44ooo lbs of broccoli

[Tow411]

Topic Originally created by 75tator in December of 2008:

 

 

AZtowKING said:

My guess is they prelifted the tail (since that's usually the easyest ) got a bag in (a little to far) and instead of catching part of the door frames called it good and gave it 5lbs of air to get it up enough to start getting more bags in. And with the load probably sliding to the front it left you a nice empty spot in the rear. Being there was no weight on top of it the wall simply gives away................. The same thing happened to us about 5 years ago with a load of carrots................That's why you AWAYS have to be able to see inside before placing bags

 

AutoHaus1 said:

Just a thought, would a 4'X8'X3/4" plywood between the bag and the trailer wall help any?, or would it fold up like the side without offering any dispersion of the lifting force?

 

75tator said:

az tow king is correct on how bags were placed and why the wall punched thru the front bag developed a leak

 

Greezy328 said:

You can find the load without seeing it - cardinal sin to open the doors - find where the load stops and start bagging under the load - unfortunately thats how you learn. I`m sure the Ins co isnt going to squawk about a trailer that needs a new side anyway if its not totalled - just looks a little ugly - it happens.

 

LASVEGASTATOR60 said:

75 tator: Thanks for the answers and honesty, some would take it as a bash but you stayed professional about it and with that helped me explain and show it to my guys who are learning. Thank you!

 

AZtowKING said:

Can you explain your first 8 words ? Was wondering if you had a trick I never heard of. We always preview loads through rear or front vent doors, and occasionly the barn doors if able. Not 100% of the time the door frame will be tweked or inpo so you just have to move slow and be cautious.

 

Scooby said:

sure beats offloading
no load....no cushion, cushions upright/pic the load

billy @ lambs has a great pic that I use in the course in concern to bag placement....maybe he will give me permission to post it

 

Greezy328 said:

Make a fist and with the heel of your hand pound your way to the load - starting at the rear of the trailer and obviously at the roof - I know it sounds too simple, but its always worked for me. The reason I say to never open the doors is you`ll never get em closed again!! If theres rivets popped on the roof, then you might as well start unloading by hand. Lift a little just to get the first bag under it, then work your way to the front - every job is different and theres a lot of circumstances to determine if bags can be used.

 

LAMB Towing said:

Looks good to me Ricky. It looks like this happened by an exit. Were they able to divert the traffic around you, or did everyone just have to sit and wait? We wouldn't be afforded the luxury of shutting down the interstate like that here. They demand us to get at least one lane opened up, and then figure out what we're going to do with it. We then usually have no choice but to offload.

I don't remember which pic you have Scooby, but you're welcome to do whatever you want with it. I'm far from being an expert on air cushion recovery, but I don't concern myself with rivets being popped. We've bagged trailers with the roof completely blown out before. I always just stay in the mindset that I'm lifting the load, not the trailer.

As I said though, I'm far from being an air cushion expert. I've been on both sides of the coin. When you successfully bag one that's halfway destroyed, you feel like a genius. When you have to set one down & off-load it because it broke halfway up, you want to crawl in a hole...

 

 

Scooby said:

pics are courtesy of lambs

great shot of where there is no load.....then there should be no bag

 

LAMB Towing said:

Wow! Great shots of that recovery Scooby! That guy really knows his stuff.

Look at how all of his air lines are color-coded with bands of colored electrical tape.