Big Loads - Post Photos Number 2

Stacy loads my trailer often, driving backwards, with more precision than most, period. He isn’t gonna take all day to do it, either. Very fine example of a Keen employee right there, along with the crane crew Mike and Ashton. Probably the best office staff in our fleet and Tyler will make sure his guys get around to you.

Those men right there are why when I’m on the interwebs and some driver is moaning about how awful Decatur CAT is for loading machinery… they messed this up, they didn’t do that, I told them this way, I couldn’t scale it out, yada…. Save for some grave reasons it’s probably the fault of that driver, in my experience.

There was a big 13-axle there for almost two weeks some time back. Had a mechanical neck that the boss bought up in Chicago on Monday. He was there Wednesday trying to get it loaded out with a big chassis for Georgia. Joy. No shims. Lost an air bag. Tires were flat and if he didn’t check if the trailer had shims you betcha he didn’t check the tires when he picked it up, either. He almost rolls it over out back by the tear down pad….





A day later his boss is on Facebook…. Keen ####ed up. Yada yada. Been in and out of there long enough to know Mike can put a chassis on a trailer, Mike has put more chassis’ on trailers than your driver has done loads, period. If your driver doesn’t KNOW where to put the load because it’s his first load and he doesn’t even have the proper shims for said trailer….well…. Maybe you should be deadheading back to the southeast.

Stacy was nothing short of helpful to that guy all week. Even working through problems. Brought the forklift over to ‘help’ without hesitation.

Show me on the doll where Keen hurt you, driver.

 

Stacking a trailer is typically a circus but every once in a while someone gets it.

 

Looking at that photo with the trailer and booster axles off the ground reminds me of how much I don't know about that equipment.

 

you know as much as that driver did. The difference is you’d probably recognize what you don’t know instead of seeking to blame the shipper.


At the end of the day you have to know your equipment. I never figured it was their job to know how to axle my trailer out just because I work for them. But plenty people out here think that…. Probably the same guys that smack bridges and start pointing fingers at everybody but themselves.

 

I'd be right there with you, what a knucklehead. Yeah highly agree, if someone had a problem there I would definitely wager that they probably had an attitude issue. Or might have had their cranium shoved somewhere warm and dark. Especially that example right there. But that specific one is sort of The perfect Storm of stupid.

But I think that's a big problem in this industry are attitudes and ego. They can mess up a dream.

Cuz you know it's like when I hear drivers that I know complain about places that I absolutely love to go. Some of them it's attitude some of it I think are just too high strung and and I'm convinced that some people just love to have problems. Or refuse to own their own inadequacies.

Don't get me wrong there are definitely bad places and bad people but I mean in this section of the industry it's very far in between for the most part.

(Btw if you ever see anyone with long blonde hair wondering around one of the blue stripey trucks, odds are it's me)

 

Ok, let me have it. Would you do this?



I wanted to attach to the corners, but also wanted to keep the house from being able to rotate, and I guess I was just lazy and opted not to throw two more chains.

 

So,when did you start wearing flip-flops? Hahaha

 

Oh, that's brutal! Lol

 

Improper training leads to guys having no clue about the basics of loading a trailer. I’m just a little six axle guy(occasionally), but most of my heavy loads are craned on then tarped, long before I ever find a place to scale. So if I put the piece in the wrong spot, it’s a massive headache.
I learned right here on this website how to calculate the load center of a trailer for different target group weights. If I have my way, I show up to the shipper with two tape marks on my trailer. As long as the center of gravity is between those two marks, everything should work out.

I worked/work with a few guys who love attention. If they can’t get it pulling big loads, they will cause drama to keep them selfs entertained. There’s also a ton of big egos in the heavy haul world it seems.

 

I honestly kinda like it. Does a lot of things at once. Efficient.