Truck Jack Stands Questions and Answers

A trailer jack stand, trailer stabilizing jack stand, or a ratchet jack stand fits under an uncoupled trailer’s front end and supports it during loading and unloading at a dock. Please take a brief moment to read the following article concerning the ratchet stabilizing truck jack stand, an exceptional piece of equipment designed to prevent trailer upending, another potentially dangerous dock-area mishap.

A trailer jack stand trailer, stabilizing jack stand can help prevent trailer upending, which refers to the potentially injury-causing occurrence of a semi-trailer, when detached from its rig, abruptly tilting into a front-end-down, back-end-up position. This occurs most frequently during unloading, when the trailer’s front end, still loaded with a good deal of cargo, is considerably heavier than its empty back end. In many cases, the direct cause of upending is the trailer’s landing gear collapsing, often due to rust damage. Ratchet stabilizing truck jack stand models are material handling equipment designed to prevent trailer upending. Top-quality trailer stabilizing truck jack stand models are constructed of heavy-duty steel and have a static capacity of 100,000 pounds. The best models of truck jack stands feature a lifting capacity of up to 40,000 pounds.

In addition, an upended trailer increases the likelihood of trailer creep, which is another potentially dangerous dock-area mishap. Trailer creep refers to a gap that’s created between the truck bed and the dock. This space can be hazardous to a forklift driver if his front wheels move into this newly created gap, causing its front end to jerk suddenly downward toward the pavement. Ratchet stabilizing jacks can help to prevent this from occurring, thus further diminishing the chance of worker injury and dock-area property damage.

High-quality trailer stands feature two semi-pneumatic wheels that enable them to be moved quickly and easily from storage and into position under a trailer. The ratcheting mechanism of the truck stands enables them to quickly be positioned to the proper trailer-stabilizing height. The importance of utilizing these truck jacks to prevent trailer upending cannot be overemphasized. Trailer upending can injure workers who may be inside the trailer and who can slip and fall when the trailer makes its sudden seesaw-like movement. Trailer upending also can injure forklift drivers who may be making the crossing from the dock to the trailer bed at the time that the trailer’s rear portion suddenly moves upward.

For businesses that do a good deal of shipping and receiving, the loading dock clearly is a vitally important area. Unfortunately, the loading dock also can potentially be a hazardous work area, especially if proper dock safety equipment is not being utilized. Clearly, the larger and more busy a loading dock area is, the greater the chance of potentially dangerous mishaps. The key ingredient for a serious dock-area accident is the significant size and weight of the vehicles frequently moving within the area, namely trucks, rigs with semi trailers, and forklifts. The good news is that there’s high-quality safety equipment designed to prevent each potentially dangerous dock-area situation. Crashes caused by drivers moving at the wrong time? There is a traffic signal dock light. Roll-away trucks? There is a truck restraint and wheel chocks. It is the customer’s responsibility to verify correctness of fit for applications.