been because the load on my truck was so heavy & so big that they had to use a 12,000 pound fork lift with super forks to get it off & the landing gear prevented the trucks front wheel from lifting off the ground.

I always dump my airbags, i've enver had a prolbem with being too low on the dock plate....but my truck is unusually high to begin with for a straight truck.

 

[geo]

when i had my straight trucks if i didn't put landing gear down i would not let a forklift on my truck,
as it was not safe for forlift on truck
i have seen where forklift with brakes on truck going on truck moved truck where it jump over chock and forklift landed on ground, forklift driver was lucky and was not killed