Post your flatbed load pictures here

Even if you do have a bulkhead you still need 2 chains/straps within the first 10'.

 

To tell you the truth I never have the lumber to build a bulkhead so I always do it. I usually put a tripchain on the front to keep the load from going forward.

 

Yeah, I kinda did that half on purpose. I was thinking more along the lines of "there's only 6 chains on there" (it's only 30k). I don't like chaining in front of the dunnage because it can create a lever effect that will work them loose and I have the front boards set too far back for my liking. This is what happens when i'm distracted by other bs.

This is a bit of an experiment. I've been running for various companies doing various things (tank, equip, flat, hopper, dump, van, container, moving) and there's always something a bit off about it. I like flatbed, I like moving equipment, but I'm just not going to be satisfied with it until I'm running my own truck.

So I saw an O/O running an ad and figured I'd get as close a look as I could at how things were working out for an actual O/O. For this guy, not terribly well.

He's owned this truck for roughly 500k miles, so that's about 5 years or so. He has no fuel fund, no maintenance fund, obviously no payroll fund (and I don't even get payed by the mile, flat rate per week. Easy). He changes the oil about every 40k miles. He doesn't know basic stuff about the truck that he should know, like don't wait 40k miles to change the oil, or what kind of tarps he should have (his dad bought him some years ago).

Looking for a load on a load board gives him a headache, so he doesn't really try. He's got one broker at CHR that he works with and the guy keeps baiting him into taking loads to TX, OK, and KS by telling him that he's got a load out. He never does. Guy never learns. I've hooked him up with a contact of mine that can get him loads but they pay in 30 days. He can't afford to wait 30 days to get payed (but apparently I can).

He was just going through a bad divorce when I started for him so I figure his finances are shot, but they'll recover when that's done. Divorce was finalized, we start to earn money, he forgets to pay me and was thinking that he didn't owe me anything until I pointed it out as christmas was coming up and I was close to broke. So he pays me two weeks before christmas, and that check bounced and had to be run again, and on christmas which messed up christmas for me pretty well.

Now I'm starting to get annoyed and the old truck is messing up in various ways, which eats money. Anyway, that was the last pay I got and now I'm out galavanting around the countryside instead of at home. Speaking of home, I was right in the middle of transferring funds from my bank account to the new account with the credit union, so I closed the intermediary account that sis and I used to transfer money while I was on the road cause I was going to finalize that when I got home yesterday. Now I can't get the rent to her.

To top it all off (cause's there's always that icing, right), I get to the place I'm going and the guide says, "Fuel, Repair, Parking, Showers, etc." all the good stuff. No repair and no showers. Never even had any showers. Stupid guide.

And it's my birthday on Monday.



So yeah, I'm thinking that's just about enough of this. I'll get back home, someday, tell him I'm done, go down to the credit union to apply for a loan on a truck for myself, and see how miserably I fail at it.

 

Passing thru, I was under the impression the pony motor was only used for emergencies when your pto was inoperable? Does your truck have a wetline? Just curious, Ive hauled a couple of loads on a manual RGN but Ive only seen the other ones run.

Kajidono, Keep your head in the air brother, if you buy your own truck I wish you the best of luck sir. Happy birthday!

 

The ones we had had a little generator sized motor on them to run the hydraulics so you didn't need anything special on the truck. The only bad part of that was remembering to keep gas in them.

 

Yeah we had one like that at the place I hauled scrap for, but the trailer could also have a wetline hooked to it, the guy who drove it told me the motor was for secondary use only.

 

Well to tell you the truth I wasn't aiming to be off this long. I got home Christmas Day and my mom passed away that day so all the things that I had planed to get done that week got put off, then BW9 and his wife came by for a few days so then its the first of the year so I needed to get some work done to the trailer that took a week longer then I thought it would. So now its time for are cruise to the Caribbean, now I got a couple other things started I need to finish up before I go back out. For the most part I dont do much in the winter anyhow.

Besides the places I haul steel around here are slow now and the "I can do it cheaper" drivers are all over what load are moving, so its like I told Les the other night, I can go broke cheaper at home than I can on the road.

 

The pony motor I have is in the jeep unit of my setup. It raises the hat box on the jeep so I have ground clearance when I'm lded.
You can set these trls. up for a wet line AKA pto system.
It's just easier this way as my goose necks on the jeep and the long neck on the trl. are what the call mechincal.
Saves weight and also the extra money involved with the extra hyd. cyls. etc.
For a 3 or 4 axle lowboy yes hyd. necks are nice.

Looking online now for different prices on motors. Plus I have to figure in shipping costs.. Wait I'll contact shipping wars and get it done for pennies on the mile...

 

Happy Birthday early.

 

Twelve pieces of 4' diameter drainage pipe, between 13-15' long. Dropped it out in the middle of nowhere in California. Hate goin to that state.