Question of Chains vs. Straps

You got to be ######## me? Straps on a coil?

 

Sure. Big Wayne is spot on for load securement of a shotgun loaded coil. You're probably thinking suicides, Big John.


By the way, there are way too many "Big"s on this forum. Admin, can we make a new rule about choosing your username to forbid anymore "Big"s?

 

I think it is cheap. Figure your time in loading and unloading and driving threw scrap yards they suck and a good way to cut a tire. Then crap can fall off the load. What do you do when you get to Colorado Springs? Go to Pueblo and get a cheap load of wire or Denver for cheap shingles. You will have dead head miles out of Colo.Springs and you will need to get the trailer floor washed before reloading. $2.33 a loaded mile will drop a bunch when you figure in the other stuff.

 

sweep off the trailer. make the 40 mile dh to denver. and reload.

only thing i haul that actually touches the trailer is cars.

and wear and tear. my trailer is in the same condition as when i started 8 months ago. and i have yet to ruin a tire.

if you're ruining tires you're not paying attention to where your driving and not waiting for the loader to sweep the ground.

2.33 for the load. minus fuel brings it down to 1.68. minus the misc stuff. that's 1.25 profit for the truck.

it's a load and it's profit for the truck. beats sitting around in albuquerque looking for a load to go somewhere for better then $2.

i'm moving and making money. i'm not sitting in albuquerque waiting for a high dollar load. i'm going to denver and packing me a load home.

i've hauled sheetrock, pipe, and lots of oversized loads from denver. most of the times i'm going home. but some of the time it goes to the northwest. which still takes me home.

you don't like the load. that's allright. there are plenty of trucks that make the haul. they aren't whining and they're making money. and they're going home.

other then the regular bills. i don't have any extras. my minimum is $2 per mile. leaving me with $1 profit.

i have my triangle. thats 3 loads. then i take a load out. and usually haul scrap back home. 2 more loads. i'm home on the weekend. and i'm putting roughly $2,500 in the bank every week.

i don't run recaps. they blow out too much. i'll spend the extra 150 for virgins. and i'm going on 100,000 miles hauling what you guys don't like.

i'm coming home. and i'm cranking up the harley and going fishing.

 

I learned to haul iron from people who were doing it 20 years before i started. Never was told to do it this way. DOT says no more criss crossing chains. In the old days we did criss cross chains not today. Probably the first 20 years of my career i hauled alot of iron. 2 chains per coil did not matter if it was shotgun or suicide,20K or 50K,2 chains,never any iron on the street. The only people i know who ever put any iron on the street were drunk. Not a misprint. I said it right DRUNK. The biggest problem today with loads shifting and falling off the trailer is lack of respect for the load by the driver. Today i secure per DOT specs,but i also drive with consideration for terrain and conditions. Have never seen a coil telescope on the trailer,only after it hits the pavement.

 

the coils we haul don't allow chains. straps only.

4 by 4 with a chain in the front.

 

Are you talking sheet or wire coils?

 

You still X the chains and use a trip block on shotgun coils. If you watch while in the mills you can see who haul coils all the time and who dont by the way they keep stuff on there trailer.
I watched a Prime driver load a suicide coil and started to X the chains, I walked over and told him that was not allowed and he pulls a cheet sheet out of his pocket that he had gotten from someone at Prime, and he was reading how to chain a shotgun coil, turned the paper over and showed him the way to chain the suicide coil.
Trouble with todays new drivers no one shows them how to do it on a real load.

 

You can't beat practical experience! You can sit in a class room for a week and try to have something drilled into your head BUT doing it in real life makes the strongest impression.

At least he didn't have to go to his truck for his load securement policy/training manual or call someone for help!