They don't look like they're centered either.

You should call the DOT. Honestly.

 

I always had a whole stack of 4 X 4's with me. A load like that would have had 2 or 3 chained down in front and in back of each row of pallets, and more than one strap across. The straps are holding tension on the pieces at the outside edges, but those in the middle have no tension on them at all. With no kind of blocking, he may not have to hit the brakes to lose one or more... That'll chip the ice off the road.

He hits the brakes, he'll have half a dozen knocking on the back of his sleeper, asking to lie down in far softer surroundings.

 

That cats got a death wish. If he jams the breaks on of those things would run through the cab with no trouble at all.

 

ive seen the vuqube for sale at trucks stop...what do you do buy the vuqube and subscribe to the monthly service??? simple as this??

 

The VuQube is just a satellite dish. You still have to subscribe to a regular dish network system. The VuQube eliminates the need for mounting and setting up a dish when you stop - it makes it all automatic. I've heard it's much easier to find a good signal as well.

 

Catalina....I would call his company as well as DOT. The moron needs to be taught how to secure loads properly.

 

I thought about trying to fihure out a way to offer some advice on how to secure it. After watching his pre-trip and the fact he never walked past the cab doors this morning I decided that it wasn't a lack of knowledge but rather complete selfishness and disregard for laws and his own safety let alone the safety of the public traveling on the highway with him.

I did contact his company and e-mailed the pictures of the load to them but did not tell them the truck number. There was no one there in safety today but the weekend dispatcher, who BTW sounded like a former driver was mortified when he got them. He said that is not the company policy and they have very specific rules for that exact load. Even told me thy haul it several times a week, where they pick it up at and where it goes. Sounds like there are several of thier trucks carrying it today. He assured me that I will be hearing from the safety director first thing Monday morning. I don't want to get someone fired, that's not my position and as such I used photoshop to blur the truck number, trailer number and VIN# so they couldn't identify which drive it was. I wouldn't tell him where it was at but the digital signature on the picture will give them the date and time. And just in case they have an IT wiz, I sent it through my computer at home using my go-to-my pc subscription so they couldn't nail down where I was sitting. I'm hoping they will have a blanket threat of termination over this and the driver who did it will be scared into doing the right thing. Lord knows I have skated a time or two on securement, most noteably on articulated equipment. It's almost impossible to find an older tractor or front end loader that still has the articulation lock in place and even if they do they are either rusted or painted into a permanent position. In that case your supposed to have two chains securing the center of the machine but I have skipped that before. About three weeks ago however I rolled onto the Moorehead, MN scales with an older JD loader and had not locked or chained it (in the middle, I had 4 X 1/2 chains on the corners). I was only going 52 miles with it and even left it running. The DOT officer came out and got my permit then headed back and the only thing he looked at was the articulation lock. He made me pull off to the side and install it but he could have wrote me a pretty large ticket for improper load securement. I have now installed two 5/16" chains 6' long with oversized wrecker hooks and binders in the middle well of my trailer and it takes lass the 1 minute to throw them on the middle of the machine and over to the side rail. No more threats of tickets.

 

I have looked at several different setups. The dish mounted on the pole on the mirror is the cheepest and it looks that way to. I already have enough crap out there with my antennas, oversize load mirrors, sattelite radio, forward beacons etc. I have talked to three guys with the qube and they absolutely love it. Two of them had the truck model mounted on the grab rail on the back of the bunk which is the route I went and one had the portable he just sat out on top of his trailer. I didn't care for that option as it wouldn't take long for it to have a new owner or be scattered all over the freeway when I forgot it. I already have dish network at home and can add an additional receiver. I just have to tell them I'm hooking it into my existing system because they wont allow it to be portable. If I tell them I'm going to use it in the truck I have to get a seperate subscription which I think is crap but that's thier rules and I love the programming at home. I can access my home entertainment system from here with go-to-my pc but I can only watch what's stored on the hard drive or what one of the systems is tuned to, I cannot change channels and the quility is poor to very poor with a bunch of stuttering. Not to mention using all of my monthly bandwidth with Flying J in just one evening of TV watching.

 

BTW, there are three options, Manual Remote, Automatic Stationary and In Motion. I chose the $646 Manual Remote. I will have to tune it but I will be able to do it from the comfort of the bunk and not having to hang out the window and jack with it while pulling some sort of acrobatic move to see the TV and tell if it's tuned or not.

 

That 360 degree tuning ability is friggin cool. Everyone I've seen who has it mounts it at the rear center top of their sleeper on an "L" shaped bracket.