Hopper Bottum Hauling

Everything I’ve ever been told or read about pulling a hopper doesn’t make it very appealing. Run hard and fast to sit in line to load or unload. If local work, then run your butt off to make any money. If OTR then try and be the first to load then run hard to be the first to unload and do it all over again.

 

I'd say that accurately sums it up. But you left out all the fun parts... like shoveling frozen meat and bone meal.

 

.... Or when an idiot loads his hopper the evening before with corn at 17 percent thinking he's gonna get a jump on the early unload only to find when you open the doors only a handful goes in the pit and the rest is still in the hopper

 

the worst unload i have had to date, i loaded road salt, in the rain witch makes for a really bad unload to start with, but then i broke down while loaded and was down for something like 8 days so it sat in a black trailer under a black tarp in the sun. cranked the traps all the way open and nothing came out. after i beat a hole threw the crust and got it to start unloading still only had probably 40k lbs of the 64k lbs i was loaded with come out on its own. had a good 2 ft crust on every wall of the trailer.

iv loaded salt in the rain a couple of times and it was never fun to unload but when you get there and its raining and its been raining all day and the forecast isn't showing it stopping anytime soon and the load out is not covered your faced with do i sit here and wait till tomorrow to load or just deal with it. having that sit in the trailer for that long certainly did not make it any better at all.

 

I loaded road salt last week while it was wet snowing. Next day, just like you said. Opened the gates, no action. They had a sledge hammer there I used it just to break a hole in it to get it started.
Mine was only about three inches deep sticking. I found after trying the broom for a minute that turning it end for end and using the plastic end of the handle helped to crack the salt and cause a bounce of the slopes, so it actually came out pretty good doing that.

 

yeah it seems like the sooner you get it out if you load in the rain/snow the better, if it stays kinda damp its just sticky, after 8 days it turned almost into concrete.

most the loads of salt i haul come out of rocanville, sk. i was kinda sorta in your neak of the woods last week. loaded some urea at yara in belle plains.

 

Y'all fellas use vibrators on your hoppers?

 

I always did. Sure do help when they're oiled and adjusted properly.