i'm glad you brought that up, i was loading at a shipper in dallas, to where you back into the building, and the lift drivers load your truck from the sides,needless to say it's just the width of your trailer with a inch or two extra. there was another driver there that had no power steering or air conditioner in his truck, were talking dallas during heat wave after about 30 minutes he got his truck in there. i felt sorry for the dude.but i guess you have to work with what you have.:thumbsup:

oy Matcat....you saing us flatbedders can't back?:rofl:
Ought to see how our van drivers drop their trailers:roll:, some of the angels they get are totally amazing.

Just remember the biggest NONO.....flatbeds loaded NEVER should try doing a U-turn......damn thing lays over on the drives......sad to see a rookie flatbedder standing there looking at his trailer doing the twist :tears:

Check out this Part 393: Parts and accessories necessary for safe operation
Be sure to scroll through each page.

Lots of good info there. Flatbedding is something you really learn as you go along. Every load is different, and after awhile, you will know just where to place straps and chains, and how many to use, etc.

Tarping can be a pain. Literally. Often, you have to climb on top of the load to spread the tarps. Drivers have fallen off the trailer while doing this. Tarping can be especially difficult if you have to do it outdoors. Windy days are a flatbedders worst nightmare. If that tarp catches wind while you are spreading it, by ALL means, let go of it. This can easily throw a driver to the ground, and result in injury or worse.
Be prepared to work outside in any weather conditions.

There are a lot of little tricks you will learn to make it all easier, and have a "pretty" load going down the road.

One thing that comes to mind...is to look at how your load looks in your mirrors when you are ready to roll with it. If something looks different after you have been driving, stop and check it out. Certain loads tend to "settle" after having been on the road, and your straps or chains may need to be re-tightened a bit.

I like flatbedding because of the different challenges. Oh by the way, this skateboarder can back up LOL. I pull vans too.

Good luck with pulling flats!

Oh yeah....been there done that ONCE :(...it only took one time to remind me we can't make tight turns with a load on. Non-flatbedders don't realize our trailers will roll like that.

If you ever find yourself in a position where you HAVE to make that u-turn, there's a simple little trick to prevent the nose of the trailer from rolling.......slide a short 4x4 under the 5th wheel. This will stop it from laying back on the turn and therefore stopping the nose from rolling over.

As for backing, another thing a lot of drivers don't realize is that a spread axle (which most, but not all flatbeds have) does not track like a set of fixed tandems. When you combine the spread axle with the fact that we can't jack knife the trailer, it looks like we can't back........:p

Couldn't have said it better!! :p

Talking about tarping in the wind reminded me of this time when I was on the load spreading the tarp. It was a low load and I was using my 5' drop tarps. I get one side hanging down and turn around to kick/push the other side over with my foot when a gust of wind blew the first side up and over me......It literally went up over my head like a blanket and knocked me down. :eek1: Luckily for me, the load was flat and even and when I went down my hands landed about 6" from the edge. It was a grim reminder that this job can be dangerous. Now if the wind is blowing, I get down on my hands and knees for added stability regardless of how tall the load is. Live and learn.........

The man who trained me had a saying: Give me enough rope and I can tie down a load of water. The advice you've been given is good. Look at how others are doing it. When you think your all set and its tied down good, add one more strap or chain. You'll never get stopped by DOT because you had too many straps on a load of lumber. They will stop you if you don't have enough. Failure to properly secure a load.
I never had anything move 1 ft on my trailer but I was pretty anal about it.

I had a 48ft trailer that had winches welded to the frame rails every ft on both sides of the trailer. At a shingle place in Denver I had a guy laughingly ask me if I thought I had enough tiedowns. I said "you bet and I've got enough straps for every one of them and rope if I fall short.

Short story: One company that I worked for ( it will remain nameless but the company name means to move real fast) got a contract to haul pre-stressed concrete floor supports to a new college in L.A. I went to pick one up and the guy told me to just put the chains on loose so I didnt break the edges of the concrete. I told him no way was I going to do that and he argued so I told my boss to get someone else to do it, I refused to move an insecure load. One of our other guys went to get it and when he was in LA he went around a corner and the supports slipped off the side of the trailer and onto a guy on a motorcycle cutting off both of his legs.

Do you want to be the driver of that truck and live with that the rest of your life?

Wouldnt have been at the junction of the interstates would it? Alabama finally got sick enough of accidents there that they passed new tie-down rules for coils.

One last thing: You are the captain of your ship. If the loader at a customer will not put the load on your trailer the way you want do not load it. I had to argue a couple of times and the guy backed off and only had to refuse to load once. The loader had a steel coil and would not put it where I wanted so I told him to keep it and left. Called my boss and he didnt even argue with me. Just told me that he'd get me a different load.
Most places, probaly 99% of them, are really good and they know how to load trailers. When they ask you how you want it loaded and if your not sure just say " I don't know how do you normally do it"? and most of the time he will do it right.

Rope???? Are you kidding?

I saw a truck and trailer in Sudbury, ON that had come down a snowy hill, skidded through the stop light and went down a 10 ft bank and into a field. He had on 3 or 4 coils of steel and not one of them moved an inch. That's load securement.

My goal was to put stuff on secure enough so that I could roll my truck and the load would be right where I put it on the upside down trailer.