Nickname or Lingo for a Flatbed Driver...

What is a "Strap On"?

Female Flatbedder

 

"White noise" huh....strange that's not what I get called when I slip in between two non reefer trucks. Heck I've been asked to leave and my response always is "do you ask bull haulers to move too?"

I cannot help I'm noisy nor can I help I cycle just about the time your nodding off again but for some of us (reefer drivers) we sleep the best while she is purring away.

 

I will park next to a refer ON PURPOSE, I like the sound, we don't idle and I can't sleep without the background noise.

 

spread axles r not easy to back up.

 

Funny you say that. If the other maverick driver is there monday I will snap a pic of our trailers where we drop at when we go home. I backed in beside him. We are 2 foot apart and perfectly straight. You ought to see the vans parked there.....

 

I think this needs to be clarified. Flatbedders don't have any trouble backing until you take them out of their environment. It's when you put a trailer behind them is when everything changes. Not their fault and if they've always pulled a skateboard it's a whole new learning experience for them. They can back and get into places I wouldn't want to be as long as they dragging that skateboard with them....but blind them and put a trailer (van or reefer) behind them it's a whole different story.

 

I was talking about the refigerated flatbed trailers I guess you did't get it.

 

YeS I did!
I got it.
And I stand by what I said.
Here in California, we see refer, flatbeds ALL the time.
And that isn't ALL we see, ALL the time.

 

@bullgoose:

I picked up at a gingerbread warehouse (and because everyone'll ask: yep, picking up gingerbread house kits) and saw an Intl 990i with far-away plates, a headache rack, and a rather haggard rented van trailer backed into a dock, rather poorly I might add (It wasn't even centered, much less straight). Noticing the headache rack, I wandered over to the driver and said, "You pull a flatbed?"

He grinned, chuckled, and said "You can tell by the parking job, can't you?"

We had a blast, chatting away the hours we waited to load. Apparently, he'd rented the trailer to pick up a load taking him to another part of the country to pick-up a new step-deck they'd purchased. And yes, being out of his element, he'd struggled to back into the dock and readily admitted it.

 

I'm a bullhauler, and make a point NOT to park near other drivers when I have a load on, for 2 reasons.

1. The animals can and do make LOTS of racket (even enough that it is hard even for me to sleep, which takes a lot). So, I try to make it easier for others to sleep.

2. In the summertime in particular, is for ventilation, day or night. The trailers can get VERY hot upstairs, when not moving. Stopping can be a fatal mistake with hogs in particular, since they don't sweat.