How to begin in OSOW?

Discussion in 'Heavy Haul Trucking Forum' started by farmboy73, Dec 3, 2015.

  1. cnsper

    cnsper Road Train Member

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    All i can tell you is what I would do. Very similar to the beam trailers that we use. I would be in first, maybe second, gear. The reason is two fold, first is the reaction time of the rear steering axles is slow. Second is the delay from the spotter to radio to me and my reaction time.

    As for how many spotters, better only be one. There is a guy standing at the back of the trailer looking down the side of the trailer nearest the light pole. He is also probably steering the trailer. The only other place I may want one is the off side to watch the front of the steering axles on the trailer.

    Everyone but the driver and spotter/steerman only on the radio. If you do get on the radio, the only thing I better hear is STOP! A lot of chatter in situations like this tend to piss me off.
     
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  3. johndeere4020

    johndeere4020 Road Train Member

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    You guys were talking about headache racks, here's one I like.

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  4. nate980

    nate980 Road Train Member

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  5. catalinaflyer

    catalinaflyer Road Train Member

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    I'll play along, here's mine -
    [​IMG]
     
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  6. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that the truck was in reverse. The steers are to the left. In a game of inches, I would be using that foot and a half to the right of the tractor. I think they were backing up when that pic was taken because of that pole to the left that's nearly touching the trailer. 2 radios. Steerman on one channel, walking you through. The rest of the escorts on another channel spotting the front and the rear in total silence unless they see something wrong. There definitely would be any chatter going on.

    On a turn that tight, you're working your lowest gear possible, no throttle, and your feet on the brake and clutch, ready for "STOP."
     
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  7. johndeere4020

    johndeere4020 Road Train Member

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    I think he's going forward, he's creeping or stopped letting the rear come around behind him. The rear of the trailer is turned pretty sharp headed toward the passenger side setting up to get around that little pole and get square behind the tractor. I would think if he were backing up the street behind him would be clear it looks like that is probably the traffic that is stuck following him.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2015
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  8. farmboy73

    farmboy73 Medium Load Member

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    Very interesting observations. I'm just curious about how long it takes to get permitting and routing on loads like that. Obviously, there is so little room for error that it would seem necessary for there to be a collaborative planning effort between driving team, state, local, etc.

    Forgive my ignorance. I'm just trying to gain better perspective. I assume these are rare enough that they are dealt with case-by-case as opposed to cookie-cutter?
     
  9. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    Depends on the route, the load dims and trailer configuration. On the pics that Nate posted, did you noticed they raised the load above the jersey barrier to get through. Even then, they're still threading the needle.

    There's nothing cookie cutter when route surveys are involved.

    http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...s-this-is-a-true-run-about-heavy-haul.274278/

    I don't know if you've seen this thread, but this was a run that one of our members made from Montreal to Yellowknife and then the ice roads earlier this year. It's a good read.
     
  10. catalinaflyer

    catalinaflyer Road Train Member

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    I've sat 61 days at a state line trying to get one states exit route to line up with another states entry point.

    I had a load 3 years ago from Renton, WA to China Lake (Ridgecrest), CA where I had to take the empty setup to both NV and CA to be inspected prior to loading in WA. So aside from the month + put in by our permit department just getting to this point I had almost 4 weeks invested in the load for a 1200 mile run.

    We have a load leaving the LA area today coming to Washington that our permit people have been working on for well over a month. And due to CA wanting to run it non-stop from Los Angeles to the Oregon state line the CHP is requiring a team on it. The CHP will continue to hand it off from one district to the next without stopping thus as part of the permit approval they added "Team Required" as a special condition on the permit. Now this is being run with our quad day-cab so "team" in the normal sense of the word is not possible therefore the second driver is sitting in a motel in Sacramento and will meet the convoy of CHP and amber light escorts along with the load at the hand off point north of there to take over with the truck.

    So when you start talking about these ugly loads the logistics behind the scenes are immense just to put everything together. That's why when someone who doesn't understand everything involved see's nothing but $$$$ when they hear what these loads pay. Yes a 1000 mile load may pay $50k + but the operator of truck sees $$$$ as well in the form of how much they're paying out to get this moved. We're going to go move 2 loads for one of our sister companies today, yes they are only moving 11 miles but the now former CEO (or whatever his title was) bid these two loads at $1000 each all-in. Sounds like awesome money for an 11 mile move however by the time it's finished tomorrow evening we will have 3-4 times that invested in moving them. This particular sister company has tried and failed twice before to get into OD/Specialized and due to complete lack of understanding of everything involved they have failed miserably twice before. Now here we are getting to fix yet one more of their attempts which we will charge back the actual cost to the sister company but in the end it's a net zero for my company and a loss to the sister company however this is a really good customer so in order to save face for the companies as a whole we've been brought in by our parent company to handle it.
     
  11. farmboy73

    farmboy73 Medium Load Member

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    I had not read that, but thanks for sharing. Great read! @Heavy Hammer, appreciate the effort!!
     
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