[kc8vje]

Originally Posted by millersod215

sorry about the misinformed "montgomery" post, i didn't know that you had to make your way down to florida on your own expense, my friend lives about 20 minutes from me, and he in turn lives about 20 minutes from the terminal. They do keep you steady, and he seems to be doing okay as far as money goes, he's on a load from Jax, Fl to just west of Nashville, pays a little over 392.00 dollars, i guess that's not too bad, i don't know, and haven't really broken down the numbers, i like my local job so i just tend to stay away from even looking in to OTR companys. I checked out CDJ's website, and their trucks are leaps and bounds above montgomerys, and their hometime is every weekend, not too bad. Good luck whatever it is you decide.

The pay for the load isn't that bad, My old run paid me $300.00 per day for 2 round trips to the river terminal. 160 miles round trip.

[kc8vje]

Originally Posted by Orangetxguy

Are there any APAC Construction yards in your area?? You might check them out..APAC is a Ashland Chemical company.





:moose:

I'll check them out. I talked to a buddy of mine that owns his coal truck (I used to work for him)He's letting his new truck go back and filing bankruptcy. From what I have heard, it's like this everywhere. I went to the unemployment office yesterday, and there were 5 truck drivers in there looking for work due to the coal slump. May be a little longer getting back in the saddle here local.

Here's a thought. Is there anyone on this board from either Knoxville, TN area or Columbus, OH that has information on local jobs for the 2 areas mentioned above? The family and I have pondered a move for a month or two due to the lack of work down here (Ahhh, yes... Rural America.... Live here, starve to death)

Or, I could always see if Apu at the Quickie Mart will hook me up with a towel for my head and a job working the counter... :shock:

[prosperity]

Originally Posted by kc8vje

I'll check them out. I talked to a buddy of mine that owns his coal truck (I used to work for him)He's letting his new truck go back and filing bankruptcy. From what I have heard, it's like this everywhere. I went to the unemployment office yesterday, and there were 5 truck drivers in there looking for work due to the coal slump. May be a little longer getting back in the saddle here local.

Here's a thought. Is there anyone on this board from either Knoxville, TN area or Columbus, OH that has information on local jobs for the 2 areas mentioned above? The family and I have pondered a move for a month or two due to the lack of work down here (Ahhh, yes... Rural America.... Live here, starve to death)

Or, I could always see if Apu at the Quickie Mart will hook me up with a towel for my head and a job working the counter... :shock:

Things seem slow with coal here in PA also.
Had a good thing going last summer hauling from a strip mine 2 miles from my house. Now they have me dead-heading 105 miles to pick up.
Is this typical for coal this time of year, or is this a trend that is here to stay for a while?

[kc8vje]

Here's what I know first hand....

The coal business is cyclical. You get a huge demand for coal and thus creates a "coal boom". This may go on for several years, then something happens... Less dependency on coal, environmental issues, etc, etc.... The coal boom shuts off like a light.

I had a nice cushy run that went from a loadout bin off the asphalt to a river terminal 70 miles away. Make 2 trips, put 300 in your pocket. That ran out, and they sent me 2 1/2 hours from home to get loaded to take to the power plant. That ran out quickly and paid a lot less. After that, the owner came in on payday and said, " who in here has a truck with a payment on it?" Of course, by damn, mine was a 2005 and paid for.. He said "We have to lay off every truck that is paid for and run the ones with a payment" Talk about tough luck. There are 35 trucks on the road of his now. This dude has over 200 trucks, which IMHO is too big of a company to depend on just one commodity to haul in this area.

[prosperity]

Thanks for your insight kcBvje -
I'm in my first 7 months working for my present company - 75% hauling coal.
Now mind you, these people have been great to me, and have never said "I don't have anything for you today" - they do a great job of keeping us moving.
I am at kind of a crossroads right now. I used to run a lawn maintenance business, and am thinking of getting back into it - my reason for asking about how the coal industry works.
Like you, I had a nice run last summer - 2.5 hour run with coal, then a 3.5 hour back-haul of salt, then 1 hour back home - now my last run was a total of 11 hours driving, and pays quite a bit less.

Which brings another question being my first winter with coal - what do you do to treat your bed against freezing?
I had a nightmare a couple weeks ago with the coal freezing in my bed. The other drivers have instructed me to use a 50/50 mix of used oil/diesel, plus line the bed with salt. Seems to work OK, but next week we are supposed to be below zero temps - any other suggestions?

Anyway, again, thanks for you insight on the coal industry. This is all new to me, and need to decide which way to go with my career.

[kc8vje]

Originally Posted by prosperity

Thanks for your insight kcBvje -
I'm in my first 7 months working for my present company - 75% hauling coal.
Now mind you, these people have been great to me, and have never said "I don't have anything for you today" - they do a great job of keeping us moving.
I am at kind of a crossroads right now. I used to run a lawn maintenance business, and am thinking of getting back into it - my reason for asking about how the coal industry works.
Like you, I had a nice run last summer - 2.5 hour run with coal, then a 3.5 hour back-haul of salt, then 1 hour back home - now my last run was a total of 11 hours driving, and pays quite a bit less.

Which brings another question being my first winter with coal - what do you do to treat your bed against freezing?
I had a nightmare a couple weeks ago with the coal freezing in my bed. The other drivers have instructed me to use a 50/50 mix of used oil/diesel, plus line the bed with salt. Seems to work OK, but next week we are supposed to be below zero temps - any other suggestions?

Anyway, again, thanks for you insight on the coal industry. This is all new to me, and need to decide which way to go with my career.

I really do not condone the 50/50 oil/diesel mix for coal. The reason is, The processing plants are running this coal through a series of washers that run off into the local streams and creeks, also the oil tends to mess up their thickener machine (the big concrete pond with the skimmers) As it mixes with the Magnetite and doesn't float the coal to the top of the water as well.

As far as de-icing (doping) the bed, I use and recommend a mix of automotive antifreeze and winter mix windshield washer fluid. It seems to work well, and have never froze using it. I recommend going to True Value or ACE and getting a pump powered weed sprayer to use with the de-icer. It makes it a heck of a lot easier.

If you get in a pinch and do freeze on the dump, carry 3 or 4 gallons of bleach with you,(this only works if you have an aluminum bed though) you pour the bleach along the inside of the bed and wait it out. Somehow the bleach reacts with the aluminum and heats it. Now, prolonged use of bleach will damage your aluminum. I've also had to resort to jacking the bed up a stage or so and setting buckets of diesel under it and starting a fire.

Winter sucks for hauling coal, dirt, gravel, magnetite, anything except salt.

BTW, do you guys run the big weight up in PA. We used to down here... I could remember making trips weighing 225,000 pounds GVW. They have us down to 126,000 legally now.

[Mackman]

when i drove tri axle dump we had heated body's with vibrators on them. i take it coal trucks dont have them(well you shouldn't have a vibrator anyway with a alum body) We all ways used oil (diesel fuel) to spray are body's down when we hauled blacktop. But just the heat alone helps with dirt and what not in the winter.

[kc8vje]

A long time ago, there were a few heated trailers down here. Most were heated by routing the exhaust through a channel under the bed. I never used these beds though.

I like hauling asphalt. My dad and uncle had 2 asphalt trucks. One was a Diamond T and the other a big ol' Autocar. I wlways liked the fact that the paver pushed you along while you dumped.

[prosperity]

Originally Posted by kc8vje

I really do not condone the 50/50 oil/diesel mix for coal. The reason is, The processing plants are running this coal through a series of washers that run off into the local streams and creeks, also the oil tends to mess up their thickener machine (the big concrete pond with the skimmers) As it mixes with the Magnetite and doesn't float the coal to the top of the water as well.

As far as de-icing (doping) the bed, I use and recommend a mix of automotive antifreeze and winter mix windshield washer fluid. It seems to work well, and have never froze using it. I recommend going to True Value or ACE and getting a pump powered weed sprayer to use with the de-icer. It makes it a heck of a lot easier.

If you get in a pinch and do freeze on the dump, carry 3 or 4 gallons of bleach with you,(this only works if you have an aluminum bed though) you pour the bleach along the inside of the bed and wait it out. Somehow the bleach reacts with the aluminum and heats it. Now, prolonged use of bleach will damage your aluminum. I've also had to resort to jacking the bed up a stage or so and setting buckets of diesel under it and starting a fire.

Winter sucks for hauling coal, dirt, gravel, magnetite, anything except salt.

BTW, do you guys run the big weight up in PA. We used to down here... I could remember making trips weighing 225,000 pounds GVW. They have us down to 126,000 legally now.

Thanks for that - I've never heard of using that combination - I'll have to ask some more of our drivers about it. The ones that I have talked to all seem to have their own "mix" - but the common denominator with them has seem to been the oil/fuel and salt - salt being the most important ingredient.

We can only run 80,000. I go to New York everyday, and have to be 80,000 up there also. In New York, you can run more with proper permits, but then you have to have a whole bunch of axles - some of those trucks look like caterpillars - I've seen as many as 7 axles under a trailer!

I'm going to do some more asking about doping the bed - thanks.