Fish out of water

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

I,ve been in the lorry game for a couple of years now.

But today i did some pallet deliveries and had to drag them off
with a hand truck.
What is the best way to put a pallet on a tail lift?

I tried pulling a pallet off on to it,(nearly went with it/)
I tried pushing it on the tail lift ( part of the pump truck still on wagon)

I looked like a fish out of water :blush:

think i should have stayed with my hiab job :unamused:

2

I use a Transit van with a taillift at work (it’s probably overweight before I start out put anything in it!!).

I always push pallets onto the lift from inside the van but very carefully and with the pallet very low to the floor of the van so there is a little resistance. Too high and as the pallet moves onto the lift it becomes quite unstable and very difficult to control.

If I need the pallet truck off the van to move the pallet afterwards in push it on at an angle and turn the whole caboodle at the last moment. So far in 7 months only 1 near disaster.

I too would love to hear the correct method. :smiley:

3

Macka Packa:
I tried pushing it on the tail lift ( part of the pump truck still on wagon)

What I did was this, when the pallet is on the lift you have to turn it 90 degrees so the pallet and pump truck are sideways on. This probably makes little sense but I can’t seem to explain it any better :blush: :smiley:

4

whatever you do,if the pallet goes off the end of the tail lift DONT TRY AND STOP IT! trust me it hurts and you will end up in casualty! Make sure your hand is always near the brake and take your time. I always used to ask for help if the pallet was too heavy. Hope this helps.

5

I’ve seen (but not yet had to do it myself) drivers keep the pallet almost touching/scrapping along the floor, then pull it onto the tail (with the guard flaps/ramp down) As the back of the pallet gets clear of the lorry floor, the pump will be hanging off the edge of the tail… Drop the pallet down quick as it gets to the point (or it’ll go off the edge)

6

I’ll try and describe how I did it with a 40 x 48 pallet

Put pallet truck in longways whilst inside safety of lorry
Keeping pallet as near to floor as poss - push onto centre of tail lift but drop just before last 4 inches goes onto it
Turn truck handle 90 degrees - pump back up so it just lifts the pallet - stand as far away from it as poss but within room to PUSH - not pull
PUSH a quarter turn with hand on the drop handle - as soon as pallet has turned 90 degrees - PULL HANDLE
You should now have pallet wideways on lift with the handle to one side

IF AT ANY TIME THE PALLET GETS AWAY FROM YOU AND YOU CANNOT SAFELY PULL THE DROP HANDLE - LET IT GO

OH - and don’t get yourself trapped between the pallet or pallet truck and the side of the lorry - it hurts when you get squashed :exclamation:
Being ready at all time to pull the drop handle is the key to your safety :slight_smile:
Where possible - try to PUSH and not pull.

Don’t know if the above makes sense - maybe you can tell me :unamused: :unamused:

7

Macka Packa:
I,ve been in the lorry game for a couple of years now.

But today i did some pallet deliveries and had to drag them off
with a hand truck.
What is the best way to put a pallet on a tail lift?

I tried pulling a pallet off on to it,(nearly went with it/)
I tried pushing it on the tail lift ( part of the pump truck still on wagon)

I looked like a fish out of water :blush:

think i should have stayed with my hiab job :unamused:

Ask your company for training in accordance with Provisions of use of work equipment regulations 1998 ( Puwer 98 )

Every employee should have adequate training for any work equipment they use,

It is a legal requirement to be trained before you use this type of equipment.

PUWER’98 has now been in force since December 5th 1998 and still over one third of small businesses have not heard of the legislation.

8

Used the tail lift again today.

and yes ROG was right again.
It is definitely easier to push the pallet on the tail lift.

By the end of the day i looked like a tail lift god :laughing:

I suppose i could have asked for training,
but!!!
it would have taken them a month to sort it out
and they probably would have made me handball it till then :slight_smile:

sometimes its easier just “to have a go”
i assessed the risk and the worst that could off happened was the pallet might fall off.
Nobody else was around and i was ready to leap out the way

9

I’ve never had any formal training, but this is what I do:

  1. The most important step - nothing to do with tail lifts or pump trucks.

If possible, adjust the truck’s air suspension (if an artic, you can use both the tractor and trailer suspensions) to get the body at the optimum angle. This is a very gentle slope downwards towards the back of the truck.

You want enough slope that the pallet will roll down towards the back of the truck without too much pushing, but the slope should be shallow enough that a pallet won’t run away, and will stop on its own if you let go. You don’t want to have a 1-tonne-plus pallet run away from you.

  1. Put the pump truck into the pallet end-on. This keeps the lifting wheels of the pump truck as near to the corners of the pallet as possible, making the pallet more stable.
  2. Give the wheels a good pumping, probably all the way to the top - the last thing you want to do is to get half-way onto the tail lift, and have one corner of the pallet ground out, causing the pallet to stop abruptly and the load to fall over.
  3. Push the pallet down the centre line of the truck, towards the tail lift. Fixed wheels first, with the steering wheel at the back.
  4. If your truck has a hole in the floor for the shutter door catch, make sure the wheels don’t run into it.
  5. As the pallet first touches the tail lift, it should be almost exactly in the centre of the truck, heading straight out back. Start to steer the pallet to one side.
  6. When the fixed wheels of the pallet are about 1/3 to 1/2 way onto the tail lift, bring the steering end around sharply.
  7. You should end up with the pallet truck “sideways” across the tail lift, with the edge of the pallet just clearing the tailgate of the truck, allowing you to drop the tail lift down.
  8. When lowering the tail lift, drop the pallet onto the bed so that it’s stable and won’t roll away.
  9. Before pulling the pallet off the tail lift, remember to pump it up as far as it will go, so that it doesn’t ground out.

With heavy pallets sometimes I go steering-end-first because it’s easier to stop a pallet that’s rolling towards you than one that’s rolling away, but it’s always more difficult to get it aligned onto the tail lift that way without having one corner of the pallet overhanging the truck tailgate.

Hope this helps…

10

Lol @ “tail lift god” :laughing: :laughing:

It is an art, once you’ve mastered it - it’s usually quite easy unless the pallet is super heavy or the taillift platform is quite small (usually on 7.5ts). You’re right, ALWAYS PUSH, so that gravity takes the pallet first and not you if you go too far!