Opening trailer doors

I know we are talking about loads on trl's but get this ,i opened doors on my trl,locked them inplace and started back in the dock,before i got to the front of trl on the side of me the **** door fell off on the ground,i heard it hit the groung so i got out and looked,i couldn't believe it,the guy standong on the the dock looked puzzeled too,i asked him if i hit anything he said no,this was a shuttle load from another driver that was sealed ,so neither him or i seen them doors open,they had to be broken at the shipper,be careful opening doors,they are heavy and will mess you up if hit with it him and i had a time getting that door back in the trl so i could take it and get it fixed seeya and have fun driving.

 

I'v had two loads ####. One was beer and I hit the brakes to avoid hitting someone. The bulkhead collapesed and the whole load leand and slid forward about 4 feet. Of course the way I found out is that when I hit the next scale I was like 50k on my drives. Beer sucks.

The other was not a whole load but two pallets on the rear of my trailer. It was gallon buckets of honey stacked 4 high on a pallet and shrink wraped.A stupid way to ship it. That was the only load I ever had with damages.

 

Trailer doors have break away hinges. If you hit them even a little, or rub them too hard on the side of the dock thy will fall right off.

I delivered to a dock at disney world in CA and the docks were so narrow my dad had to crawl under the trailer as I was backing in and hold the doors tight against the sides of the trailer to clear the doors of he trailers right next to us. I thought for sure I would drop a door on that one

 

This past summer I was working as a yard dog at the Houston warehouse for the company I worked for prior to this whole O/O thing. That warehouse had Michelin tires in it. My job was to back containers and trailers into the doors so they could be unloaded. I learned very quickly to open doors slowly and be ready to jump out of the way from falling tires.

 

A load shift is alway something that should be on your mind when you are opening the trailer doors. Inattention can be painful, as your friend found out. I used to haul mixed freight out of a distribution center to area grocery stores. The guys that stacked the pallets in the warehouse didn't seem to get the idea that if you stack 1/2 a pallet of canned product on top of, oh, boxes of paper towels for instance that by the time the truck gets to the store there is going to be a mess to deal with. I had to restack a large number of collapsed pallets because of poor load distribution (and the fact that no one seamed to care). There were times when I would hook to a preloaded trailer and open the doors to find pallets had collapsed in the time it took the yard dog to pull the trailer away from the door and drop it in the yard.

I now haul truckload freight and it's not such a big deal, but I find that I still have that apprehension built in every time I open a door. I always stand to the left (right door opens first) and prepare for a fallout. For the most part, you can feel the tension on the door latches as you start to release them.

Here's a pic to give you an idea of what can happen. The boxes on the bottom of the pallet collapsed and the rest of the pallet went over. This was a preloaded and sealed trailer and I did not have the option of using load locks or straps.




Each of the boxes weighed about 50lbs.

 

Look around the yard. You may have to walk back to the street. There he is. "Hey Pedro! Come here uno memento. Here's five dollar. Open the door. Gracias."

2xR, believing in sharing the fun.

 

Keep the door between you and the trailer at all times. Unless it's super windy. Then open it up and get the heck outta the way.

And prepare for a couple smashed fingers. Banging your digits on the surface of the door trying to work a stubborn door lever HURTS LIKE HELL!

 

Pre-Loaded trailers with a Customs seal would cost you a bit more than your job. Yeh, it's an ugly job. But, the Fed requires that you NOT look in the load after it's been sealed until it arrives at the customer.

It's not always about "how you drive" the load. If it's loaded front to back, top to bottom. With NO space in either direction. Freight WILL fall.

To the original poster: Always strap or load lock as best you can. Otherwise, Stay behind the left door as you swing/push the right open, then step to the right and allow the left to swing out as you look overhead. Chances are, freight from the right will not fall when you open the left door.

Just stay OUT OF THE WAY of falling freight. If it falls, let it. DO NOT try to catch/stop it. You never know the weight of a box. It could be 3 pounds or 300 pounds.

 

i picked up a load of tires at the michelin plant in dothan al that they had to use a forklift to get the doors shut.fortunatly it was a drop and hook at the other end so it was sombody else's problem.but i also picked up a swap load of tires in dallas that were stacked 8 feet short of the end of the trl.and two stacks had fallen against the left hand door fortunatly.when i told the guy in receiving he said to pull forward and open the door and let them fall on the ground and pick them up and hand them up to the dock?it was like "NO" they wer'nt bike tires