Post flatbed load photos here V2.0

You got it right - familiarity eases fears.

Heck, a few years ago I had a cool little hidey-hole right down off of South Central Ave. Just around the corner from a lumber yard/pallet mill I used to haul into. I was a bit nervous the first time I used it, but a fellow walking by struck up a conversation and assured me it was cool. According to him, the major gang stuff has quieted way down and he assured me I could lock the truck up and walk to find food & nothing would get messed with. I slept there several times without a problem.

On the other hand, backing in to unload off a major street in the morning traffic there could be a nightmare. I had cars drive up on the sidewalk to go around me, honking their horns and giving me the finger a couple of times.

No way I'd try parking overnight like that in a place I hadn't been several times. And there are places I have been to more than once that you couldn't pay me enough to park on the street alone - Gary Indiana and Stockton CA to start with.

 

Ive certainly been in that spot many timee trying to back up off the street .. seems like the older parts of the city there will be some random warehouses right in the middle of residential area. Its a real pain sometimes trying to manuever our extended trucks and spread axles. But atleast all the streets run in a grid for the most part , can make a loop around the block without trouble generally.. Not like @Ruthless part of the country , where u make a wrong turn and end up on a road with low bridges and no way to detour and streets barely wide enough for a go cart

 

I don’t know if you guys are aware of these for securing blocking to your decks for securement. We use them for timber framing and on lvl beams. They are self drilling, heads don’t strip and are rated for around 2500 pounds of shear load, come in lengths up to 14 inches. Just as long as you have an impact driver you are good to go.
They beat the heck out of nails if you need

 

#### anybody who puts a screw into a trailer deck. You aren't trying to build a house. Just trying to keep a block from sliding out sideways. When you unload just take the same hammer you put the nail in with and hit the block on the side to remove it. The nail will bend over sideways as it pulls out of the deck. Last time I checked my hammer doesn't need batteries to work.

 

My hammer doesn’t take batteries either, screws hold better, remove easier, and can be reused, unlike bent nails.

Acouple taps from the side to remove doesn’t sound very solid.

You fellows know better than I though

 

I've had the same 30lb bucket of nails in the shop for the past 10 years. Not too concerned about the nail budget.

No doubt screws hold better but you have to consider that the board nailed to the trailer probably also has several thousand pounds of freight sitting on it. It's mostly held in place just by the friction. The nails are just to keep blocks from slowly walking out from the trailer bouncing wish the highway.

 

I was thinking of end blocking for stuff, I’m just learning the ropes on here. Trying to pick up what I can learn, and learning what I don’t know. Thanks for the explanation though

 

Years ago, (funny how so many of my posts start off like that). early '60s, the firm I worked for did alot of work out of the local iron works, iron, but also concrete pipes etc and we didn't do a single thing except rope them all down when finished. After weighing they gave you a ticket and told you where to go in this very large estate until you saw a high pile of timber pieces. You stopped there and several blokes came out of a hole in this pyramid, their rest hut was inside it. They looked at your ticket, immediately knew exactly what chocks of wood were needed and set about getting them all together. Then they threw all this stuff plus a box of 6 inch nails and a few hammers onto the bed and told you where to go for the load.

Then, with the aid of a small crane they loaded everything exactly where it needed to be and set about nailing all the chocks and scotches into place with the great big nails. After that you roped it all down and drove back to the weigh bridge. One day a mate of mine followed all these rules, he was driving an 8 wheel rigid lorry and during the chocking and nailing he heard a loud bang and a hiss. One of the nails had gone right though the bed of the truck and pierced an air tank.

He was late getting away that day.

 

I've used screws - I had De Walt cordless for a flashlight and a drill - worked good. I think my favorite is probably 16d duplex nails. Framing hammer has multiple uses and so does my big ### crowbar

 

That’s hilarious now, but wasn’t for him at the moment?
@Spardo, do you know the difference of how a Northern fairy tale, and a Southern fairy tale (here in the USA) start off?