Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

Speaking of stinking up a truck! Couple weeks ago I went to the feed mill near Dodge with a load of salt. While I was dumping, apparently one of the guys opened the wrong overhead trap. Out came a whole dang bunch of dry DDG. My truck was running, but that didnt stop it from dumping about 100lbs of that nastiness down the stacks. So much in fact that it started smoking and I had to hot-foot the truck outside to avoid a fire. Couple of the guys came with fire extinguishers, but I chased them off before they they started spraying me with that mess.

About a million lbs of it slid down the cab, and got sucked right into the cab filter. UGHHHHHHHHH, of course it was raining and instantly plugged the drain in the cab filter, turning it back into mash. So now all that DDG is getting sucked into the evaporator core of my AC system. I now need safety glasses every time I turn the blower fan on in the truck! I spent part of last weekend pulling the dash of my Volvo. Scooping, blowing and chipping that stuff out of there, I doubt I got even half of it.

Did I mention the stink lol. It stinks so bad in my truck right now. I cant hardly stand it.

 

They'd be paying for a full detail/wash and filter replacements if they did that to mine. If I didn't choke someone on the spot, the boss would reach through the phone and do it.

 

Weight is a big issue when you try to get some profit out of some of these loads. If I run on the bottoms of my tanks, I can get 25 tons on the truck - but the rates haven't been worth the fine risk, or the fuel filters lately. I actually had a scalemaster comment on how light my truck was at 28,700 today - but I had to fess up and tell him I was probably down to 60 gallons in the tanks. Sometimes it would be nice to have a daycab or a coffin sleeper, until I have to park that night or wait out a 34 hour reset.

The Cat engine has to weigh you down some - I know this Cummins adds about 800 pounds if I remember it right. What are you running for a trans? The 13 speed in this truck adds another 300 or so, but it comes in handy every single day. I was chatting with a driver that had a KW the other day that scaled heavier than mine. Cat engine and an 18 speed was the biggest cause, but I've heard the KW's with the studio are some heavy trucks.

Another interesting day - unloading was a breeze - 29 miles to my reload - I thought I had some clear sailing ahead. Then I get the details on the reload - drive down to the public scale.......

So I go through the public scale that is probably older than trucking - (I'd bet their first customers were in horse drawn wagons) and get back to the place to load. Do you have a TWIC card? ummmm nope - I carry a CDL. Apparently I didn't need one, and was pretty relieved not to have to pay an escort or somesuch new lumper racket. Then I need a visitors pass, and electronic gate pass, 3 forms filled out - then go down to the gate - wave your card - drive in - make a right - look for bay 3 - etc etc etc.

So I get all that out of the way, and pull up in front of Bay 3. The loader drives around to me happy as can be and tells me to back in. Okay - no worries there - and here it is. Then I hop out and tell him I need 48,000 split between the front and rear. He follows that by asking if I have gauges, and I tell him - air gauges and they're not much use until I'm overweight. Turns out he has no idea what a loader scoop of the product weighs and he proceeds to dump 55,000 pounds (verified by the scale across town an hour later) into the hoppers.

Now my drive gauge is yelling at me, and my trailer gauge looks okay - so I'm thinking - great, now I get to make an extra run down to the scale. I drive down to the scale again, to find I'm at 49,000 on the tractor and 82700 gross - with no fuel to speak of. I come back through the checkpoints, getting my passes back, climbing out to open the gates, etc. to back into the building again and start dumping out of the front hopper. I dumped what I guessed was enough out - which takes forever moving the truck forward, letting the air gauges settle, etc.

I get what I think might be too much off the truck - but I'm not taking chances with another scale trip. I go back down to scale, and I'm at 76,700 - heheheh - well that should make the trip easy. So I punch out and get my bol, and head down to fuel. Scale before fueling at 76,680 - apparently their ancient scale is still calibrated - and fuel up. Re-scale after fueling and my steer is at 12,460 - drives at 33,420 - trailer is at 32,500. So basically the guy overloaded the front hopper, and cut the rear hopper short - I wonder what I would've weighed if he finished dumping the bucket when I cut him off part way because of the trailer gauge? 85k - 88k?? Wow! Honestly, for a place as big as this (an industrial plant with a big name on the sign out front) and as old as it is - they have no idea that you can put a scale on a loader, or install one in the ground. Amazing! What I thought was a home-run of a load turned into another wild goose chase. I just hope it's easy enough to unload - or it'll be another loser!

By the way, just for kicks - my 2 week settlement after $750 of the trailer deposit - with an extra bol from the last trip (fuel already paid) amounted to exactly $999.99 - and I'm not kidding. No mention on the pay for deadheading clear across the state of MS awhile back - from the SE corner to the NW corner. not even a mention of some TONU pay for showing up at 2 different places along the way, and not leaving either of them loaded. If I wouldnt've planned this out a little and run my tanks on fumes today until the settlement cleared - I would've gotten about $300 for 2 weeks worth of driving all over the place, and about $1000 worth of expenses I've paid out of pocket so far - talk about a rocky start!

So I have my 2nd insurance installment due in 2 days, and it's for - you guessed it - $970. I've now paid a deposit and 2 monthly payments of nearly a grand each - for the privilege of running 5 weeks worth of freight. I fully understood the cost of starting up, but those of you who know the real deal on what I already paid forward - know what I'm dealing with. I do know it'll get better, and soon - but dealing with this every day until that happens is something to be reckoned with. Keep chasing the carrot - just keep chasing the carrot......

 

pharm phail I have pulled hoppers and frameless end dumps a little trick I

 

pharm phail I haved pulled hoppers and frameless end dumps a trick I used is to sprinkle 2 bags of flour around on the sides and floor the sticky stuff. wouldnt hang up it would pretty much slide right out. I did this for 15 years with out any trouble. it sounds crazy but it works. give it a try let me know what you think. tater bug.

 

I've got a ten in mine but the engine is turned up as far as it'll go so it pulls pretty good. I think this is a 70" sleeper, I don't remember what he said it was. It's got more room than it looks like and it's got more shelves in it than a midroof. Then I'm pulling a steel frame flatbed with the headache rack, the chains, all the dunnage I can scavenge, and various junk. Two aluminum wheels on the front and all the rest steel. Twin 120 gallon tanks and I'd prefer to have bigger ones. I can always put on a little less fuel if I need to save weight on a load. I tend to run this thing down to fumes.

I delivered to a feed lot up north and the guy that followed me in had one of those belt feed trailers that I see loading out of the ethanol plants. He scaled at 91,500 and said he was legal. The flatbed I loaded tonight was legal at 85.5. I'm wondering why we don't have plates to haul heavier on this thing. It would really help since we get paid by how much we haul too. I'd stack it up 3 high and sway down the two lanes all day long.

Oh yeah, the feedlot is gonna use RR ties as fence posts and bolt guardrail to them for fence. I thought, ####, those are some mean ### cows.

 

Guys I've got lots of questions and heres one. 10 spd Eaton Fuller (straight ten)-First time thru it's stiff as a board and you really have to coax and baby it to get it to fall in gear. Especially if it's cold. After that it shifts fine the rest of the day. Would an oil change help or what if anything would? Any help is appreciated.

 

It's probably just your oil is thick from being cold, as soon as you start rolling it warms up and thins out. You could try synthetic oil in the tranny if you don't already have it, it doesn't get quite as thick.

 

I know how it is to be decent to your customers, but I'd draw a line on that and demand the same in return. Can you contact the foreman at the plant, and figure out what can be done? Man, that really sucks - I carry febreze in the truck but that wouldn't do a thing with that going on. And just think, Spring is right around the corner......