Glass Unit Training

Freightliner just called, truck if fixed. They found a bad boost hose and motor mount.

 

Fleet Net needs to here from the dealer that the truck will be held overnight. Freightliner kept changing the time they were going to look at the truck. Ended up taking over 24 hours for them just to look at it! So, more a fault on the dealer not Fleet Net. Did get a hotel the second night.

 

Ask all the questons you want, please. The tarps (glass tarps) weigh about 80 pounds. The "A" frames I guess weigh just over a hundred. You never have to pick them up you drag them into place. On most days I can set up the racks in under 30 minutes. Maverick pays you $20.00 to set them up or take them down, so hey that's over $40.00 an hour. Some weeks you'll set them up and take them down four or five times. Other weeks you will never touch them. "A" frames are only used on flatbeds and step deck trailers. We also pull a trailer called a DGL that is a double drop and is built specifically for glass. The DGL has permanent racks and an attached tarp.


I hope this helps.

 

Ok, where to start. I guess I'll take you all the way back to the beginning of this grand adventure. That would be yesterday when I pick up a load of shingles in Franklin, OH. I arrived around 8:00 and sat for about one and a half hours before they started loading me. The guy on the fork truck was a lesson in unnecessary motion. Why set down a pallet somewhere when you'll just have to move it in the next five minuets because it's in your way? It was somewhat entertaining to watch this guy and I knew I wouldn't make it to the consignees that night anyhow because it was over 600 miles in NJ. So watching him waste my time wasn't as big of a deal as it could have been. So once mister set um down and pick um again finished, I thew my straps and down the road I went. I'm getting into my 14 hour clock and haven't even made one stop yet that's kind of annoying but I didn't plan on going all the way yesterday any way, just would have been nice to take a decent break, not just pit stops. So clocks running out with about an hour and a half left for the day, I decide to start trying to find a place at one of the rest stops along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, ya right. Well that didn't work out so well, all three that I stopped at were full. Continued on to the NJ welcome center and shut her down with 6 minuets remaining on the clock. Way too close for comfort.

By the time I shut down I was only about 50 miles from the consignee. I got up this morning thought how lucky I had been finding this parking spot. Weathers great and it's going to be a good day, rippppp! As I bent down in my sleeper to pick something up my pants ripped wide open in the seat. Ok, change pants. At least I was inside my truck. Next I go to fish something out of my toiletry bag and cut my index finger on a razor. Neither of these items seemed like a big deal at the time but they were just the beginning of a day going wrong.

I arrive at the consignee in Lakewood, NJ with little trouble, other than the narrow streets and rude drivers. The work order said the opened at 07:00, well thats true but what they do from 07:00 - 09:00 is load their own trucks for local delivery's. So I waist an hour and a half before getting unloaded. Sent in my empty call and then had to get on the road because there was nowhere to hang out waiting on my next work assignment. Two minutes down the road I get a dead head move to Conshohocken, PA (a little shout out to my boy SteveO on that one ) no address. So I pull over, get a route planned out and do a google on Mittal Steel because I had be there before and thought maybe thats where I was going. I only have about 60 miles for the deadhead, about halfway there I get a message "Deadhead Canceled", oh great, so I find a place to sit and wait. Get a message in about 15 minutes "Deadhead Mover to Carlisle, PA" Ok I'm on my way and wouldn't you know it half way there (about an hour) I get a message "Deadhead Move Canceled" and it continued with "go to Conshohocken" Well the next exit on the turnpike is 10 miles but ok here we go again.
Arrive at Mittal Steel in Conshohocken, PA and weigh in at 31,000 on the nose, I only had about a quarter of a tank. Got luck and they had me pull into door #4. If you've been there before you know that's a good thing. Guy asks me "can you take 48,000 pounds" that would be pushing it but ya,I can. So he loads me up with 4 2" x 20' plates. I take it outside and secure it, tarp it and go to weigh out... Oh crap, 380 pounds over gross and I need fuel. The plates weighed 1,400 pounds more than what was on the paperwork. So I have to take everything down and have them take the load off and give me a different load. This one is only 41,000, secure it, tarp it and weigh out without a problem. Get a message "Take load to Carlisle for a swap"
Well not exactly a swap, how about a give your load to somebody else at the truck stop and go hunt yourself a trailer in the morning. So here I sit bobtailing at the Flying J in Carlisle, PA with no load and no trailer. I have to go the PPG plant in the morning and hopefully find a decent trailer.
That shower sure did feel good tonight, and I treated myself to some ice cream, all better now. Tomorrow in another day and home on Friday.

 

Made it home for the weekend, had a deadhead move from MN to the the house. Best work assignment you will ever get. Hope all those who wanted home this weekend made it and have a chance to enjoy the Super Bowl with family and friends.