Smoke Tarps and a Dirt Burner
 

If I have a "dirt burner" (horizontal, under cab mounted exhaust), and the load information says it requires a smoke tarp, do I still need to use the tarp? I mean with a dirt burner there's no smoke to damage the load.

I think I would be inclined to put the tarp on anyway- when I hauled siding, we had to use salt tarps in the winter- but winter was determined by the calendar, not by the weather or road conditions. If we didn't have the tarp on, we didn't get paid for the load. Thankfully, I never found that out the hard way, but I know of drivers who did.

I never drove a "Grass-Burner", but back when I pulled a flat, I was always told (by the shipper) that they did not have to use them. However, I've also hauled loads of wooden spools that had been sitting out in the weather, and a tarp was required. Soil pipes (sewer pipe) that will never see fresh water after they're put in, and I had to tarp them.

I believe I would check with the shipper, or even better, the receiver, and see if they require that you put a smoke tarp on. If they tell you "YES", I would follow orders. Otherwise, when in doubt, TARP THE LOAD. I've done that and it saved my butt more than once.

For that matter, it doesn't take much to put a small tarp on the front of the load. Not like having to tarp the whole load. I always carried a "half-tarp" just for that.

I bought a “smoke tarp” as well as a three piece (24’x18’ each) 8’ drop lumber tarp, but I’m hoping to not use either very often. Of course, if I’m told to tarp by the consignee, I’ll tarp the load. I was just wondering if they would understand that there would be no real benefit to doing so in my case. I thought that perhaps others here might have some experience with this situation.


I’ve never driven a truck with a dirt burner either, but I’m about to. I decided to remove my vertical 5” rear mounted exhaust and put it under the truck so that I could move my headache rack further forward on the rails. I also removed a fuel tank, which I have been debating doing for over two years. Removing the passenger side tank made the exhaust project a lot simpler and it will save about 1,100 pounds to boot. Moving the exhaust underneath the truck saved close to 100 pounds between the brackets and pipe I was able to get rid of.

That's funny, I did the same thing a week ago so I could install a headache rack. Only, I didn't want to go the grass burner route so I ran a 5" pipe up the back of the bunk and bolted it to the headache rack so the headache rack is now doing double duty as a exhaust stack support.

My pipes are on the side, next to the tanks, shipper said no smoke tarp needed, this is an old pic, sold the flat in 2008

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...cotrip2020.jpg

Doing that wouldn’t have accomplished anything in my situation, as the 10” muffler would’ve still been behind the sleeper causing the headache rack to be mounted no closer than fourteen or more inches from the back of the cab. The rack I bought is the three door cabinet type, 67”H x 84”W x 14” deep, like the one below, except I ordered mine with polished diamond plate:

http://tlwoods.com/images/05semicab6.JPG

Because it's a fairly deep cabinet, I thought moving it all the way forward would be the thing to do to give me more room to route the air and electrical lines and also open my options a little regarding where I can set my fifth wheel.

Maniac, your truck looks great with the pipes mounted there… it’s a very slick looking configuration. I had considered placing it there as well, but it would have involved a lot more work and this is a big enough project as it is. My pipe comes down from the back of the engine and then runs directly beneath the passenger side rail and terminates about six inches in front of the “flex-air” suspension spring. I still need to do something for a quarter or half fender, but when I priced them earlier this week, all four places I called wanted over $2k for the fenders and brackets; and I’m already over $5k into converting from a reefer setup to a stepdeck (excluding the $45k for the trailer, of course) and just can’t justify spending another $2k on fenders.

I would appreciate any suggestions regarding a cost effective solution to my fender problem. Below is a pic from the website I ordered my rack from. Check out this one solution for fenders and let me know what you think.

http://tlwoods.com/images/05semicab3big.JPG

Also, I’d love to see pics or hear suggestions of what to do with my electrical and air lines. Right now I’ve settled on mounting the grab rail from the back of my sleeper onto the bottom front of my headache rack and attaching hanger hardware and a short spring from there. Right now I have the coiled type lines, by the way.

No, I moved the muffler underneath the truck, but still ran the 5" pipe up behind the bunk where the muffler used to be.

I don't recall how deep mine is....14" seems about right. It's a 3 door Merritt.

As for the air lines, so far I have coil spring attached to the top of the headache rack with an s hook. The spring hangs down and supports the lines.