Question for TMC Drivers

Isn't navistar associated with international? That means Peterbilts won't feature CAT engines any longer, correct?

 

pretty rarely am I on top of a tall load, but some of the loads we have to walk on top of are pretty dangerous. loads of powder in super sacks are always fun, the material shifts under your weight and you can lose your balance, or step in between one of the sacks. tall loads of steel pipe can be dangerous to walk on too. I think the worst was a vinyl siding shipper in WV that loads crates of siding 13'6 tall, but has no ladder to get up there, and no fall protection, that stuff is extremely dangerous to walk on. and we have to rappel up the side of the load using a strap and then unroll two lumber tarps. it SUCKS. hay loads are a little safer to walk on, but still no fun.

I have loaded plastic pipe, foam insulation, boxed aluminum, and I'm sure some other stuff where the shipper requires us to put on a fall protection harness. it's a pain but better than falling off a 13'6 load. some places have tarp machines, and almost every time you use a steel tarp, it's easy and fairly safe. I have a load of steel that is about 18" off my trailer deck right now.

 

Walking the hay loads sucks, particularly if they had to pull a bale off and you have a hole somewhere under the tarp. I pulled a load of hay from South Dakota that didn't have a ladder to get up top and no fall protection. I was tarping by myself and the wind took both tarps off the load. I had to climb down tie a rope to the tarp and then tie the rope as high as I could reach on the load then climb up the load and pull both tarps up because the shipper had taken off and couldn't fork the tarps back up. That was a nightmare, a real workout and a mother to secure and walk on safely. No way I would take that load from that shipper in the winter time. Almost forgot, heights is something they do check you on. You have to climb a container on the bed of a trailer and stand with your toes over the edge. It's not really that bad and everyone in my class was able to do it without a problem.

 

worst tarping experiences:

hay in SD, windy
steel tube in PA, covered in ice
vinyl siding in WV, no ladder
lumber in MN, 57 degrees below
roofing in GA, 100 degrees with 100% humidity

note that all but one load involved lumber tarps. hay SUCKS and I vowed never to haul it again. just try to stay out of SD.