Post flatbed load photos here V2.0

Yea they're generally close. If you've got a hydraulic hammer on for instance, it may be a bit heavier than the counter weight is designed for to keep you from flipping over.

When you swing it on an angle or even level up on a trailer, tuck the stick and boom as close to you as you can to minimize it from wa ting to lean.

 

I'm kinda in the middle of what your saying. I don't want two sticks and I like my big horse and AC but I like the old school feel that's missing today. I like a hood and some chrome with plenty of black smoke. Trucking has lost a lot of its class and draw, there's nothing cool about a cascadia or 5700 Western star with an automatic. Aerodynamics and emissions along with drivers who weren't "attracted" to trucking have ruined it.

 

That statement was an analogy. I was not in trucking when I first moved to Fla.

Hurst

 

I did some heavy haul last summer. I thought it would bring back some nostalgia and spirit from when I first got into trucking. Instead, I found a lot of frustration from dealing with all of the regulations and red tape involved. That and I didnt like not being able to get naps during the day and scrambling to get to where I hoped would be room to park. Then end up awake for half the night because I cant fall back a sleep once I wake. Then I'm tired driving all day and then still wont sleep for more than 5 - 6 hours even when exhausted like that. Once I wake, its very difficult to fall back to sleep for me.

The way I run now,.. I'll get loaded and push 4 - 5 hours of driving. Stop,.. get a shower and eat. If I'm within an hour of my delivery I'll just stay where I am and leave in the morning to deliver. Other wise I really cant sleep for more than 4 - 5 hours at a time. So I will generally get back up and get closer to my delivery,.. or if I see they have room to park I'll go directly there. Then sleep till its time to get up and empty. My sleeping patterns are extremely erratic. I usually drive and sleep in 4 - 5 hour increments. Even in my personal vehicle,.. my wife does most of the driving on long trips. This is why I am trying to avoid elogs. I would end up tired and miserable if I had to comply with how HOS expects me to drive and sleep. I am much happier and safer with being able to sleep and drive on my own schedule. Heavy haul had me pretty tired most of the time. As much as I enjoyed it,.. its just not for me anymore.

Hurst

 

You are exactly the reason why hos as they are now are unsafe. They try to lump everyone into one box and force us to drive even if we're tired if we are going to make the most of our day.

 

And that's what I've been saying ever since this whole elog nonsense first starting being a thing. I'm what you would call a "regular" sleeper. 6-8 hours a night and I'm good to go 12-14 the next day. I've only started, at the age I am now, experimenting with "naps". I still can't sleep for 5-10 minutes and gain benefit from it. I still need to sleep 1-2 hours for it to be of any use... which in most cases on even the current paper log system, would be impossible for me to make any miles as a highway driver.

Now, there is someone like you, who not only can do the work I can't, but does it in a way that runs contrary to the government's preferred way of doing it. Is that actually in the interest of safety? Pushing you to alter your sleep schedule, drive tired and risk the lives of everyone on the road just to fall into line with an overly narrow mandated standard?

I think the resounding answer from most sensible people would be "NO!" but most sensible people aren't involved with safety commissions and political lobby groups. They are the people, with literally no experience doing what we do, trying to come up with a way to make the public FEEL like they are safer on the roads, while not actually doing anything practical to help.

What would be practical? Well, limiting the number of driving hours in a 24 hour period is pretty much the only rule that should apply. I don't think there is anyone out there, short of a coke-snorting super-trucker that runs LA to NY overnight at 80mph, can work more than 14-18 hours in a day without some severe detriment to their ability to do their job.

When I'm driving truck long distance, as soon as I break past that 10-11 hour point (I was expected to always try my best to get 13 hours in in Canada) I'm driving tired. No amount of coffee or caffeine can cut through that fog of fatigue that sets in. However, when I'm working physically throughout the day, switching between driving and running around the truck fiddling with straps and tarps, I end up not getting as mentally fatigued, and can still drive at the end of a long day without issue... just generally fatigued.

And now these machines are going to come in and mess with that... there have been a couple times where we are required to work past the 16-hour window because of a delay at a shipper, which, because we don't use a true highway log, allows us to still get paid for every hour we "worked" even if we are off-duty... but soon as that elog comes in, once that 16-hour door closes, we're done for the day. Period.

The highway driver taking the hot-load we are bringing back to the yard, who is sitting their itching to get going, now has to drive an hour north of the yard to pick up the trailer we just loaded but can't bring back to the yard legally, just to drive it again an hour south to get back to where he started, eating up 2+ hours on HIS clock in the interest of "safety".

On top of this, now we are stuck in the truck, in Selkirk, MB (nothing wrong with the town), without a means of getting home for the night. And I will get a terrible sleep and be useless the next day and still have to drive that hour back to the yard in the morning to get a new trailer!

Nonsense!

But anyways, mega-rant over. Good luck out there Hurst, stay safe and keep on truckin'!

 

And that's before you have the dispatcher breathing down your neck, "encouraging" you to get moving, even when you feel unsafe to drive. Fortunately, I never had that experience, but it wasn't out of the question for some dispatchers at my company.

The one time I woke up at 3am to make an appointment on time for noon the next day, I was done by 2pm with no energy left. My dispatcher wanted me to go reload, I said "there was no way" and she respected that and said it would be okay to load the next day. It pains me to think there are so many companies out there, paying slave wages, forcing drivers to make these kinds of decisions, all for the sake of the company to clear better margins on their profits.

So many say "you are a person, not a number" but I don't think that's the case in a lot of instances. Most companies don't care about the drivers at all, and I'm already starting to think my company might feel the same about regional drivers (can't prove it though). There has been a LOT of turnover in the past year, and a lot of the other guys are saying the lower wage cap is killing them. They don't want to leave because there aren't many options elsewhere that guarantee as many hours during the week or offer regional work.

That said, I'm not going anywhere. I LOVE the company I work for and while I might feel the pinch of the cap when I max out in a year and a half, $20/hr is $9.50/hr more than I was making at my last job, doing the exact same work in a smaller truck. And a whole lot more money that I would have been making as an unemployed post-graduate arts student.

 

Darn 3 year old is wide awake in the middle of the night so guess who is awake to get her snacks, drinks, change her clothes and put on Curious George.

Was hoping to get a pic of turning over half a million on Betsy this week but traffic made me miss it