Load #4
 

Saturday, September 12th, 2009
Perry, MI, USA

What happened in the previous installment:

I picked up a load of lumber in St. Catharine's, ON and delivered it to Chicago, IL without losing a single bundle. No deers or pedestrians were injured and no traffic tickets were issued by MTO in Canada or DOT in the USA.

Short version of the current installment:

I picked up my first LTL load in and around Chicago, IL; got to use a load leveler for the first time; picked up a free tarp at Tarp Stop (Lake Station, IN) and got stuck at a Perry, MI truck stop till Monday because I didn't have a customs invoice for one of the loads.

Long version for people with lots of free time on their hands :)

As I was driving on Thursday Sept-10-2009 to my drop-off destination in Chicago, IL to get rid of the lumber, Dispatch told me I had 4 (four) pickup stops to make for the return load to Canada. I told them my ETA to the drop-off point would be around 2 pm and I can be at the first pickup around 4 pm (Stop 1 in Carol Stream, IL on the map). They said as long as I'm there before 6 I'll get loaded and then I can pick up the other 3 loads on Friday.

This was my first LTL with the stepdeck. I asked Dispatch how heavy the loads were and what exactly I was picking up, but the responses I got via satellite were not much help. All I knew was that the load in Henry, IL (Stop 3 on the map) was a big agricultural machine which weighed ... 24,000 lbs. As I was picking up Load #1 in Carol Stream which turned out to be a single steel plate, looking to be about 10' by 8' and 4" thick, Dispatch recommended I put it on the upper deck. I talked about this to the loader but he said it was over 130" long and it wouldn't fit on my upper deck and that it was best I put it on the lower deck. I didn't want to argue and the ceiling crane with a magnet attachment picked up the 6,000 lb piece of steel and lowered it on my stepdeck. I tarped it, put a few straps on it and then measured it out of curiosity: it was less than 11 ft! But the crane guy was gone and I didn't want to unstrap and untarp everything, so I left the steel plate where it was.

I didn't have to go to Stop 2 in Lemont, IL till the next morning and it was already 6 pm. I decided to drive in the general direction of Stop 2 hoping to find a place where to park for the night. Well, there was nothing in terms of parking on I-355 and I ended up going all the way to Stop 2 in the middle of nowhere and shut down there till 7 am. The only convenience available was a soda machine that stood outside the shipping office so I bought a bottle of Diet Pepsi and killed time by browsing Internet from my truck. A railroad line ran close by and a few times during the night I got awakened by loud train horns which reminded me of a 1992 funny movie called "My Cousin Vinnie", starring Joe Pesci and gorgeous Marisa Tomei.

Early next morning I went into the shipping office and got the first surprise of the day: the bill of lading number I was given by MacKinnon didn't work with the shipper. It took a couple of satellite emails/cell calls to get the right ones from MacKinnon Dispatch and then I got loaded with two 20-foot long steel bars that the loader picked up from the ground outside of the office. The bars were all rusty and looked they had been sitting in the open air for ever. As I came back to the office to pick up the paperwork I noticed the bill of lading said in big bold letters at the bottom: ALL LOADS HAVE TO BE TARPED. What a bunch of b******t! A few trucks with big aluminum pieces on their flatbeds stood nearby waiting to be unloaded and not a single load was tarped. I talked to one driver if they ever tarped aluminum here and he said no. So, I secured the bars in the back of the lower deck with straps and drove off without tarping.

As I punched the address for Stop 3 into my GPS I learned the distance from Lemont, IL to Henry, IL was ... over 100 miles. I'd better hurry because I still needed to get to Stop 4 in downtown Chicago on the way back to Canada. I took 55 south to 80 west, and then went south on 35 and west on Hwy 18. Read Bros is a farm equipment dealer/repair shop in Henry, IL (population: 2,591 people) and the first thing I did when I got there was to ask them to show me the machines. Turned out they only weighed 5000 lbs (not 24,000) but the size was impressive (see the pictures). We had to move the steel bars from the rear of the lower deck to the upper deck in order to find space for the two "corn heads". I got to use one of the load levelers for the first time and they fitted everything beautifully: the lower parts went into the stake pockets and the height was right, so after putting them in place I wrapped chains around the hooks on the sides of the leveler and the shipper lowered the steel bars onto them (the front part sat on the upper deck). So, actually putting the steel plate from Stop 1 on the lower deck turned to be an advantage not a mistake....

The shipper had a big forklift - one of those huge types with off-road tires - but it was evidently struggling with the 6,000 lb steel bars. I saw its rear wheels go briefly in the air a couple of times which didn't make much sense considering the size of the machine! The shipper didn't have any trouble moving the corn heads as they were only 2,500 lbs each. He loaded them one by one on the lower deck and pushed them against each other to make the load more stable. When I measured the things they were almost 23 feet long, 9.5 feet tall and as you can see from the picture they took the entire width of the trailer.

By the time I put on 2 chains on each side, threw over 2 straps, and then added a small ratchet strap at the back (plus the time I spent moving the tarps on the upper deck, unstrapping, restrapping, and securing the load leveler/s, waiting for the shipper to lift the bars and move them to the upper deck) all of a sudden it was ... 1:30 EST! As I was downing my second bottle of water that I filled it from the fountain in the shipper's shop, I suddenly remembered I still had one more pickup to make!

I typed in the address for Stop 4 in the GPS, and it showed the distance from Henry, IL to be ... 125 miles! Jeez ... I wondered what time they closed on Fridays ... I called the phone number from the load offer as I was driving towards I-80 east and someone in the shipping office at Stop 4 said in a happy voice, "Today we close at ... 3:30 pm." Wow ... I was 125 miles away and it was already close to 2 pm. No way I'd make it to downtown Chicago by 3:30 pm on a Friday. I explained my situation and the lady said to give them a call at 3:30 pm and they'd see - depending how far I was - if anyone could stay to load me.

Well ... 3:30 pm came and I was still over 60 miles away. I called their office again and the shipper put me on hold while she was consulting with the management. After a while she came back on the line saying she was sorry but the management said they wouldn't be able to load me so late because they'd have to have at least 2 people in place (a forklift/crane guy to load me and an office clerk to do the paper work). Which meant I was screwed - I just missed Stop #4 on my LTL!

This being Friday, I'd have to wait till 7:30 am on Monday for them to reopen ... When I sent an email to Dispatch the first thing they asked was why I haven't picked up the stuff from Stop #4 in Chicago BEFORE going to Henry, IL! Always looking to place the blame ... I said it didn't make sense to me to go from Lemont, IL to Chicago, IL and then back to Henry, IL ... I later checked it on the Microsoft Streets and Trips and my way turned out to be 35 miles shorter than the Lemont-Chicago-Henry route.

I offered to stay in Chicago area till Monday but she called the customer who ordered the steel bars and they said they needed the stuff on Monday. The customer was angry I missed the pickup and Dispatch hinted I'd hear more about this on Monday when David the mighty load planner with a quick temper showed up for work (he was off on Friday)...

I am not happy myself as I hate to let people down so I'm driving towards Chicago at a reduced speed thinking how I could've screwed up so badly. My satellite beeps all of sudden 10 minutes later and Dispatch writes the Customer changed their mind and they want me to hang tight near Chicago and then go back to Stop #4 on Monday ... At the end of the message Cindy, the thoughtful dispatcher ... sorry ... "fleet manager" adds, "This load of steel bars is 20 feet long and weighs 26,000 lbs. Pls make sure you're legal and your axles are not overloaded."

I look at my fifth wheel gauge and with the 6,000 lb bars and the 6,000 lb steel plate close to the truck's drives it already shows some weight. Judging from where the needle is I could probably add another 15,000 lbs MAX to the drives. The problem is the only place where I could put these new bars would be on the upper deck plus the load leveler and I'm thinking, "There's no way I can do that without overloading the drives." That big machine in the back screwed up everything ... so I call/email/call Cindy and it is 5 pm on Friday and she's gone. I leave voice messages and then reach the night dispatcher who says Cindy should be back in half an hour. Surprisingly she shows up later and emails me it's OK to go back to Canada if I'm sure I'd be overweight with the bars from Stop #4, and that she'd talk to David the Planner on Monday on how he had planned this entire LTL trip.

So, I'm not picking up anything in Chicago, IL after all and I just park for the night at the Lake Station, IN Flying J. I take the truck to their shop and ask them to change the oil in the differentials and transmissions and $350 and 1 hour later all's done (I learned only recently that it has to be done at least once a year). I end the crazy day by faxing my customs paperwork to three different brokers (3 PARS stickers, one for each load)

On the next morning, Saturday, Sept-12th, I drove to the Tarp Stop near the Flying J and bought some needed accessories for my stepdeck operation:

- another box of 21" bungee cords
- 10 tarp protectors
- 2 more load blankets

I asked Andrew the Tarp Stop guy to give me a small piece of blue tarp so that I can fix a micro hole in my steel tarp made by a bungee cord hook on the first trip. He went inside the shop and came back holding a ... roll of blue tarp, probably 8" by 8". He said, "You spent a lot of money here. Take it." I asked him if he was sure when he said he was I took it with gratitude. I love Tarp Stop! (the pictures were taken in the plaza where the Tarp Stop is located; you can see their sign on the post in the background).

So I started driving and got to Te-Khi truck stop in Battle Creek, MI where I had breakfast. I decided to cross the border and get to Sarnia so that I could be closer to the first drop in ("corn heads"). However only 1 load out of 3 was ready for crossing ("borderconnect" sends text messages to our cell phones when PARS is ready and they have an entry number in the system).

I started calling customs' brokers and the load of corn heads took a while to figure out who the right broker was and who had the customs invoice but eventually - after a ton of phone calls and 4 faxes at $2 each (I must buy a scanner to email these instead!) - I had the green light to take the monstrous corn heads across the border.

That left only the load from Stop 2 - the two 20-ft steel bars - that still hung in the air. The shipping office didn't give my any customs invoices but at least the broker was the right one (DHL). This being Saturday both the shipper in IL and the consignee in Ontario were already closed, and the ever-helpful broker said they cannot do anything unless they have the invoice, which they didn't.

So, I"m stuck at this Perry, MI truck stop till Monday when I can start calling the shipper when they reopen for business at 7 am central time. Well, at least I'll be able to reset my hours and come Monday I'll be ready for another 70 hours of fun.

What comes in the next installment

I'll describe Load #5 and then take a recess till I get the first pay-slip for these five stepdeck loads. I'll post the financials for each of the 5 trips and that will conclude my "Stepping Ahead" thread. Honk if you see a yellow International with a red Wilson stepdeck on the road :(

Tracer if you run synthetic lube in the trans and rear end you can go 3 years (500,000 KM)doing tandem work. Even with traditional lube you can two years(250-300 km) between changes. Heavy haul guys change lube once a year but thats overkill for your kind of work.

Yes, I use synthetic oil because they say it's a must with newer trucks (mine is a 2004). But are you sure about 3 years? I don't want to pay US$350 in vain but my diff oil this time was pretty dirty. Since I bought the truck in April 2007 I've never changed the oil. Initially I did PM at CAT and those guys don't care about diffs and trannies, wouldn't give me any advice on "International" parts. Then I started using TA and Flying J for oil change and sometimes I ran into knowledgeable mechanics who gave me good tips. The CAT manual by the way that I have for the truck has nothing about diffs and tranny oil change in it (naturally) and I very rarely go to an International dealers for PM because they are so much more expensive than TA or Pilot (Pilot in Beaverdam took only 13 bucks to check tire pressure on the truck; everywhere else it's 25).

What I"m going to do I"ll give a call to the International dealer in Woodstock, ON and ask them a simple question: how often do I have to change oil in the tranny and diffs if I pull a tandem stepdeck and my gross weight never exceeds 80,000 lbs.

I'm tired by the way of CAT telling me "it's an International part" and International saying "It's a CAT part." I think it'd be great if everything in the truck was made by one manufacturer as with a Volvo truck with a Volvo engine, or an International truck with a MaxxForce (International) engine. You just go to one place to service everything and mechanics don't pass you over to one another.

It's like with computers: Apple makes both hardware and software and they claim that makes their computers superior to Win machines where 100 companies are involved. I used a Mac for a couple years but then traded the $1,600 machine for a $399 Christmas sale Toshiba! It's not as fancy as the Mac I had before but it does the job (and there's no monthly payments!).

Which shows that when one company makes everything it can be a better quality product but then the manufacturer will inflate the price because no one competes with them. So, I guess I'll keep my truck for now and keep running from CAT to International to TA to Pilot to Flying J and back to CAT to service all the truck systems :)

It use to be 250,000 miles for sintetics, now i believe it's up to 500,000 miles. So once a year is definatly going to be overkill!

Love hearing your stories here about your progress with your own trailer. GREAT STUFF...

I'd call the MANUFACTURER OF THE DIFF (Meritor, Eaton, ?) and go with THEIR RECOMMENDATION for maintenance intervals and lubricant type. The only thing truck manufacturers today seem to actually MANUFACTURE is the EMBLEMS (and even they are made in CHINA) and the design of their cabs (hint: diamond tuck is SO 70's) - everything else seems to be off-the-shelf and interchangeable from one brand truck to any other. Kinda like Harley taking a part off the shelf that was NEVER ON a particular model, putting it on, and call it a NEW MODEL (even though it's 100% HD off-the-shelf parts it's assembled with).

The Apple/PC analogy is a bad one - especially nowadays if you have some patience and computer skills you can make Apple OSX run on regular PC hardware (I RARELY use my PC anymore) - I'm at an advantage at this because I've been a computer geek for decades - a company called Psystar makes PC/Mac clones (as they battle Apple in court) for way less than an Apple branded box.

I personally change major lubricants on ANYTHING I DRIVE - 15-25% SOONER than manufacturers spec, and try to use better than "bottom-of-the-spec" quality lubricants.

Rick

First flatbed pay (9/15/2009)
 

I got my first FLATBED payslip today. All work was done with the company trailers and they paid me 70% of the gross and 100% of the FSC (fuel surcharge). The FSC seems larger than what I was getting on the Dry Van side, and it was interesting to see what each load paid. These are the loads I wrote about at the beginning of the thread. Here's info about 3 loads going from Canada to US, and 3 loads going back. "Charge" is what MacKinnon got from the shipper for the load; "amount" is what they paid me.

Canada to USA (Paid in US funds)

Weston ON to Allyns Point, CT
Miles: 570
Load: insulation, smoke tarp
Charge: $1180
Percentage: 70
Amount: $826.21
FSC: $116.60
Percentage: 100
Amount: $116.60
My revenue: $942.81

Weston, ON to Hanging Rock, OH
Miles: 542
Load: insulation, smoke tarp
Charge: $1292.08
Percentage: 70
Amount: $904.46
FSC: $119.83
Percentage: 100
Amount: $119.83
My revenue: $1024.29

Weston, ON to Channahon, IL
Miles: 532
Load: insulation, smoke tarp
Charge: $1091.80
Percentage: 70
Amount: $764.25
FSC: $123.60
Percentage: 100
Amount: $123.60
My revenue: $887.85

BACKHAUL, USA to Canada (Paid in Cnd Funds)

Allyns Point, CT to Weston, ON
Miles: 570
Load: insulation, smoke tarp
Charge: $695.65
Percentage: 70
Amount: $486.96
FSC: $104.35
Percentage: 100
Amount: $104.35
My revenue: $591.31

Wurtland, KY to Milton, ON
Load: steel, tarped
Miles: 522
Charge: $856.52
Percentage: 70
Amount: $599.56
FSC: $128.48
Percentage: 100
Amount: $128.48
My revenue: $728.04

Youngwood, PA to Hamilton, ON
Load: insulation, smoke tarp
Miles: 321
Charge: $675
Percentage: 70
Amount: $472.5
FSC: $101.25
Percentage: 100
Amount: $101.25
My revenue: $573.75

For this pay period, the US exchange rate was 1.12; and Canadian exchange rate was: 0.89.

Load #5
 

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Fort Erie, ON, Canada

I spent Monday, Sept-14, delivering those 3 LTLs I had ... First I dropped off the two corn heads in Seaforth, ON. From there I headed to Etobicoke, ON and then Mississauga, ON. I was curious if the receiver/crane operator would say something about the rusty steel bars that I hadn't tarped ... but the overworked guy just signed the bill at the "x" and was happy to get back to his regular task of moving steel bars from one shelf to another.

I called MacKinnon Shop from the road and asked if they replace my exhaust stack with a shorter one covered in chrome. I was still driving around with a 10 ft long :) exhaust from my dry van days and the truck looked like a submarine with a periscope. On top of that the most visible part of the stack (the one facing the front) had rusted and spoiled the entire appearance of the truck. The Shop said they could do that and so now my truck doesn't look like a warship anymore and the new stack shines like a 1000 w bulb when it's hit with sunlight.

While they were working on the truck, I got into my car and drove to Downtown Guelph to see how much those small scanners were going for at Staples and Future Shop. The Saturday/Sunday faxing at $2 per page left me resolved to try emailing instead of faxing. I already have Internat access in the truck: thru Verizon Wireless in U.S. (US$165/mo for a cell phone and Internet USB modem), and Bell Mobility in Canada ($75/mo). So I thought I got a scanner I can scan my PARS pages and EMAIL them to customs brokers essentially paying nothing for each page.

I found what I was looking for at Staples: lightweight Canon machine, with only one (1) cable for both data and power, and easy access buttons on the front, including - important! - the PDF button. So now I can scan the customs invoice with my PARS on it, save it as a PDF document and then attach it to an email going out to the broker! I tested the machine and the scanned images looked pretty good - much better than those from a stand-along fax machine. In case someone is interested, the model I bought is called "CanoScan LiDE 200". It went for $100 Cnd, and there was also a cheaper model (model name ending with "100") but it had lower resolution and it needed 24 seconds to scan one page (Model "200" that I bought does one page in 14 seconds).

Before the end of the day I sent Dispatch a message saying I'd be ready to start again tomorrow, Tuesday... Load offers aren't sent out before 9 am most of the time, so I decided to do something about the stepdeck: Wilson recommends to check torque on all the suspension fasteners and generally check all the fasteners on the trailer within the first month of operation. So, I got up at 7 am on Tuesday and took the trailer to Trailers Canada 10 min away, in Breslau, ON. I backed the trailer in the shop and they got to work. Besides retorqueing I also asked them to check air bag fittings for air leaks (I heard air hissing between the trailer axles).

Bruce, the trailer sales guy took me to breakfast while the trailer was being worked on and also presented me with a free winter jacket. It looked pretty nice and was a very timely present - I was about to replace my 3 year old one with something new for this coming winter. The front of the jacket carries the logo of this trailer dealer - "Trailers Canada", but other than that it looks like any other pretty decent (and warm) jacket you could buy at Mark's WorkWearhouse or Walmart.

When I got back from the shop I parked the rig in a plaza with a movie theater and Chapters bookstore (Starbucks inside) in Kitchener, right next to Hwy 401. The theater was closed till 6 pm so parking was plentiful. I waited till 4 o'clock killing time by browsing books at Chapters, drinking Americano coffee, checking out the new computers at the Staples store across the street, and taking pictures of the truck and trailer.

Finally just before the end of her shift, Cindy the Dispatcher sent me a quick note saying I was to load on the next day (Wednesday) near Fort Erie, ON and the load was 10 ft wide. After I received the load offer by satellite, I waited a bit till the rush hour traffic settled down and then headed towards the U.S. border via Hwy 6 south from Guelph and then east on QEW past Hamilton, ON towards the town of Fort Erie, ON (Buffalo, NY is on the other side of the river).

I spent the night at a truck stop off QEW (Exit 5) just 5 km or 3 mi away from the border and at 6:45 am on Wednesday I pulled in the driveway of a plant in Stevensville, ON. My load offer said I was picking up 47,000 lbs of steel bars and that it was a double blind load: the shipper didn't know where I was taking the load, and the consignee was supposed to be kept in the dark about the freight origin.

I checked in with Security and was told to drive in, park the truck and wait. While waiting I watched 5 story high "forklifts" move "pipes" some 20 ft in diameter. I learned later these "pipes" were sections of wind generators' bodies. Each "pipe" was moved by 2 forklifts that held the top part of the "pipe" with huge hooks hanging down from their crane beams. I asked one operator later on how much such a forklift could lift and he said, "55 tons."

A stern-miilitary-style-no-nonsense (and handsome) middle-aged lady in a hard hat and with a 2-way radio on her shoulder came out to the truck. After I told her I was picking up "steel bars" she raised her eyebrows and said they didn't have steel bars, but on this day they had some shipments of steel plate. "This must be it," I said. "I don't trust the info in our load offers too much." She said something into her military style radio :) and went into the office and then came back and directed me towards the excavator-turned-crane in the corner of the lot. Instead of a bucket, this huge machine had a long beam at the end of the main steel cable and there were 3 round magnets attached to the beam - a perfect setup to move plates of steel. Plates were stacked right here on the ground next to the machine, and the entire operation was manned by 3 guys: 1 older dude operated the excavator, and the 2 younger ones hang on to the ropes attached to the ends of the beam and helped the operator to position the plate on the trailer deck. They had 2-way radios and because of the engine noise they used these to communicate with the excavator operator.

As it's been my custom the past week, I asked the guys to be gentle with the trailer as I "just bought it last week". They suggested I removed the load levelers from the front to make the job easier for them which I did.

During the next half an hour they dropped 9 plates on the trailer, with the total weight of about 45,000 lbs. The lower one was the OD - 10 ft wide and 25 ft long - and the other 8 were normal size: 8' by 35'. Miraculously they didn't damage the trailer and none of the plates was dropped and the 2 guys working on the ground walked off without any injuries :)

It was around 9 am when I drove off and found a spot where I could secure and tarp the load without being in the way of the 55 ton forklifts (you don't want to mess with that kind of size). As I was about to get out of the truck and start exercising with chains, my satellite terminal beeped. I clicked on the "Read the new message" button, and David the Important Load Planner informed me the customer might need to "hold off" and advised me to wait some 5 minutes before doing anything to the load. What the ... ?

The load wasn't going far - I was offloading in New Jersey, just south of Philly, PA but I still hadn't seen the permits ... and had no idea what roads I"d be driving on, and now this delay ... I knew that if they wanted me to be in New Jersey early next morning, I'd have to keep the left door closed and drive till I ran out of hours :(

Some 15 minutes later David sent another message, "Pls ask them to offload you. I'll send you a new load offer in a little bit. You'll get $150 cancellation fee. Sorry for the screw-up".

So, I got to talk to the "military" lady one more time and when she heard I was told to unload the plates because the customer had changed his mind, she said, "Freak off!" Which I understand was directed not at me but at the customer and my Dispatch :)

So, I backed up to the excavator again and the 3-man ace team took the 9 plates off two and three plates at a time. They didn't mind too much because they were on an hourly pay.

When I got back to the truck after returning all the paperwork to the shipping office, there was a new load offer on my satellite: I was picking up aluminum logs 100 mi away in Brampton, ON and delivering them to Youngstown, OH. I now know these pay quite well, so I sent the "load offer accepted" message back to the Dispatch and headed towards Toronto on QEW and then 403.

I hit the shipper about 2 pm and the first thing you do when you pull in is to go through their scale. Because I had filled only 1 tank the day before (I was getting ready to pick up the 47,000 lb load in Stevensville!), my empty weight was 30,800 lbs (the display above the shipper's window shows the weights). When I went into the office, the shipper asked me how much fuel I had in the truck. I said "1 tank" and "why?". He replied he could put 49,000 lbs on my trailer, if I didn't need fuel. I said I needed room for at least a partial fill-up and we agreed upon just over 48,300 lbs (!) which - according to the shipper - should still give me enough breathing room to get 75 gal of fuel. Out of curiosity I asked the guy if a 48,300 lb load paid any better to MacKinnon than - say - a 45,000 lb load (I"m on percentage, right?). To my surprise, the shipper said, "No. We pay in 20k lb increments." Which means, whether it's 41k lb or 59k lb load, the freight rate is still the same. So, I'm not sure what my motivation is supposed to be while pulling ... 48, 571 lbs of aluminum instead of - say - "normal" 45,000 lbs. Next time, I'm going to fill up both tanks. As Gman once said in one of his earlier posts something to the effect that "Heavy loads don't usually pay as good as lighter loads". I consider this one of the many paradoxes of the trucking industry ...

Surprisingly, with 48,571 lbs on the deck (and only 1 tank full), my axle weights were pretty much normal:

steers: 12,020 lbs
drives: 33,700 lbs
tandems: 33,580 lbs.

My fifth wheel was 1 hole forward of the center between the drive axles, and the loading guy put all the logs in the exact middle of the trailer using the side turn signal as a guide. This is probably the heaviest load I ever pulled on a tandem flat/step so far and I'm happy that my 61" spread Wilson RoadBrute was able to swing it!

I put 5 straps across the top of the load, and then used one steel tarp to cover it (I threw one $7 blanket on each side under the tarp to protect it from the sharp edges of the logs)... It took me awhile to get through the rush hour traffic on QEW and then 403 but I did it without losing any aluminum logs and I didn't have to stop to adjust the tarp. The day ended in the Duty Free parking in Fort Erie, ON, 3 min from the U.S. border ... and I now only have 3 hours worth of driving to do tomorrow, Thursday, to reach the consignee in Youngstown, OH.

One thing I noticed today with such a heavy load is that because this is a stepdeck and it is low, the truck handles much better than with a heavy load in a dry van or even flatbed trailer.

Quick question, 5 straps for that much weight does not seem like enough. Is it? The WLL on the 4" straps I have is 5400# Seems a load like that would require chains. When it comes to securing, I always opt for overkill.

Glad to hear (read) your new adventure is going well. The new trailer looks good.

-scott

Good interesting thread you have going on here, I love reading what people are getting into from day to day. Keep it going with the good details.

The rule of thumb I always use is 9,000lb per chain (5/16 grade 7) and 8,000lb per strap or 1 strap every ten feet if its light and bulky. I'd have probably used chains just because but the nice thing about straps is you can check/tighten them without disturbing the tarp.

There may not be much difference in the working weight of straps and chains. Some freight does better with chains and others with straps. I don't usually use straps with coils unless the coil is aluminum. I may throw a strap across the top of a coil if it is a particularly heavy coil. Chains work better with equipment and certain types of machinery. It depends on what you want to secure. I never use a strap to secure something if there is a chance the product could cut my strap without protecting my straps. Steel can cut a strap in a heartbeat if you are not careful. Regardless of what you want to secure it is important to know the working weight of your chains or straps.

WLL of straps must be equal to 50% of the load weight, not 100%. So, if you have 40,000 lbs you only need to get enough straps to total the WLL of 20,000 lbs. That's what the law says.

I'm hauling 9 small coils right now and they are loaded "eyes forward". I set up racks on 4x4s, rubber mats etc and used one strap per each coil to tie them down. Might be an overkill in terms of weight (the total is only 41,175 lbs) but the crane guy said he was required to leave 3"-4" gaps between the coils, so I felt I needed to have them all strapped.

There's more than one way to skin a cat Tracer. I probably would have put a 4X4 across the rack to keep the coils 4" apart and chained them conventionally through the eye and have 3 groups of 3 coils with two chains through the eye of each group. Something to remember paper wrapped coils can slide a lot easier than bare ones.

Unless they are aluminum I would have used chains to secure them. I might still have used a strap over the top, but I feel more comfortable securing coils with chains. I would probably have put a couple of chains on each coil and thrown at least 1 strap on each one as well. I also use racks and rubber mats, but that won't stop a coil if it decides to move. It is not as likely to move with it being loaded shotgun or eye to the front, but you never know. I doubt that I will ever be 100% comfortable hauling coils. I usually over secure them, if that is possible. I suppose that I have just seen too many that have rolled off the truck or over it. :eek2:

I don't like coils either ... but straps did hold them pretty good especially because there was rubber everywhere: between racks and the trailer deck; and between coils and 4x4 pieces they were sitting on. I delivered them in Peterborough, ON this afternoon and when I took the tarp off I didn't see any shifting or any other surprises. No tarps were cut.

You are not likely to cut a strap with the coils loaded shotgun. I rarely rely on a single strap, even if it is all that is legally required. Rubber mats can make a difference in whether a coil moves or not. I have had a coil move forward even with the mats. It didn't move much, but it got my attention. I had to lock my truck down when a 4 wheeler cut me off. Had that not happened it would likely not have moved.

Do you carry all the dunnage to make those racks and spacers onboard - or does the shipper provide some of the material for you?

Just curious - lotta wood went into that setup there...

Rick

Which escort service did you use and did MacKinnon pay for that or you?

Also, those winch tracks that you were complaining about? Wait until winter. The sand and water gets on the winch rail and the only way to get them to slide is to beat them with your winch bar. They kinda suck that way.

Bruce never bought me breakfast or gave me a jacket. Hmm.

Good question ... I was worried as I pulled in their "Staging Yard". All the notices on the shack's outside walls said truckers needed to have their own dunnage for coils! I had none on my trailer (it's heavy, i'm not a flatbed, and usually most shippers provide the stuff for free anyway; these are some of the reasons why I don't carry any wood). Another notice on the wall there said I could purchase 4x4s at a store nearby and that the approximate price was ... US$7 per piece. I lucked out with the crane guy who was loading me: he talked to his supervisor and instead of sending me away to the store they supplied me with the wood and rubber mats and spacers to put between the coils at $0 cost. I got rid of the wood again at the consignee (who was happy to take it) but kept most of these long and narrow rubber mats - they can be handy in protecting straps put on sharp edges ... their only drawback is they are heavy as hell.

load 7: transporting transformers
 

Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Kingdom City, MO, USA

Some people posted here they enjoyed my trucking tales ... so I'll keep updating till I get the first stepdeck work pay slip. That should happen on October the 1st.

I'm sitting at the Petro off I-70 west in MO writing this as I have to deliver 2 transformers to a customer in Lake Ozark, MO tomorrow. For some reason they don't look like cars, but rather like 2 big steel cabinets. Each is 8 ft tall and 7.5 ft wide and about 6 ft long. They weigh only 4,000 lbs each. And they've been keeping to themselves the entire 900 mile trip from Guelph, ON Canada to here.

Here's what happened. When I delivered Load #6 (9 coils to Peterborough, ON) on Friday, Dispatch asked if I needed a reset. I replied I had only done 2 loads and had a ton of hours. So they told me they were working on a load that delivered on Monday in MO.

I did something like 650 miles on Friday to be back in Guelph for the early Saturday morning (8 am) pickup. The customer was a plant 1 min away from our own yard and this was my first time there. The shipper was surprised to see me (which is never good) because:

A couple of "scientists" with big screwdrivers were still doing something inside the machines I was picking up; and "David (the Load Planner) promised me a rolling tarp stepdeck", according to the shipper.

I said I can't help him there but I re-checked their address and the shipper's name in the truck and told the guy, "You are on my satellite as my pickup location." He went to his computer and started sifting through emails about this load but couldn't find the one he was looking for, so he gave up and just shrugged.

The "scientists" were still deep at work inside of the machines so I told the shipper I'd drive over to the nearest shopping plaza to grab a bite to eat (there's one right next to our yard).

I took the truck and trailer and drove to the plaza and the only place to park was near a sign that said, "Bus stop" because the entrance to the parking inside the plaza had concrete islands and I didn't feel like rolling over them with my new 17.5" trailer tires.

I bought a plastic mini-box of raspberries and two 250 ml cartons of raw egg whites (good snack when you're in a hurry). My next stop was at the Starbucks where I rewarded myself with a 'tall Americano, no room". That's a double espresso in a small cup, topped up with hot water. It tastes much better than dripped coffee and - surprisingly - each shot has only 75 mg of caffeine, or 150 mg per 2 shots. That compares favorably with a large cup of regular coffee that would put my count of caffeine in the 300 to 400 mg range. And for some reason I find that espresso tastes stronger even with water ...

A girl in front of me in the line bought a 'grande' (large) cup of ... white tea (hot water + tea bag in a cup with the Starbucks logo), one muffin and one cookie or something (2 pieces of various types of pastry). The salesgirl punched some numbers on the register and said, "$8.75" I almost said something :) this is Canadian dollars but still ... almost 9 bucks on a cup of tea and 2 donuts seemed extreme at 8:30 in the morning (I'm sure this girl hasn't even had breakfast yet).

My Americano clocked in at $2.45 and I left the coffee shop feeling like a financial genius. Back to the truck ... Now how do I get out of here? I have to go back towards the lights the way I came, but I can't turn around and I can't go into the plaza. I can only go straight deeper into the residential area, or I can turn left into a crossing residential street with no evident exit. So, I turn left into this residential street, put the truck and trailer straight and then back up into the plaza. I watch both mirrors and move slowly so that people don't ram into me and then get out of the plaza, turn left - back towards the lights. Sounds a bit risky but this was Saturday morning and and there was hardly any traffic.

When I get back to the shipper, the 'scientists' with big screwdrivers are gone and now a regular grunt just walks around the machines wrapping each in plastic. He puts on so many layers that I ask the shipper: "With that much plastic, maybe I shouldn't be tarping?" The shipper doesn't see the irony and answers seriously, "No, you have to tarp."

When the forklift guy (the "grunt") brings the machines one by one to the truck with 1 mile long FORK EXTENSIONS on, I ask him not to bump the guard rail. He listens and then moves towards the trailer and hits the guard rail! I tell him to back off and inspect the rub rail. No damage has been done as far as I can see, but I tell the guy (half-kidding) if he does that again I'm going to grab my pry bar and damage something on his forklift. The grunt smiles but doesn't hit the guard rail again after that.

Each machine weighs 4k lbs as I mentioned and is mounted on its own skid. The shipper insists I put 2 separate chains on the bottom of each skid and then add 2 straps on top of each machine! I try to argue but the shipper says that's their procedure and if I don't like it he can call David the Load Planner and let him talk to me. Naturally, that puts an end to the argument :) and after a very-very-very long time the machines are strapped, chained and covered with one piece of my 24'x 20' tarp (I got some help from the grunt while spreading the tarp on the top).

I leave the shipper close to ... 12 noon! Because the chains and straps are in the front, as I"m driving I see in the mirrors how the tarp balloons on both sides. So I stop to rearrange the tarp:

- in Cambridge, ON - some 10 minutes out of the shipper; then again in
- London, ON; then again in
- Sarnia, ON (on the border); then again in
- Lansing, MI

It drove me nuts .. No matter how many bungee cords I used and how hard I tried to seal the front (I used the remaining 3 tarps as a counter weight at the bottom of the first machine), the tarp kept puffing up.

Finally, as I stopped for the night at the Flying J in Battle Creek, MI I just took off all the bungee cords, put the front strap on top of the tarp, and got rid of the first chain. Its binder kept the tarp open at the bottom corner ... and the air was evidently coming in the hole at 58 MPH. I used a small ratchet strap to hold down the skid. It had only 3,000 lbs WLL but I figured that was more than enough to hold a 4,000 lbs transformer.

I can't say the tarp sat perfect after that but it looked much better and I got to where I'm now (Petro Truck Stop at Exit 148 in 70 west in MO) without any incidents.

It'd be interesting to see how much this painful load pays when I get my payslip on October 15th (we have 2 weeks delay in pay). The shipper said the machines were expensive and the trip is almost 900 miles.... so I hope it pays good. Of course they should tell us the freight charge in advance, but the only way to change the system at MacKinnon is to quit and become 100% independent and I'm not ready for that yet.

Tracer,

Thansk for the info on trucking ive been watching and following ur videos for a long time now i really like them ! very informative. do you have a blog anywhere? if not keep up the posting here i love reading it. great color choices on the trailer!!

Thanks for the kind words, chromewheelz. I"m glad to be able to shed some light on the fascinating world of independent trucking :) thanks for the tip about a blog: after i post here my first pay slip for the stepdeck loads, i'll move the entire content (my posts only) to stepping ahead blog on blogger.com.

as for the trailer's color i wanted yellow originally - like my truck's - but the salesman said it would affect the trailer's price at resale. since i wanted something bright, he suggested the so called "wilson red". it turned out a great choice. i love it.

end of the line
 

I'm stuck in MO for the second day in a row so I got busy by moving my thread to www.blogger.com (thanks to user Chromewheelz for the suggestion). This is my last post in the stepping ahead thread on classadrivers.com. For future updates, pictures and more please bookmark/visit my new "Stepping ahead" blog at: Stepping ahead Thanks to everyone for their comments.

going to Canada
 

Tracer,

I enjoyed your posts, keep em up!

I am looking in to start traveling to canada (hopefully for more $$). Never have done it before, I run flatbed (plain old skateboard) under my own authority. What is involed in regards to shipment paperwork, my own documents (passport?), etc. I have no criminal record nor any DUI's.

Thanks!

It has been several years since I have crossed the border, but I will see if I can remember a few things that might be helpful. The first thing you need to do is make sure you have those provinces where you will be traveling added to your cab card. You also need to make sure you have authority for Canada. You need to make sure you have a manifest for your load and that it has been cleared before you get to the border. Your shipper or broker should have taken care of this, but you should make sure before getting to he border. You can call ahead and make sure the shipment has been cleared before getting to the border. If not, I would call the broker or forwarding agent to make sure it is done before arriving at the border. You will also need a passport. I understand that there is a card you can get instead of a regular passport that may cost a little less. I would also make sure your truck is in good working order and that everything is working and adjusted properly. I don't recall ever having been inspected in Canada, but I understand that they have been checking for speed limiters. A friend of mine runs Canada frequently and he had his truck set for a maximum speed of 65 mph, which is a little over 100 kph. I believe 62 mph is equivalent to 100 kph. Like I said, it has been a few years. I would also either use a debit or credit card for any purchases other than the border crossing. It is usually less expensive due to the exchange rates. Some truck stops and companies add a little extra to make the exchange into Canadian dollars. Unless you run Canada frequently, you don't want to come back with a lot of Canadian dollars. Most U.S. companies won't accept them. When I ran Canada the U.S. dollar was worth quite a bit more than the Canadian dollar so I usually gave the U.S. dollars to the waitresses for a tip. At that time most of the truck stops would accept U.S. dollars, but would give back Canadian Toward the end of my time crossing the border I believe the Canadian dollar was worth about $0.68 in U.S. dollars. I believe they are pretty close right now, but it will still work better using a debit or credit card. You will need cash to cross the border. U.S. or Canadian will both work. I am sure the cost has gone up since I crossed.

US debit cards will work in atm machines in canada, but not usually at interac machines at the cash register.

credit cards work anywhere.

Count on 15-20 bucks U.S.D. at each border crossing. I've been up there several times and haven't been checked for a speed limiter, but that doesn't mean they aren't checking. One driver said it is a 375$ fine, one said 1000$. Mine is set to 65mph (on the floor), but the cruise control is another story....

Like GMan said, have your broker in place prior to arriving to make sure the shipment is clear. Also, you may need an ACE manifest to come back stateside, loaded or empty. I know I do, being leased onto United.

HTH

going to canada
 

jasontherock, I moved the thread to my blog (see the link below). As for Canada, what I can add to what Gman wrote is this:

- if you have a FAST card (especially the new secure one), no one will bother asking for a passport, either entering Canada and US when you come back. I used to have a passport but it expired early this month, so I'm not even getting a new one. in 5 years i had it i was asked for it only once - by a U.S. customs guy when going into US. 99.9% of the time border guards are happy to see the new updated FAST card

-PARS is something you need to have when going to Canada. it's a bar code/sticker (with a bunch of numbers and your carrier's name) that we put on the Customs Invoice (a very important piece of paper that is usually provided by the shipper). You stick this PARS on the invoice (or the bill of lading, if the shipper didn't give you the invoice) and fax it to the broker on the Canadian side. ACE doesn't exist unless you go back to US. It's important to write down right next to the PARS where you're going to cross and your ETA to the crossing point (not just the date but time as well). If you show up in Windsor, ON and your paperwork is set up to cross via Sarnia, ON, you'll be told to park the truck and "go see your broker".

- US dollars: most stores, coffee shops and restaurants will take US dollars; but nowadays the exchange rate isn't the best. I"d use a credit card wherever possible. The only coffee shop chain that doesn't take VISA is Tim Horton's but they do take MasterCard.

- if you cross into Ontario or Quebec, your truck must be governed for 65 MPH

- the speed limit on 401 in Ontario is 62.15 MPH (100 km/h) but 99.9999999% of four wheelers do at least 70 mph. police usually doesn't bother you unless you go above 75 MPH (120 Km/h). I know that fines raise sharply when you exceed the speed limit by more than 15 km (9.5 mi). We have a new law in Ontario now that was designed to fight street racers: if you're caught doing 50 km (30 mi) above any speed limit, you can: lose the vehicle, lose the license, and be fined for ... $10,000.

Tracer you snob!

That was me yelling at you, at your famous pit stop. The blue water bridge duty free. I was heading into Canada. Big white Volvo with the big ugly tarped load on the back.

Nice rig btw, looked very clean!

What are you doing out this way allan? I thought you were a western boy? All you van drivers are flooding the ON market with cheap steps LOL.

Don't come out there often, and don't plan on it either. I did ~2800 miles in 11 days. Basically Winnipeg to Illinois to st. catherines and back.

Alan, I heard someone yelling but I didn't recognize the truck so I thought a guy yelling at me from 100 m away on the other side of the bridge was just loosing it because of too many days on the road :) If I knew it was you, I"d have yelled back :)

No big deal! I guess I should've yelled "tracer" instead of "sergei".

I knew it was you before I even saw your name on the tarps.

alan, i just got an account on twitter (see the link below). if you have an account, maybe we could be online friends. my user name is ... "step48" :)