Rocky Mtn Doubles

[Ian Williams]

Assuming the pup is heavier than the van, can you legally pull a 53' behind a 28 trailer in Nevada?

Management wants me to do this on occasion here in Reno. I've gotten conflicting info on the legality of this setup.

Ian

[ben45750]

Hey Ian, I searched all over and I can't find anything that says you can't pull a 53' behind a pup. I also didn't find anything that says you can though either. I would think even though the pup is heavier it would be safer to pull it behind the 53'. The reason why I think that is because the 53' trailer has tandem axles where the pup has single axles, I would think the tandems on the 53' would give the pup more stability even though it's heavier. I might be wrong because I have never pulled a RM combination but just seems like the 53' behind the pup would whip more than the pup behind the 53' trailer?

[Uturn2001]

Lets also consider turning radius. If you have the short trailer in the front, there is no way the longer trailer is going to be able to train around corners.

[kjax]

I've seen short straight trucks pulling 45-48's, but no tractor trailer combos reversed like that. I wouldn't want to pull it like that, regardless of what the law says. Not loaded, not empty. YMMV

[marylandkw]

When I was out west I sure never saw one pulled like that. And I am pretty sure it would stand out if I did see one. I would not do it myself for the same reason Uturn would not, tracking around corners would be a nightmare.

Ben, My memory is rusty now(8 years since I pulled a RMD) but IIRC the pup has to be a tandem with a tandem dolly as well to meet the bridge law.

[ben45750]

I just figured since Ian worked for Conway they would be single axles.

[marylandkw]

You know I almost didn't say anything but once again my foot tastes funny

[Ian Williams]

I just figured since Ian worked for Conway they would be single axles.

Thanks for the feedback guys..I guess I'll just have to get off my duff and read the Nevada vehicle code and/or check with a DOT officer here.

We only use our reverse rockies for P&D; in this case we are pullling out of a customer where a fully "loaded" trailer may have 6-10k in it, so weight is not much of an issue.

We mostly have single screw sterlings, but for the past two years locations in Western that see a lot of snow like Reno, Boise, etc have been getting twin screw line units. We also have a handful of Old Freightliners and brand spankin' new Volvos (8k on the odo) that are used for team runs.

This pic is of our power line on a Sat last summer:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...7-30-06_01.jpg

Ian

[allan5oh]

I see em here, and I see turnpikes a lot too. Ab, Sk, Mb, and ND run a lot of turnpikes.

FYI a turnpike is 2 53's.

[ben45750]

Cool pic Ian,weird to see them with twin screws (Conway's Sterlings) used to seeing them with the single axle drive.

[Ian Williams]

I see em here, and I see turnpikes a lot too. Ab, Sk, Mb, and ND run a lot of turnpikes.

FYI a turnpike is 2 53's.

I thought that turnpikes were just 2 long trailers, be they 53's,48's or 45's.

My theory is that there is an inverse relationship between population density and the permitted length of combination vehicles.

On one hand you have urban New York which won't even allow 53's and on the other you have the intermountain west where you can pull 100- 110 ft of vehicle. At the extreme you have Australia where there is no length limit whatsoever.

[Jimmy B]

Here are a couple of examples of "Rocky Mountain" sets where the 28 ft pup is the lead trailer:





This combination made up with the pup as the lead box is a bit on the rare side. Here in the Reno, Nevada area carriers that use this regularly are both Yellow and Conway. I've seen Matheson Fast Freight and Reddaway use this combination, but very rare.

Jimmy B