1st Job = Heavy Haul

You have the right attitude

don’t worry about the pay, the experience is what matters.

find a mentor in the company you work with or online somewhere

Reddit has some decent trucking sections and I’m sure facespace does too

find someone with experience you can call when you have questions

and dont be afraid to ask .

When you get your permits , spend some time with a paper atlas map and use Google earth maps to look
At the intersections etc

Use a clipboard and make notes
Your per
It tells
You to turn north on highway whatever , it doesn’t say left or right and it doesn’t name the street etc

you can use Google maps to see if there is a landmark at that turn like a McDonald’s or see what the exit number is etc .

you are supposed to
Stop for a chain check in the first half hour or whatever , and Google maps is good for finding an exit with a wide shoulder or whatever .

just be sure to READ the permits and after a while you Weill learn what you can do in each state .

ohio doest allow overweight to cross the interstate at an exit .
So if you want to stop , the truck stop has ti be on the same side of the road etc

Tennessee allows oversize to run after dark if you have flashing red lights on the corners of the load .

Every state I know of requires RED flags at the corners of the load .
I see a lot of folks using orange and I guess that’s ok but your permit says red .

get some good dashcams if
You don’t have them already .

and get a dashcam
You can clamp on to your mirrors facing to the rear so you can prove the accident wasn’t your fault .

if you want to add some extra temporary lights , , a company called “strobes and more “ makes some quality ones .

we use the “E-3” from them .

and you can buy a adapter to use a 18 volt cordless drill battery to run the extra lights if you want .

get a height stick if you don’t have one .
And USE it .

don’t depend on the shipper having a height stick and be like Ronald Reagan , and the Russians , trust but verify .

Just use your brain and you will be fine

every driver that gets stuck on a train track or hits a bridge , could have avoided it if they had just used their eyeballs and common sense .

“hmmm, that bridge lokks a little low “

“that’s a pretty good hump in the road at this intersection “

I used to set my CB antenna at 13’6”

or you could install an antenna or something and adjust it to
The height of your load .

and not getting in a hurry is the only attitude you can have with oversize and overweight loads .

 

There will come a time when you’re on your permitted route and get to a situation where you can’t fit .

use your eyeballs !

I know a guy that hauls oversize and recently he was on his permitted route with a 16 wide 99 foot long cargo and realized he couldn’t fit .

he stopped and called 911 and asked for assistance, then called his dispatch and called the states DOT permit office .

he was blocking the entire interstate for 35 minutes until the cops showed up and cleared out the traffic behind him so he could back up about a mile to an exit ramp and get out of the travel lanes .

and sat on the ramp for a couple hours until the state permit office figured out a new route

and on another trip he was on his permitted route with a 15 wide and got to a part in a construction zone
Where it didn’t look like he could fit .
He was able to pull over on the shoulder and called the state troopers and they sent someone out

the trooper had him hop in the passenger seat and they drove through the construction zone and the driver would hop out with his tape measure to check the tight spots .

and he was able to squeeze through but he did it at idle with his passenger walking on the passenger side .

 

My knowledge is gained from my neighbor , that does heavy haul oversize .

I will ask him for some details about plotting the route
and what he uses

I know he has an iPad that he runs one mapping software on and another phone he uses just for Google maps that shows the traffic backups , and maybe a third one that has “WAZE “ running for the reported hazards .

and I’m pretty sure he plots the route with pins , and also lokks at a paper map and makes notes on where to turn on a sheet of paper on a clipboard that’s on the dash somehow .

 

Meaning watch the overpasses and humps at intersections etc

just because you’re on your permitted route doesn’t mean there won’t be a overpass that’s too low etc

if you’re pulling a RGN you can get it hung up on intersections and driveways if you’re not careful .

And be familiar with the trailer

can you dump the bags on the tractor and trailer ?

can you overinflate the bags on the tractor and trailer to gain a few inches of clearance ?

 

Some trucks and trailers Have a raise switch
Some have a dump switch
Some have both .



you can raise them by disconnecting the leveling valve where it drops down to the axle , just don’t mess up the adjustment .

my neighbor has his doubles and triples and haz mat , and is Probabaly going to be getting to do the 13 axle loads before too long .
He’s been doing one regularly that’s 16 wide and 99 long and very expensive.

 

Most people hate the interface and I hate that a power cycle can clear the pins but I use a gamin dezel… it has its flaws for sure but all of them do.

If you touch the map it should change the display some and on the right side it has a button with two flags (you have have set a destination first). In there you will find an option at the bottom of the screen to drop blue dots or flags. Play around with the route shaping, it can be fickle but it’s how I get it to remind me how far to the next corner. Especially if the default route is not jiving with the permit.

Some years age I tried a rand gps but I couldn’t get the same feature to work. instructions said you could program it on a computer and upload it, I couldn’t justify buying a laptop just to program an 700+$ boat anchor.

A good atlas to verify the trucker gps and read carefully on the permits. some states like to hide information in the strangest order, especially on annuals.

 

The first time I was asked to do long, high, heavy or wide, was the first time. Same with a semi, the man just said one Friday night, that's your motor from Monday, take it home and practice. There has to be a first time. Same went for the first time I was asked to drive a triple. Nobody asked if I could do it.
Take it easy, be aware of your dimensions and the roads ahead of you, and, most important (which has already been said) never be afraid to ask.
Half yer luck mate, I'd do it all over again if I could. Bonne route.