Center Roller / Shelf Feeders - My Hat's Off To You

[Big Babooba]

the worst were "z" frames; rollers to one side , which were all so bent that nothing moved, it was push,push all night with your legs { had many a "charlie horse " } , the flaps folded up over the rollers.
I've been in many feeders and there are tricks to prevent one form getting a flap slamming on your head, use any slim thing you can find { package, piece of wood or metal } overlap it on to a flap that has a good hook.Just be VERY careful when it come time to remove that slim thing.
As for roller that are missing , use another roller next to the missing one { they are put in by compressing pins } angle it to cover the missing area { best as one can }.
If you can't hack it then its either you become a driver or {god forbid } a sup.

A Z frame is any trailer built for TOFC service. They come in both straight and drop frame style. Some have rollers down the middle and some don't. They don't have a power lift for the landing gear and have reinforced frames to enable them to be lifted at the railyards. I've never seen a Z frame with rollers down the side. I've seen many CPU trailers with side rollers pressed into feeder duty.

 

[Covemastah]

mostly all the drop frames are now pups(WW'S) THEY DID AWAY with all the 40 &45 ft drop frames and all new pups are now flat floors

 

[over9five]

I don't mind the drop frames at all.




(They tow the same as all the others, right Cove?!?!?)
LOL!

 

[UPS Lifer]

What Scratch described was a "Z" frame. They had rollers on the left side for the bottom and rollers on the right side for the top part of the trailer. There were approx 8 shelve around 30 inches wide that had a 1-2 inch gap between each shelve. Some of the trailers had a light box on the bottom & top and you plugged in an extension cord to turn the lights on! We lost a lot of new hires before break in those trailers. We would come back from break and the new hire was gone!

Ahhh - the good ole days!!!

 

[Big Babooba]

What Scratch described was a "Z" frame. They had rollers on the left side for the bottom and rollers on the right side for the top part of the trailer. There were approx 8 shelve around 30 inches wide that had a 1-2 inch gap between each shelve. Some of the trailers had a light box on the bottom & top and you plugged in an extension cord to turn the lights on! We lost a lot of new hires before break in those trailers. We would come back from break and the new hire was gone!

Ahhh - the good ole days!!!

You are right about those old trailers. They were dinosaurs when I started in 1978. I was told that trailers that are now built for rail travel are designated Z frames. They are red striped at the front corners and around the back door. I also believe they have "UPSZ" in the serial number.

 

[Fnix]

I was put in them when I first started and pretty much passed out every time. They use them to test you. I still get a few here and there. I knock them out in under 30 mins now just so I can get the hell out of them.

 

[tieguy]

mostly all the drop frames are now pups(WW'S) THEY DID AWAY with all the 40 &45 ft drop frames and all new pups are now flat floors

Your drop frames were
H and L type - 26 footer

W - 28 ft drop frame. what you're probably seeing now. I have not seen an H or L in years. These types were 5 digit numbers starting with a 0. If anyone is still using one I would be interested to know. The last H boxes were numbered in the 260 series.
Single W trailers were numbered between 270000 through 299999

WW - flat floor short trailer rounded corners on the front.

somebody else mentioned the shelves in the new WWS types. I think chicago uses most of these in their lanes.

40 ft drop frames were Z trailers 5 digit trailer number starting with an 8.

When a Z drop got old we often changed their type to an S and used it in the yard at which point a 6 was added in front of the 8.

 

[kenco80233]

I know of several drivers years ago,that recieved carrer ending injuries unloading the old drop frame trailers.However they were very good to pull down the highway.They were heavy,with a low center of gravity,which seemed to make them trail real well in double and triple combinations,especialy in the wind.The hydrolic landing gears could be a pain in the rear,when they got bent,or low in fluid.When I firat started driving,they trained us how to jack up the tracter to install tire chains with the hydrolic landing gear.They forgot to mention that you had to be parked on level ground.Some drivers would get stuck on a hill,jack up the tracter with the hydrolic langing gears,then after chaing up,the landing gears would bind,leaving the rear of tracter hanging.The driver would have to call a wrecker to get the tracter on the ground.Made some major embarasing memories for several drivers.

 

[Mike Hawk]

somebody else mentioned the shelves in the new WWS types. I think chicago uses most of these in their lanes.

What’s the point in those? You have to set up rollers twice or carry all the boxes on the bottom floor to the belt, neither being very efficient.(I'm talking about the ones with the shelves that fold up like /\ to the side of the trailer)