Flatbed questions

I've wondered about this too. How many times do you come across this a week or month?

I was also wondering... at TMC or other companies where they make you climb the ladder to the top, what happens if you take your time getting back on the ladder?

I can climb up and down, but I look pretty sad trying to get back on because I'm always afraid the ladder is going to tip. So I usually kneel down and slide each leg on and hold on to whatever I've climbed up for the first couple steps.

 

I had to climb up on a weird load the other week.. 24 pallets, each stacked with 14 wattles. wrapped in cheap plastic. each pallet between 7.5-8.5' tall. (about 13'6" overall.) In AZ, 105F .. at 3pm.. not fun.

if you donno what a wattle is.. go to google images and search for "Straw wattle"

cept those ones are tied together, mine weren't.

I also haul a lot of mdf, particle board, other lumber stuff.. I get up there a couple times a week. any load over your shoulders or so that needs tarping, you have to get up there. or at least.. you want to get up there cuz its easier if you do

 

Sometimes, you have to climb. Yes, it's true. How often depends on what your company is prone to hauling. Lumber stacks are usually pretty stable, though. It's when you have multiple crates stacked side by side which are taller than they are wide that it gets to be a little nerve racking. In an entry level company, you can expect to run into lumber loads. IMO, the tarped loads for the scaffolding for stores like Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal Mart, etc. were much worse. Once you get your tarp over the lumber, you still know there'll be something solid to step on wherever you place your foot on that load.

 

No way around it. You are going to have to hump around on top of almost every load. Some of them are tall (13'), most, not so much. Some are awkward and others less so. An odd fall off even an empty trailer is going to break or hurt something. But you ain't exactly climbing Mt. Everest.

Think of it as variably climbing up and down on your house roof and your shed roof and your car in various weather conditions, at times having to figure out how to get an awkward tarp (more like 80 pounds not so much the 150 pounds some people claim. But they may have different lumber tarps than ours though ours are pretty standard fare. Or do loads on Jupiter or somewhere where gravity is higher than earth) up top.

 

I hauled 4 loads of lumber in 600,000 miles of flat bedding, 1 did not require a tarp, it was rail road ties.

It helps when you are tugging a step deck.

As a rule of thumb lumber doesn't pay very well, and I can't imagine that the building market that has fallen on its face has helped that at all.

I have tarped a lot of other things though, odd shapes, and when you are dealing with a shipper that gives a #### about their product, they wont kick you out the gate to tarp it, often times they wont want you out the front gate unless your load is properly tarped.

 

See my second post in http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ivers/152073-too-small-to-tarp-a-flatbed.html

Might help you.

 

If a load needs to be tarped you are often inside if weather is bad. Most will throw your tarps on top of the load with a forklift or crane and some may even help you spread the tarps. For the most part, it will be up to the driver to spread the tarps. You can expect to need to tarp about 50% of the load you haul with a flat. Some flat bed carriers require all loads to be tarped. Not all lumber loads require 8' drop tarps. Most loads will not require more than a 4' tarp.

 

Read through this thread it will give you a lot of great information.

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ce/114745-so-you-wanna-be-a-skateboarder.html