milk tanker

Pulled chemicals for Matlack 10 yrs ago in a tank with baffles... then worked for Indian River, hauling mostly milk in smooth bore tanks. Takes some getting used to - if you shift smoothly, you can time the surge to hit right as you're going into the next higher gear.

Don't brake hard, and definitely don't try to brake and turn abruptly. I got on a country road with no traffic, got into the brakes, then the throttle, just to see what it felt like - so I knew what to expect on the road. Much better than learing by surprise.

 

It's been a while since i hauled dairy like back in the mid 90's. Hauling milk is not that bad.If you are doing transport it's not bad as you will have something like 4-6 inches or so from the top of the tank when full to gross weight so the surge is not bad at all. You will feel it but not bad.If you haul loads like whey or what they call candy mix to where you can only fill the tank to half full, hang on to your shorts, now you will learn what the term < timed shifting > is all about. The surge will be something else, like when the surge goes to the rear of the trl. you will be amazed as to why the 5th wheel did not get torn of the tractor. those kind of loads are a wild ride. Cream is nothing at all to haul. You can fill the tank to the top and not be over weight, no surge. just remember the heavier the per gal. weight, the less you can fill the tank and more the surge. If you do farm pick up,yes you will have a good surge as you stop from farm to farm and slowly fill the tank. Everything that ronin said is true. with winter driving i cannot stress the safety factor with stopping on a slippery road and the surge comes forward and pushes you down the road.

 

I have recent startted with indian river and the past week and a half I've done. Whey and oh man is it rough I'm new to the tanker world I'm getting ready to haul my 1st load of skim milk so we will see how it goes

 

It is great...I started driving tankers as my first job, and really like it....it makes you be a better driver. You learn to be real smooth on the throttle and the upshifts and the brakes and the down shifts.

Like the other posters say, go way easy on the throttle and easy on the brakes. Using your jake brake to slow you down is perfect as it is a nice smooth brake and will not induce a surge that you can feel. Coming off the interstate, I will use the jake brake almost a mile before my exit, to get me down to 45 - 50 mph for the exit, depending on the terrain. Then I will downshift and jake it and then maybe hit one more gear and jake it again...

I find the surge to be the worst when starting out and around 5, 6, and 7 th gear as the truck has a lot of power in those gears and you will start a good surge in those gears. But really, going through the gears is not too bad, as you may have one or two shifts where the surge hits kinda hard....but you will figure it out as you get practice on it. And once the surge hits you hard, then it pretty much goes away when upshifting, and as you get in the higher gears there is less forward thrust as you shift gears.

I drive an 18 speed, so there are a lot of shifts and with the splitter I sometimes use the clutch to make the shift even more smooth.......smooth is good.

The other thing I like about tankers is the easy way they are filled and emptied...pumped on and pumped off. You will have a wash and rinse cycle after you are pumped off. Depending on the plant, they may even hook up the hoses for you.....

A lot of loads I was not full, in fact I would be half full, and the surge is a lot worse then. I think I had only 1 full load where I did not feel any surge, and it was right up to the top. A lot of my loads were 25,000 to 35,000 pounds, and I recall one of my bigger loads being at 43,000 pounds, plenty of surge.

What areas will you be driving?
Are you going to cheese plants?

 

I would rather haul milk than anything else. I hauled as a lease driver, can't find a company driver slot. It does make you a better driver, at least it did me.

 

i cut my teeth doing farm pickup late 80's early 90's...dont brake in the turns ..brake before then pull through the turns....be carefull in s-turns....keep your foot on the brakes at a red light...be cautious and use your head,dont get in a hurry...it will be the best experience you will ever have ...you can use the liquid to your advantage when starting and shifting you just gotta keep in your mind where the liquid is at all times...around here milk doesnt pay well ...If i ever hit the lottery I would prob. buy a milktruck..I loved everything about farm pickup except chaining up on a township road at midnight to get into the driveway of a grade B farm & the little paychecks..besides that I absolutely loved it....good luck, be careful you wont have any problems if you take your time for a while...

 

I guess I can't just get it rgiht then ithe surge knocks me around and messes me all up when I shift the milk load I got now is 44k the surge is bad but it don't hit as hard as the whey did last week

 

its going to take time before you get surge timing right , it took me a couple of years , average for a newbie is about a year and a half , if your driving a 10 speed its better to clutch each gear the spread is hard to time with the motion , sometimes you can time it right and skip gears , I hauled one load of milk and it wasn't no problem as its light compaired to the chemicals I hauled for years ( acids and alkalis) and it was a tight fill . just drive easy and stretch out the shifts .