E.L.D.E.R. - Experienced Lowbed Drivers Essential Rules

Rule 33. If you need to turn the house of an excavator around on your trailer, swing it SLOWLY. Especially in wintertime when theres snow and all sorts of frozen dirt stuck in the tracks making it nice and slippery. Also pack sand with you to aid in traction.

 

This got hammered into me when I was part time truck driver / part time laborer - grade checker when I first got started. Amazing what a little angle in the grade rod can cost in extra material, but I sure found out!

 

#34 If the piece that you are picking up already puts you overweight then don't let them throw anything else on there.

It's just the extra bucket, we haul it this way all the time... LOL

 

Starting a couple of years ago we're aloud to in Ohio. It saves us a lot of extra running. That being said we used to move excavator with all the attachments and no one said a word then for a long time they cracked down on it then allowed it again.

 

Had a friend pick up a combine. He told me that he was having to get his permits changed because he was overgross.

'A combine is usually 40000lbs. With a 35 ton Rgn, the average truck will be 37000 empty. What else do you have?'

"Well, they put some tires on here too."

 

We got popped for being over with a hoepack in the dump body and a 315 on the tag trailer behind the dump truck this winter. Tried explaining it to them that it's gonna get us in trouble but nobody listens. Good thing my old man was the one it happened to, if it was me I probably would have just jackknifed like I had a pup trailer and dumped the hoepack out right there at the scale house and had to pay to fix the #### thing just to prove a point!

 

That's why some states don't allow tail gate release switches in the cabs any more.. Ah sir your heavy, flip switch dumps some on the ground. Now I'm not.. littering fine....