The DU Lounge

Tobin S.

(10,418 posts) Wed May 25, 2016, 12:38 AM May 2016

I've been driving one of these things around.

I move trailers around a yard with it for my employer. Believe it or not it's street legal...in the city anyway. I wouldn't want to take it out on the highway. Top speed is probably about 40 MPH and it would take you about 3 minutes to get there under a heavy load. But it makes moving a lot of trailers around a lot easier. You just back under the trailer, hook up the air supply line, and jack up the fifth wheel with a control inside the cab. It raises the trailer about a foot off the ground without having to crank the landing gear.

My busiest night so far was moving 45 trailers. I've got a radio (with a cassette player) and I'll have heat in the winter. No a/c, though. I'll be splitting time between that job and working inside loading and unloading trucks. I'm what's called swing relief. I fill in for people who want time off. I have to be available to work any shift. I have to know two jobs so they pay me a little extra for that. I have to do it for a year and then I'll be eligible to bid on other job openings I'm qualified for in the company. I like working in the yard better than I do working inside. I may hold on to the swing relief position after I get my time in until a yard job comes open. Once you switch positions in the company you have to work the new job for at least a year. There is a grace period of a month where you can go back to your old position, but after that you have to stay in the new one.

I think all new truck drivers should spend a couple of months in one of those yard trucks. Backing up well is one of the hardest things to learn how to do as a new trucker. All you do all day is back up to docks and parking slots with one of those yard trucks. I heard a statistic one time that said that a majority of heavy truck accidents happen while backing. That yard truck will have you backing up like a pro in no time.

14 replies

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I've been driving one of these things around. (Original Post) Tobin S. May 2016 OP

I don't even like backing my company truck up and it's only an Expedition. Hassin Bin Sober May 2016 #1

I've been wondering how things are going for you, my dear Tobin... CaliforniaPeggy May 2016 #2

On the other hand.... A HERETIC I AM May 2016 #3

Yeah, there aren't many pics of them with two drive axles. Tobin S. May 2016 #6

Is it open behind the seat? Thor_MN May 2016 #4

Yeah, there is a sliding door behind the driver. Tobin S. May 2016 #7

I grew up on a small farm and learned to back up with both a baler and a wagon hitched up ... Scuba May 2016 #5

Yard Dog Hayduke Bomgarte May 2016 #8

Most of them are single screw. Tobin S. May 2016 #9

You can't go wrong with food. Everybody has to eat. Hayduke Bomgarte May 2016 #10

They don't call 'em that for nothing. CanSocDem May 2016 #11

Those things are all over the place here in Commerce, CA. Iggo May 2016 #12

Interesting, thanks for posting this Tobin n/t hibbing May 2016 #13

Cool! Thank you for the update. oldandhappy May 2016 #14

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,330 posts)

1. I don't even like backing my company truck up and it's only an Expedition.

Reply to Tobin S. (Original post)

Wed May 25, 2016, 01:17 AM

May 2016

I can do it no problem. I have a camera and sensors. It's just my personal policy to avoid backing if possible.

Kids, pets, pedestrians and cars sometimes can go unseen.

Obviously in your case you have to do it and mitigate risks.

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,651 posts)

2. I've been wondering how things are going for you, my dear Tobin...

Reply to Tobin S. (Original post)

Wed May 25, 2016, 01:42 AM

May 2016

And now I know.

Thanks!

Sounds like you're enjoying what you're doing, for the most part. I'm glad. I hope you'll have many happy years there.

A HERETIC I AM

(24,371 posts)

3. On the other hand....

Reply to Tobin S. (Original post)

Wed May 25, 2016, 03:17 AM

May 2016

Cutting your teeth driving locally in a city, bumping docks 20 to 40 times a day, grabbing trailers from piggyback yards and containers right from dockside does the same thing.

3 years in the city of Miami before I ever drove a truck across state lines.

Btw, the basic design of that mule hasn't changed in 40 years. The only thing unusual about the one you pictured is its second axle.

The vast majority of them are single axle

Tobin S.

(10,418 posts)

6. Yeah, there aren't many pics of them with two drive axles.

Reply to A HERETIC I AM (Reply #3)

Wed May 25, 2016, 10:48 AM

May 2016

But we have two of them where I work and they both have two drive axles.

Thor_MN

(11,843 posts)

4. Is it open behind the seat?

Reply to Tobin S. (Original post)

Wed May 25, 2016, 07:35 AM

May 2016

Or is that a really big rear window? I'd image that fish tank would get hot in the summer, no AC would do me in. But then I drive a computer for a logistics company, not a truck.

Tobin S.

(10,418 posts)

7. Yeah, there is a sliding door behind the driver.

Reply to Thor_MN (Reply #4)

Wed May 25, 2016, 10:49 AM

May 2016

It makes it a lot easier to get in and out of the truck.

Scuba

(53,475 posts)

5. I grew up on a small farm and learned to back up with both a baler and a wagon hitched up ...

Reply to Tobin S. (Original post)

Wed May 25, 2016, 08:30 AM

May 2016

Kinda like this ....

Great skill to have. Never embarassed myself at the boat launch.

Hayduke Bomgarte

(1,965 posts)

8. Yard Dog

Reply to Tobin S. (Original post)

Wed May 25, 2016, 12:08 PM

May 2016

I applied for then turned down a yard dog job at Kraft-Humko many years ago, which I sort of regret now, and got into a dump truck instead. I think the Kraft ones were all single screws.

Tobin S.

(10,418 posts)

9. Most of them are single screw.

Reply to Hayduke Bomgarte (Reply #8)

Wed May 25, 2016, 12:18 PM

May 2016

We have the two drive axle deals where I work. I think they did that because most of our stuff is pretty heavy. It may even be illegally so out on the road, but we don't take that stuff off the property. It goes from the production plant to a separate building for storage where it is unloaded and stored until it is loaded on outbound trailers.

I work at a food processing company. You can't go wrong with food. Everybody has to eat. Business stays pretty steady. There isn't much in the way of seasonal fluctuations from what I've heard.

Hayduke Bomgarte

(1,965 posts)

10. You can't go wrong with food. Everybody has to eat.

Reply to Tobin S. (Reply #9)

Wed May 25, 2016, 12:26 PM

May 2016

Yeah... I went OTR for a couple years. They stressed what you say, in that it's more steady freight than other stuff, and strongly advised reefer hauling. In my infinite and infallible wisdom, I went straight into a flatbed...

CanSocDem

(3,286 posts)

11. They don't call 'em that for nothing.

Reply to Hayduke Bomgarte (Reply #8)

Wed May 25, 2016, 12:26 PM

May 2016

The one pictured in the OP is a bit misleading. In the scrappy companies that Tobin has managed to avoid, the "Yard Dog" is usually an 'out of service' highway truck with only 2 necessary requirements: It usually starts and has a working 5th wheel.

.