Big Loads - Post Photos Number 2

Hammer, when I get home I'll produce a pic of a 96" wide 16 wheel I used to pull! It's posted here a year ago. Blue 7 axle with my 72 Pete.

 

@Heavy Hammer This is the only pic I have of the back of this 1969 Beall 16 wheel, 96" wide. I think the tire size was 8.25 x 20 or 9.00 x 20 tubes. Jeep was the same. The answer to your next question is, Yes, once on the side of the road in the summer, east of Paso Robles, CA with the usual type lug wrench and my cheater pipe. Went flat, sucked the tube & shook so bad I had to single it out, 70 miles from home & empty. And Petey, I just leave them on the deck.

 

Heres another story about that 7 axle. The fixed neck on the main trailer is 3 feet shorter than Beall designed it. When my boss ordered it in 69 (I didnt start til 2/78 he wanted to be able to pull the trailer as a 5 axle without the jeep & be legal length. Beall said, you wont be able to get enough weight on the jeep if we cut 3' out of the neck. He didnt care, he just wanted to be legal length, and of course, Beall was right. They used this trailer for D-8s & D-9s until they bought the 96" wide Murrays in 73 & 74. Then it rarely got used at all. Rated at 50 tons. I hauled a few D-9Hs on it & was always 2K over on the back. At 8' wide & 36" deck height , you didnt want to make any mistakes loading. I had a chance to buy the whole unit in 96 for $3,000.00 YES 3K. I had just bought a new Pete & had 2 kids in college & passed on the deal. Mistake.

 

Thanks Hammer, the respect is mutual. For those of you that didn't get to enjoy the "old days" , You didn't miss much. While the work was hard, it was a simple time. Technology has allowed the industry to do so much more, faster & easier and at the same time the regulatory agencies seem to be making life miserable for as many truckers as they can. From what I see, there are no "softies" on this site. Ice, snow, weeks away from home, Ahole DOT, other moron drivers, ya'll got it a lot rougher than I did. I would have liked to do what all you guys do for a year or two, to see the country & learn a little more but that chance has passed. I like sittin on the sidelines now.

 

Hey @Big Don I'll be in Cambria tuesday, I'll pull a cork in your honor.......