Rookies, Wannabees, & superheroes. This is a true run about Heavy Haul.

I know everything, no one can teach me anything!

Just kidding, I've been trucking many years now, and learn new things from time to time, great post heavy hammer

 

..you nailed it, fairly typical highway HH truck spec. But I do have the Studio bunk, the original spec was for a 60" flat, while running a 20'W load up with 4 pilots I got shut down for weather for 5 days. There were inky 2 hotel rooms within 75 miles, the boys had to share rooms and I was confined to truck...I called my salesman and said "put the biggest darn bunk you got on that thing!" There's days I regret that phone call, others I'm really happy I made it.

as as for the idle time up here...

 

Not all drivers are weak minded children, rushing into an area with eyes wide shut. Some drivers understand the concept, and the reality, of the learning curve that accompanies all change. Some drivers are already cautious and responsible, even those not pulling heavy/wide loads. I appreciate the factual account by Heavy Hammer, it adds that rare touch of realtime choices and consequences. But I see no need to glorify drivers who choose this application. I can respect them and their skills without elevating them to demi-god status, and I do. I mean, it's not like driving 80K is fun and games.And if I choose that driving application, I'll be choosing to accept what it brings. I don't see a problem with that. Life is always that way. You make your choice, you accept the consequences.

 

Simple for the bean counter.

Safe, healthy, experienced driver.---->. ALIVE to drive more loads.

Or

KR truck.------->. Maybe frostbit, in hospital from accident(oh ya. Buy new or truck)
Or quit to find better company to haul for.

Hmmm

Hey HH be safe and keep truckin' my brother!

 

Cool read Hammer. I have two questions.

1.
1.1 How did you bid that original load? I cannot imagine you bid it as a firm fixed rate. Maybe firm fixed to Yellowknife and then by the hour to the mine?
1.2 And all of that BS that went on when you had to load and reload to move the crane? I suspect maybe after the original linehaul to YK was bid they didn't even ask about money?
1.3 I also suspect you aren't fronting all of the money. Did you get paid when you got to YK and then incrementally after that? I mean this has turned into a bit of an expedition.

2. What do you have the cloth on your air filter housings for? Keep snow dust out of you filters?

 

I am not saying "all drivers are weak minded children"...
However there are a significant amount of repeated requests of "How do I get into HH?" I rarely respond to them. This is meant to be what the original post stated, a chance to learn and ask yourself the tough questions...because it really is a different animal. I'm hoping this helps even one potential "grasshopper" to make his decision, or maybe to dissuade some individual before he jumps off the deep end and ruins himself financially.
I am not looking to be held up for demi-god status. I am human! I make mistakes everyday. I am still learning, everyday. I enjoy mentoring & helping others willing to learn what I consider to be a good way of doing things.
If I have come off that way, that's an error on my part. Not everybody likes me and I'm OK with that.

 

Too many times you see someone looking to get into trucking and they ask, "What's the best driving school to go to?" Then it's, "What's the best company for a student?" Then, "Which pays more?" Then, "Can I start out as an owner operator?" "Mileage or Percentage...which is best?" "Flatbed or reefer?" When they find out that flatbed involves work and tarping, they shy away. Then they see heavyhaul. "Hey, those guys don't tarp. Looks easy! The money is good too! That's it! I want to be a heavyhauler! All the glory and none of the grunt work of a flatbedder! Sign me up! Is there a heavyhaul company that hires students?"

See the problem? No one wants to work their way up. They want to be at the top of the pile without working their way up. It's like walking in off the street into a boxing gym and demanding a shot at the title. You have no chance of winning. Odds are pretty good that you're gonna get killed.

I've done it, Oscars done it, Carl, Dad and the other guys have done it. Done what? Taken a big load to Hell and returned to tell the tale. Hammer documented his adventure to let everyone who doesn't know that there's an awful lot that a driver has to know and be able to do in order to do this job safely. Do you know how many so called heavyhaulers don't know how to properly secure a load according to regs? Do you know how many of them can't trip plan...heck, they can't even figure out when and where to fuel to maximize time and safety. This is the stuff they should have learned when they started in any truck. Baby food.

And Hammer asks, "Are you sure you want to heavyhaul?" When you walk in to a big company, and you see drivers coming in for orientation, the first things out of their mouths is where they won't go and what they won't do (like chaining up). Every one of us will take that load to Hell if the money is right. Every one of us will chain up if it means getting there. Everything you see drivers unwilling to do, you have to be willing to do. No glory sought...just a reality check. Does anyone ask about Port O Johns at -32, Hammer? You hear drivers talk about how disgusting it is to carry a 5gallon bucket in the truck for those mudslides. Tell them about the wolves, Hammer.

I think the most disturbing thing is when we see someone try the Beancounter route in heavyhaul. I was loading in Waterloo, and I saw a driver that took an old mega fleet truck and added on a lift axle. 38k rears, single frame and a 10 speed on a 7 axle rig. He loaded the biggest tractor they made there and pulled away from the dock. POP POP POP POP!!!! His frame was popping. I asked him about it and he told me the specs on the truck. What do you say to a driver whose frame pops? I couldn't think of anything.
Was at a plant in Northern Saskatchewan, hundreds of miles from a city, and a hundred miles up a dirt road. Flatbedder, in a Columbia...the first thing I noticed was how small his fuel tanks were. I asked him about his fuel capacity and he had a total of 80 gallons. He was from the States coming to deliver a load to a natural gas plant. Obviously from the States because a Canadian would be caught dead in a truck with 80 gallon capacity. I was floored..."How are you going to make out of here???" He had a blank look on his face, "I don't know." What do you say to a driver who doesn't have enough fuel to get back from the middle of nowhere? I couldn't think of anything.

Nope, nothing glorious abut heavyhaul. In fact, as I posted earlier, you really appreciate the little things that most drivers take for granted.

 

the snow can build up and suffocate the engine.

 

1.1 I'm an Owner/Operator so I don't do the actual bidding. This load was part of a much larger project. A total of around a thousand loads...only about 200 of which were big. The rate was fixed for the load, the other and extra was negotiated...
1.2 Every customer is concerned with cost. They needed the R/T pretty bad, so they didn't object and understood that they bill was going to be what the hours were to do the job. I was there, able, and ready which was probably the deciding factor.
1.3 As an O/O, I'm not really fronting the money. Yes the building load was actually broke down into two separate orders, QC to YK & YK to mine, so yes I was settled out on arrival in YK. But also as an O/O doing this, I do sometimes carry loads over multiple months so there are definitely times where I don't have any delivered/payable loads in months and I don't get a cheque, and January was one if them. This is what I do, and it happens from time to time, so I've got a fund for it.

 

Yes, the wind can fill the air filters in the cleaners with snow it's cold enough and in the really bad storms that I won't melt or pull through the filters. It rarely happens, but my uncle has had it happen before.