Flatbed advice

I hauled sod one summer years ago. It's HEAVY, especially after a rain. Depending on how it's stacked on the pallets, it rides nice, we threw a net type tarp over it, used bungee straps, and ran with it. Never any problems.
I had a Princeton forklift on my truck. You control direction of travel, and steering, from the steering wheel. It took some practice, but it was pretty easy after that. Lots of long days, 6 days a week.

 

I've hauled lots of sod. Throw a strap over each row of pallets, I throw 2 over the front and rear row. Snug them up but don't crank them down real hard. We use sod tarps. Doesn't take a whole lot of bungees to keep them tight.

 

There is no such thing as to much securement. If your gut tells you it doesn't look right then make it right. The fact that you retracted your resume for lack of knowledge is commendable. Therfore in my opinion you would probably make a good flatbedder. DOT rules are basicly that securement should equal 50% of the cargo its securing. So if you have two one ton pallets side by side on a trailer you should have a minnimum of 2000lbs of securment. Learn the WLL (working load limit) of your equipment and you will be on your way. You should also use two straps over the front and rear pallets of your loads. Also just ask someone thats loading around I've never come across a flatbedder that wouldn't give advice when asked.

 

Ants,...

I hauled SOD a couple times for some quick money local to me.

never saw so many ants all over my truck. They made their way inside my cab too.

Florida has these nasty little fire ants. They bit and its not quite as bad as a bee sting. But you definitely know it when they do,.. and then itches like hell.

My wife is allergic too them.

Hurst

 

I didn't think they even had sod down there. Lol

We used to haul a lot of sod to Williston ND. Show up at the field at 6 am and they would cut and roll you a load. Make the 10.5 hour trip to Williston and they would unload you no matter what time you got there.

 

Throughout the state I'd seriously consider sod to be one of the most commonly moved flatbed loads. There's a lot of it here.

 

Bahia grass. Tough grass and withstands the heat where most other grasses dry up.

I bought 2 bags of that grass seed they said would grow on cinder blocks to fill in some bare spots in my yard. I spread, I watered, and watered,.. and watered some more. Said it only needed water,.. so I watered some more.

The only thing that happened was the rain washed most of the seeds to the side walk,.. where guess what? It grew. Then I had to break out the edger and weed eater to keep the sidewalk clear.

Sod is pretty much our only option to fill in bare spots.


Grass that grows in Fla is tough and hard. Not as soft and nice like grass that grows up north.

But,.. its grows year round in Fla. During the rainy season you have to mow the grass pretty much every other day.

Hurst

 

No doubt about the ants and bugs in sod down here. I bought a couple pieces of St Augustine from Lowes last year to fill in a spot where I pulled a bush and got all bit up. I've never hauled it, as it never appealed to me to get all dirty for a little bit of revenue. Plus, I never could get along with JJ Jerue for some reason.