Tough guy trucking [View All]

[Droopy]

Don't let the thread title fool you. This kind of trucking will is also referred to as "tough chick trucking" although not very many women venture into this style of trucking.

I haul piggy back trucks. I don't know if you've seen them or not. There will be one drive unit with 2 or 3 trucks hooked piggy back style to the rear. The hard part is not hauling them. The real job comes with undecking them. It will make a man or a woman out of you if you survive training. One of my trainers likened learning the job to be like boot camp. He should know since he is a Vietnam veteran.

The undecking process begins with a hoist or two fork lifts or a wrecker. The most common way is the hoist. You will prep the trucks before getting under the hoist. That involves unhooking electrical wires and a light bar that runs across the rear of the the truck. Next comes the air hoses that are run off of the lead truck. They are used to supply air to the rear trucks to make their brakes active. Most of the time you have brakes on the trail trucks, but sometimes you don't. After that you put in drive shafts or axles on the trail trucks. Then you get under the hoist.

You undeck with two straps that are rated at 17,000 pounds a piece. You will either hook them to a tow hook located on the front bumpers of the trail hooks or if hooks are absent you will loop the straps around the front axles of the trail trucks and out through a hole in their bumpers. Then you are ready to go.

If you are lucky you will have an electric hoist. If not you will have to hand crank the hoist using a chain. Once you have relieved the tow saddle from pressure you undo the only thing holding the truck up in the air when you are traveling down the road. Two J-bolts hook to the front axle. That requires a knock-off wrench and a 3 pound hammer. Once you have the bolts loosened you drive the rest of the rig out from under the unit being undecked. That rig hangs in the air until you lower the hoist to get it on the ground. That's the scariest part for me. Under no circumstances are you to stand underneath the truck when it is suspended by the hoist. Once the truck is on the ground you uncage the brakes, move it out of the way and move on to the next truck.

The entire undecking process will take 3 hours if you are good. It will make a man or a woman out of you in no time.