does anybody know how many companys out there will hire some one with a 25lbs. lifting restriction? im trying to get it taken off but nobody with the docs office want to call me back.

 

None?? One or two maybe...but probably none. You need to exert at least 50 pounds of force to retract a landing gear.

 

Hrmm...I'd worry more about jacking up a heavily loaded trailer than simply retracting...

FWIW...

I had major back surgery back in 6/07, and I got my first truck in November. My second load was a preloaded trailer that was 47,000 lbs heavy, with the tandems al the way back, and the damn landing gear almost all the way down.

Took me about 20 minutes to do so, but I jacked that thing up without hurting myself...it just took me a bit, that's all.

IMHO if you're careful you'll do just fine....

 

Hmmmm...... With a loaded trailer to pick up, there are a couple different options a guy can do, to make retracting the landing gear easier. The easiest, is to have 2x4's that are cut to the right length, which you can set down on the ground, deflate the suspension then back up onto the 2x4's, and into the kingpin, so that the tractor & fifth wheel to the majority of the lifting.

The other...if the kingpin plate for the trailer is to low, and the trailer needs to come up a couple inches, is deflating the suspension, then backing under the trailer, and reinflating the suspension.

I try very very hard, to not be a "HE-man" and jack a loaded trailer up manually to get a tractor under it. In fact...if a trailer is so low that the tractor cannot get under the kingpin and lift the trailer...I good find the yardmule driver and have IT pickup the trailer...then jack down the landing legs.

 

i had back surgery in 06 and i have re-learned how to lift things even things that weight more that 50lbs and i dont hurt myself but the prob is that it is on my medical record until i can get things cleared up. the lady at werner (i know, i know) said they cant employ me because of that restriction. do they actually look at your medical history or do they go off of what you tell them? im guessing i will be putting off truck school for a while (which pisses me off) so i can get this cleared up.

 

More and more companies are adding lifting and carrying 25 to 50 pounds to their pre-hire physical. I know JB and US express have added this to theirs.

 

Yeah, I know when I went thru the physical at JB, I had to ask the Doc to hold my lit cigarette for me while I did the lifting and the stair run for him, hehehe.

 

Yep and with USX they even added a 'DOT-bumper" test (Not a joke!). They have you pull yourself up on the 2nd sport of a step ladder simulating you climbing in the back of a trailer. If you don't make that, you won't get a job. Their weight lift during physical is a crate with 50 lbs weights in it. You'll have to carry it for approx. 30-50 ft. and lift it over your head and place it on a shelf and back down. Can't do that, they won't hire you.
More and more companies get harder on physical demands.

 

What is a stair run ?