You folks all seem pretty experienced in a lot of aspects here so wondered if I could pick your brains.
We have just bough a pair of 18 Tonners. We ordered some new curtains which have just arrived.
How much of a pain are they to fit if we were to do them ourselves?
Neither of us drive the lorries but the lads who do drive them do so much already, I didn’t want to lumber them with an extra job so me and the company MD were thinking about doing it.
Or is it better to have someone come in to do it?
Baz94:
How much of a pain are they to fit if we were to do them ourselves?
Thats a classic "how long is a piece of string?" question. Have you tried picking up one of the curtains yet? If you have a good workshop with good staging, lifting equipment and the room to manoeuvre the heavy sheets, its do-able.
If you have a muddy uneven yard, and are gonna balance 15 foot up, on the forks of a FLT, in the wind and rain, it`s foolish and dangerous. Do-able maybe, but not a good option.
Im assuming you arent referring to the curtains around the bunk of course.
Best remove the curtain poles first, usually held in place by 2 grub screws near the bottom, curtains should just slide out ( bit of washing up liquid or silicon spray will help put them back on ) it will make them a hell of a lot lighter and easier to handle, remember they should be marked left side / right side / front / rear nothing worse than standing back looking at your finished work and realising it’s on the wrong side.
We know a guy that is a fitter so worst case scenario, will get him to do it.
Our yard is flat and clean and had plans for the platform.
We know the curtains are heavy, thankfully they are for the 18T trucks but even so… bloody heavy.
Just thought it might be goot practise to get our hands dirty with things and actally learn more about them in the process rather than constantly palming the work off to others.
But if its a job that would be too much for us then we would get a pro in.
Tho I did warn the DM that if we were to do this, then a friday afternoon would be best so that if or when we balls it up, there are 2 days for it to be rectified
If you do decide to do them it’s a good idea to clean all the old congealed grease and dust etc. which actually will have set like tarmac in the rails. The same applies to the rollers on the hangers if you are reusing them (you also need to check for broken / jammed ones and replace them). Cleaning is a disgusting job but some nice new clear grease on them after and the way they work is transformed. Like Franglais I am assuming you mean the PVC side curtains, not some nice chintzy frilly ones for the cab
