I know of 4 Texas Dedicated drivers and 3 linehaul that live in or around Waco. Texas Dedicated runs primarily from Houston to Sweetwater and Midland/Odessa. Highway 6, 36, and US84 are our regular routes and that puts the Pilot in Robinson (Waco) as one of our regular stops.

 

I got to help another driver for the first time. Serious help, not just helping with securing loads or other simple stuff. Seems he pulled off the parking lot into some really soft sand. He was sunk in deep. He had asked some drivers to help the night before and they promised to, but took off first thing the next morning without helping. This driver was calling every big truck passing him and no one had stopped to help in hours. He called me, told me the problem. I got turned arround and came back to see what the problem was. He was stuck alright. I got my truck setup for a tow with TMC's approved method and it was a matter of a couple of minutes to pull him out. I had my loaded truck, heavy but not quite maxed out, he was loaded, in soft sand and I pulled him right out. At first his wheels were turned all the way to the right and I drug him that way. These trucks have a lot of power.

 

Way to go driver! Nowaday's you just don't see truckers helping truckers as much as they used to.

 

We were taught TMC's "approved method" of setting up to be pulled out of being in a stuck situation but not using TMC equipment to do the pulling. If something went wrong TMC would have pulled the plug on you. Ask your FM or Safety if it is OK to use your truck as a tow truck.

 

terrylamar wrote
I got stuck in Georgia earlier this year in some soft clay. Nasty stuff. It packs into the tread and eliminates all your traction. While I was waiting for the tow truck, I took a few photos with the accident camera. Here is the link to 5 of the photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbenson...in/set-742908/

 

that link takes you to some pics of birds, lakes, and a couple of people......but no truck pics

 

Bummer: I posted the wrong link to the 5 photos of my stuck truck.

I'll give it another try.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbenson2/516167847/

 

That link worked and that looked like some nasty stuff.....I wonder if snow chains might work if you were ever in a situation like that again :?:

 

Snake_Ize is right. You were lucky Terry. In the future, never use company equipment to do that. Was it the "right" thing to do? Yes. Was it nice of you? Yes. Would it have cost you your job? Yes.

 

Well, now I know. No one ever told me that before. I thought that is why they demostrated it for us at orrientation.