cpape, is it possible that he used straps so as not to damage the surface of the steel or does that matter?
Jumbo Dropping a load at the terminal is not something we do with every load. Only in spacific situations.
There are a million different kinds of steel. There are some that are surface critical and require straps. So it is possible. Cargo has to be protected from securement devices and vice versa. A flatbedder has to has to be able to assess the load and figure out how to protect the load and keep it from falling off the trailer.
It is...which is why we really don't do a lot of switching like that (also combined with the fact there are not nearly as many of us in the flatbed division as there are in dry vans!). Generally the biggest terminal swaps I've dealt with are steel coils coming out of the mills in the Chicago area. They get shuttled to the Gary yard, stripped and an old yard tarp thrown on top and weighted down with dunnage. It's not a road worthy tarp job, just enough to keep the wind from pulling it off. All I have to do at that point is pull the old tarp, throw my chains and put my good steel tarp over it. Pulling the old tarp takes 10 minutes tops, and that's just because I was nice to the next driver and rolled it up properly. Laredo is a slightly bigger issue, but I know I've personally made friends with the TransMex crew that comes to resecure the loads, so often I have a helping hand to break everything down and roll my tarps. I can't complain, and my spanish is getting better with every load.
cpape, good info,...I finished tie down class fri, waiting on my mentor...looking forward to flatbedding. Thanks
what company michelinman? Reread the post about securement on plate...if she could see the securement and thickness of plate, it wasn't tarped. Combined with the thickness means chains wouldn't hurt it.
Well i had a load to portland,went to pre- trip the trailer, while pulling on the slack adjusters low and behold..........3 nice cracks in the main beams of the frame!! So had to sit all night for the repair shop to open. Towed it over to a repair shop. They rewelded the frame, i t-called it in Fontana(yes had to swap equitment) and grabbed a load of pipe and taking it to Hayward California. I'll drop it off in the am and hopefully they find something to keep me busy for the weekend. On the subject of equitment swaps i hate to swap equitment. I inspect all of mine, and use edge protection when ever it is needed. Some drivers don't and that is why I don't swap anything with other drivers, might be rude but oh well.
Sounds like a chainable load to me.... Driver probably didn't have enough chains or didn't want to dig them out.
I got burned trusting one of our flatbed mentors to give me decent equipment on a t-call swap. Never again. Tarps had holes big enough in the top for me to stick my head through, and since it was a 13' tall load of plywood, I couldn't see it. Took him at his word that they were "in great shape". Ha.
I only know two women flatbedders, one drives a black truck and the other is from Nor-Cal. Their isn't many women in flatbed. Well maybe ill run into ya in Lared i'm 309930 my truck number is in almost all the pictures...lol
