Trail king advantage with stinger, shimming question

[Bldunn]

I am new to pulling a stinger. The stinger my job has is a single axle. I loaded it today with a 93,000 lb (I think that's what they said it weighs) and was told I didn't put enough shims. We got the pressures on the axles as follows pusher axle on truck is at 50psi, the drives on the truck are at about 63-Ish psi, the trailer (3 axle ) is at 60 psi and the booster/stinger is at about 50 psi. At first, I had three shims 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8, but it looked like the flip was at too much of a peak. Is the thing to do with these is get a good peak on it with the shims and then load it, and hope the weight evens it out and the booster gets all the weight we want to get on it? According to the chart on the booster it's got about 17k on it now. The trailer is a 55 ton, tk-110 I believe. Right now I've just got the half inch shims in the booster and the flip axle. They may be a little bigger than half inch. But even with the one shim it still had a little peak. I'm guessing I only want it flat and level (booster/stinger with flip axle) when I have to pull it when I'm empty? I just don't want to screw anything up. Also, do you shim the booster or spreader first and then the flip axle or is it shim axle first then spreader bar with a trail king? Nobody at work is much help on shimming, I'm the only truck driver there.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

Bldunn

In Australia most manufacturers would assist.

Why not send them an email politely stating your case just like you posted here, they may send you all sorts of useful information.

It can't hurt to try. It sounds you have quite a complex piece of gear and it is in their best interest to help ensure it is working safely and well.

Cheers.

 

[Bldunn]

Thank you, I may do that as well....call trail king and see what they can help me with.

 

[renovator]

Talk to Trail King. I'm sure they will help. If you have 17k one the booster, it doesn't sound like you're too far off. How much are you looking to put on the booster? I'd get it on a scale before I put too much faith in psi. Years ago, I used to have a single-axle booster that stuck out about 15' that we could scale 20k. They way I shimmed it was to get the max load on the trailer (to take the camber out) and shim the booster from there. I was careful to pull the bottom pin off the booster if I was pulling it and the trailer was unloaded. This let the booster "float." With the camber in the trailer, it could have really put a lot of stress on that one axle. Keep us posted.

 

[Junkyard]

Rule of thumb for shimming a booster is once it's loaded all the air bags show the same amount of bell. It's a learning process that comes from doing it. Keep notes of each machine, how things looked, felt, where it was in the well and if you happened to weigh it what you had for weights. There's no hard and fast rule for it. Fifth wheel height, neck height and kingpin location will affect your rear axle weights. If you're loaded close to 20k on all four axles it's going to be tough to shim or change shims. A word of caution, if you're loaded close to 80k back there watch for dips on job sites, driveways, railroad crossings etc, as the trailer goes over the main three will get light and overload the stinger and bam! It'll shear the ears off the back of the trailer or the booster. Also, if you have to back up, raise the backup pin and dump the air in the booster. It won't be quite so hard on the pins and ears, especially if you have to back in a tough spot. If it's real bad drop the booster. If you have to re-shim or drop it block or jack under the trailer before you dump the air. Not right up tight but close because you'll need room to get the shims out and if you dump all the way you'll never get them unless it's a light load. Also, when hooking or unhooking don't forget that hydraulic neck is your friend. Raise or lower to help with the gap for shims. You can't grease the pivot pin too much. When running empty I had my single axle booster setup so I could take the shims out, leave a little air in the bags to keep them from getting fubar'd and I'd block the blue line so I couldn't slide the tires. With the shims out you don't want leveling system air pressure just enough to keep them from rolling and getting pinched. It's real easy to get in a hurry and forget to take shim out. That single axle will steer your trailer around a cloverleaf faster than you can say wtf?!?!? Or into a ditch if the road crowns a lot. Shimming order doesn't matter a whole lot. I like the shim between the spreader and axle to keep the lugs parallel if that makes sense and then I adjust weight between trailer and spreader.

I could go on and on.

Here's what a steep set of R/R tracks can do to a bottom pin lug.



Junkyard