I've hauled 'em hundreds of times

2 weeks ago a guy lost a sheet of steel on 30 like that. Swerved to avoid a car and it slid right off. Luckily it hit the shoulder but it shot him up into the wall.

 

There ya go! I'm surprised I didn't make alot of bone headed mistakes myself. My first go at otr was on a skate. They handed me the keys to the truck, a log book and a small handbook on securing a load and said haul ###.

I didn't make jack squat my first 4 weeks cause it took me so long to load, secure, and tarp... but you better be sure I had that stuff down pat shortly afterwards. I'm sure I looked like a tard standing on top of the trailer with my trusty securing book in one hand and a hand full of tarp straps in the other... hahaha

 

Bet you learned it good though. We always had an expression for those who tried to make fun of us, our truck, or the way we did it.

NEVER MIND THE MULE BEING PORE, JUST LOAD THE WAGON......

I loaded it my way, tied it down my way, and ran with it at any speed you wanted to be ahead of me at.
Was quite sucessful at it. Everything I tied on one was always there when I arrived to deliver....

 

Never hauled any sheets myself. Saw lots of examples though:
1952-1960 Deaton, Eagle, B&M, and a host of OO's with old LJ Macks ran steel out of B'ham into New Orleans. We were running bale cotton in there and would run into them s/bound at US49 and US11 in Hattisburg, MS and jockey with each other on to NO.
I noticed the guys hauling sheet steel had about an 8" x 8" wood cross tie near the front of the trailer and a say 6" x 6" at rear. Sheets (or cold rolled rod) were loaded on, so the front and rear ends stuck up in the air off the trailer floor line. Chain across in middle, chain across front and rear near the cross ties to cup the steel down nearly to the floor.
Had two chains crossed from side to side of trailer over the nose end of the sheets and had a piece of 6" angle over the end of the sheets where chains crossed as a "pad" against shearing chains. From Slidell down to US90 across the Irish Bayou bridges you saw fog, weak 6V tail lights, and HEAVY black smoke. Them old boys would put enough washers in their pumps to blow raw fuel over the back of a 34 foot trailer.
In talking with them their logic was: I can't start off fast enough to slide it off the trailer but if "I hit a train" the front end will rise up as it slides forward and clear my cab-Won't slice me in half. Rod stuff was loaded similar but front end had extra cross chains wrapped around "bundles" to help contain its frontal movement.
I see lots of steel -Flat-Channel-I beam-Rod -now just lying on several sticks of 4 x 4 on floor and then more sticks, another layer, then several straps over it along its length.
Either shipper don't want it bent or driver is not worried about "hittin a train."

 

When your hauling coils you just have to remember what you have on and take it easy. Believe it or not it takes alot to move a big coil but once it starts going its hard to stop!

You guys would probably go nuts trying to figure out how to chain down a 60, 70 or 80,000lbs coil, especially if you had to load it suicide.

 

Alot of shippers don't want their material bent so you need to do whatever to keep it as level as possible. Trust me that sucks when you have a trailer with a monster arch in it.

 

Nope just use a all aluminum 45' covered wagon. I have 4 3/8" chains the rest are 5/16". The heaviest single coil i have hauled was a 58,000lbs coil that I had to load sucide, I was offered heavier ones but they won't pay me enough to haul them. Some of these idiots here in ohio feel the more weight you haul the cheaper you can haul it for and I'm not tearing up my equipment for nothing!