Tell me about hauling crushed cars

plain and simple. you load 3 rows of cars. 5 or 6 high. some guys will take 6 and don't have to worry about scales. i usually take 5. sometimes i'll pack an extrra one.

you need 4 chains per row of cars. don't ever use straps.

but most importantly. LET NOTHING STICK OUT BEYOND THE SIDE OF THE TRAILER. that's where you get nailed on the scales. you can go forward and backward. but nothing over the side.

AND ALWAYS PACK FULL FUEL TANKS. or at least enough fuel for your journey. cuz they love to max out your weight.

other then that. it's just another load. make sure you check securement every now and then. it settles just like any other non solid load.

i took a few loads into colorado springs. one time, dot decided to run that check point just as you get off the freeway. naturally my chains were a little loose. but the scrap yard was only one mile down the road. they just checked my bills and let me go.

as far as wear and tear. i've been lucky so far. my trailer is still in the same shape i started with a year ago. and only slashed one tire so far.

one load i hauled from albuquerque paid a flat out 875 for that 375 mile run. then deadhead to denver for steel pipe.

i don't imagine anything is paying worth a crap right now though. being as fuel is almost .75 cheaper.

 

95% of my biz the last 4 yrs has been scrap metal. The company I hooked up with has a baling machine, they put the cars in it and it makes a square cube out of it for the most part. The guys that haul crushers use dunnage to keep the cars off the deck. Mostly I see them using big heavy full 4x4 wood not this little junk you get in the store so they must have a sawmill cut some rough cut for them. I try to steam off my trailer once a month it helps keep the DOT brothers off your back, just because we are the garbage man does not mean we can't have a little pride. If you have a real nice flatbed trailer do not use that go buy an older one. An aluminum deck will work fine for crushers if you use the big wood and be carefull how you load on the wood so nothing gets to your deck, but eventually it will. Straight talk- I just did my yearly deck service, 10 straight days of aluminum welding patches in and cracks , punctures. Difficult welding job, I steamed and acid washed the deck but it had lots of contaminates still in the metal and the seams. I have seen it all before so I knew ahead of time, over 60 repairs to do. Life as a scrapper. The mill pays everyone by tonnage, so the more on the deck the more money, this is why a steel deck is a toss up, low maintenance but you lose on the pay side. The bales are low and ride like a rock never moving, like snowwy says FULL FUEL tanks or plenty to make it where you are going because they will max you out and then some. The company boys run side kits on their trailers for the loose iron, one of them got pulled in and wrote up for over width because the stakes for the sides stuck out to far, like snowwy says nothing sticking out. Snowwy knows what he is talking about, Utah is metal country. I know where he is hauling to and when we are working down that way probably see him everyday that he goes in there. We are required to use a cable strap rigging to tie down everything, they are light weight to throw and roll up fast, check out the regs on that first before you haul and be compliant there is enough problems as it is. I do carry a plug kit, only used it twice but I run good rubber. When it the mills go slow, look for junk in the way, stop and throw it out of the way, if they get pissy about it you do not want to haul for them anyway. The life of a scrapper, the money is ok but you will work your ### off for it.
J-J

 

oh yeah. forgot about the dunnage underneat the stacks of cars. the lowest points of the cars are usually the axles. front brake rotors and rear brake drums. that's where you want your dunnage, underneath the axles. keeps the cars as high off the trailer as possible. as you will always have some loose crap hanging under neath.

we've been hauling out of albuquerque. mostly to colorado. sometimes back to utah. even did a couple of loads to midlothian texas. south of dallas ft worth

 

Without a water port Colorado must be sending processed material out by rail? I would imagine you are runnin pretty steady over on that side of the mountains sounds like a good area. We are having a bit of trouble up here, the tonnage dropped $100 in the last month and it is putting the squeeze on everyone. Any change down there? They have not messed with my rates any, but they also know if they do I will just park it till they get their manners back, I was somewhere before I got here right? Ok Snowwy got to go for now, couple days off putting up siding on the house.
J-J

 

we've been pullling tankers for awhile. now back on flat. haven't hauled scrap since march.

we've also got different dispatchers. getting us different loads now instead of the same ole same ole we've been hauling.

only bad thing. is the cross country trips they've been s ending us on now. now we only get one 34 at home every other week.

 

I have always wondered how the tanker biz was, seems like it would be easier then a deck but the grass is always greener on the other side. Hopefully the variety will keep you going Snowwy. Right now anything that keeps a steady in the mailbox is a good thing, I am getting that feeling again like a few years ago but trying to stay positive. Have a good week I got to load my gear in the truck and head south for the week.
J-J

 

I've hauled them out of West Texas to Gerdau Ameristeel (I've always known it as Chapparal) Midlothian, TX (south of DFW). 4 chains over each stack of cars. Net wrapping is a must. You are a target along I-20 mostly for weight. Use a trailer you don't mind being beat up a little. It's not a good job for these big fat truckers. You MUST be able to sling chains & step out of your cab to pick up stuff in the way. That's the best way to save your tires. I get out & move junk out of the way instead of driving over it. I don't have tire problems. It's that simple.

Nowadays, I will haul it baled into cubes like the gentleman from Montana does. Loads easier, you can use straps, still have to net wrap. They are easier on your trailer & use a grapple (the guys at Gerdau on the radio call it a 'crane'?) and it's easy off & on. And usually faster, too. You don't have to wait in line behind five 400lb guys trying to fling chains off their crushed cars & wait in line forever. Gerdau is very bad about holding you up 2 to 5 hours to get unloaded anyways. Pueblo, CO is a quick turnaround.

Don't forget the obvious: easy around sharp curves, make sure they load you where you're not leaning, your 4x4's will turn to junk lumber fast, oil slicks on your flatbed, you'll be delivering to a nasty shredder - bring a dust mask or respirator, etc. Best of luck.

 

Hey TD, couple years ago we started using a modified cable rig to tie down with, light weight to throw, lasts real good. We take a strap with a triangle on it , not the flat hook, in the triangle we have a guy at the cable shop make a 12ft cable around the triangle permanent. Then the other cable end put a loop in it that we hook a clevis with about 18" of chain on and a grab hook like regular tie down chains have. Now you can throw the strap over , hook the chain end to the rub rail any where desired then put the strap in a winch and tighten it down like anything. It is slick, little spendy to set up at first so I had 4 or 5 at a time made up till I have 17 now to haul bales. When I roll them up, I roll them up like old log wrappers, 2 loops- throw the chain in the loop up and over couple times then take the strap flat ways around the whole thing rock and roll. You can cut the strap to any length to make it faster to roll onto your winches when loading, mine are about 6ft. These are all approx measurements that you can vary to your needs. I was going thru 2 boxes of straps a year now I have run my cables almost 2 years and they are still pretty good. If you want a photo I could send one off to you, but you might have seen them already or can picture it easily. Triangle strap- cable in the triangle-chain with hook on the other end of the cable vary the lengths to what you need. Here at the plant tonight all uncabled ready to drop another load in the morning 1 to go for the week ....
Later J-J

 

Not to be a ######## but stay away from em lol cheap aggravating bunch of headache. They never settle n you'll always have to tighten em up

 

a lot of flatbed loads are that way. specially them A hole loads as i like to call em