[ChikinTrucka]

Originally Posted by Windwalker

(I've known more than one guy to have spent several hours behind the state scale house, moving bundles of shingles in order to get that part right)

If that happened to me (and assuming it wasn't my fault) the company would be sending a fork truck or some temp-labor guys to fix it. I don't get paid to move freight around my truck!

A company I worked for was sued because the driver did not properly secure pallets of shingles, and when going down the road, one of the bundles came off, went through the windshield of a car and killed someone inside.

I see lots of loads not properly secured and it makes me sick. Not because they don't know how (maybe they don't) but it would appear to be pure lazyness, when I see a truck with straps over the front pallets and the rear, but no straps at all on any of the pallets in the middle. What do these people think is going to happen when they make a sudden turn, like avoiding a moose, or truck wheel in the middle of the road?

I climbed on top and measured down. OVER-HEIGHT"

I watched the guys at Hancock Lumber load a trailer to 14 feet last week. Good thing the driver measured it and had them move it around. I measure all loads now if they are any higher than my cab (which is 11' 6")

Any driver can drive a truck, but it takes a special breed of driver to be able to run a flatbed. And, once you know about all the work involved in securing a load, hanging iron on your tires is a piece of cake.

You said it. I love puzzles, and getting a load just right does have it's satisfactions. Good post by Windwalker and Rokk.
PS: what is "iron"? You talkin' 'bout wheel steel? No chance of that happening! Another thing I don't get paid enough for. If it requires chains, I'm going in the bunk til the sun comes out!
Peace out,
Rock on!

[Rokk]

IRON term for Chains, hanging iron, to make it up and over a mountain, or to get out of a situation. or even to a safe place.

not too bad to do, with proper technique and frame of mind you can have them hung in 30 minutes. out west here this time of year we chaining all the time, sometimes, just to get into a pit or oil rig drilling area to unload

as long as one is prepared, both mentally and equipment wise its not hard at all.

dont let "hanging iron" scare you, its not a bad thing to do. practice makes perfect. i would prefer not to chain, with all the dripping water from under the trailer and such. but if i have too, i do. and i get it done right and fast. thats part of flatbed and the freight we haul. cant be just a steering wheel holder like in a drybox.

if you think about it, chaining a truck is nothing, i grew up on a farm and had to always chain up the tractors for the fields, big huge iron chains that make triple rail truck chains look like tinsel on a xmas tree.

[ChikinTrucka]

Originally Posted by Rokk

if you think about it, chaining a truck is nothing, i grew up on a farm and had to always chain up the tractors for the fields, big huge iron chains that make triple rail truck chains look like tinsel on a xmas tree.

Yeah, just bustin' yer xmas decorations... I did the farm thing too. Would hook the end to the rim and drive them over the wheels, too heavy to lift over! And hung them on dump trucks. And when I had a 2 wheel drive pick-me-up truck. 'Round these parts, if you need chains, it's usually time to park it. But I understand it's a bit different out in the Rockies.

[Bigmon]

Originally Posted by ChikinTrucka

OK, so you get to the shippers, it's 10 degrees out and windy and snowing. They load lumber that has snow all over it, now you have to strap and tarp it in the snow and wind and cold. Maybe I'm missing something here, but at what point do you say "NO", and still have a job? I tend to be really easy going and don't like to say NO anyhow. I'm just beginning to get tough with the forklift guys and make them move stuff around no matter how much they think they know more about loading than me, but to say "No, I won't load this until the weather gets better", sounds like a sure way to become unemployed. Am I missing something here? Or does everyone except me have a heated garage to load in????
.

Steve has his own authority so he doesn't have a job to get fired from. I'm not sure but, I think he finds out when he books the load if it's inside or not.

[ChikinTrucka]

Originally Posted by Bigmon

Steve has his own authority so he doesn't have a job to get fired from. I'm not sure but, I think he finds out when he books the load if it's inside or not.

I'm still waiting to hear his reply. I want those loads too!

Sorry for taking so long. Some times the notification doesn't work so I didn't know there was a new post.

I do have my own authority and get to pick which loads I take. It's pretty obvious if I get a call from a broker to haul a load and it's 10 below zero and freezing out that I would ask the extra questions about indoor tarping and whatnot. My tarp is really heavy duty and I've been in the position once where I had to tarp in very cold weather. The tarp was frozen solid and almost impossible to fold under when tucking in the slack. The rubber bungee cords would not stretch at all and all ended up either coming off or becoming so loose the tarp was flapping in the wind.

[ChikinTrucka]

Originally Posted by SteveBooth

The tarp was frozen solid and almost impossible to fold under when tucking in the slack. The rubber bungee cords would not stretch at all and all ended up either coming off or becoming so loose the tarp was flapping in the wind.

I have these problems all the time. I'm up here in Maine, and don't get to choose the indoor loads. When I get away I go to warm climates like, the northern border of Minnesota, Aye?, and up state N.Y., Aye? It's like I'm always hauling a hot air balloon that won't deflate (and weighs 47,000 pounds)! I never get a break. Except for when I haul steel, the steel tarps are small enough, and have so many holes in them, that they sit pretty good. :evil:

Maine huh....I use to have a camp on Longlake in North Bridgeton.

[Bumper]

Back in my Army days we got a new generator mechanic in the motor pool. His previous job was truck driver until he dropped an Honest John Rocket onto the Autobahn........

[ChikinTrucka]

It sure was this week! I loaded in a snowstorm, it was hard to keep from sliding off the top of the load (lumber load: 13'6"), untarped in the rain in a muddy yard (don't wear 'slip on' shoes, or you'll be in stocking feet in two steps!), tarps and straps covered in mud. Reloaded indoors (the sun was, of course, shinning outside!), unloaded in a torrential downpour, got soaked to the bone. Reloaded in a cold drizzle (the best outside load weather of the week), untarped with 3 inches of wet slushy snow on the tarps, talk about heavy. By the time I got the tarps off and folded, 2 hours passed and I was soaked with sweat! Drop and hook to a loaded, but not yet tarped or strapped trailer, and fell while tarping the load in the wet slush, broke a ladder and snapped 2 bungees in my face, now I'm ready to quit! Everything soaked; by now I have so many sets of wet clothes in the truck, I have to keep a window open a smidgen or all the glass fogs up from the moisture! More freezing rain, sleet, hail, snow and ice, and I've stopped at the house to write this and wait for the roads to clear. Hopefully I can get out of my driveway in the AM! In 3 and a half days I've driven about 1000 miles, mostly bad weather. Mother Nature must hate me, that's the only explanation!