Tarping question

Nice....Real nice.....I think you just may have made me a "Convert"...

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

I'm a company driver and if it requires 8 foot drops, the shipper is expected to lift the tarps on it. The company doesn't want us lifting them and frankly some of our older tarps weigh about 150 lbs. I don't know about you, but I don't think I could safely get that onto an 8 foot load.

 

Tree nursery truckers!

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JF, how about these

1. Worse fuel mileage pulling a rolling tarp.
2. Extra weight
3. Cost

Probably none of that matters when you make $4/mi I guess.

 

Personally I never had a problem with tarps. But I have a certain way I do mine and it makes it so much easier to put a 8 foot drop on a load. I been doing it since I was fifteen.

 

Conestoga wagons , side kits are nicer than loose tarps , that's A fact. However if the cover has ice and snow built up on it, be prepared to play icebreaker before you can lift it to slide over the bow ties. A small , well made step ladder is helpful with the higher side kits. Loading steel coils require removal of side kit panels , in some mills on both sides of the trailer. I pulled the support posts and slid the panels , in order , so they would slide back into their numbered position. They wear into slot and are easier to remove/replace if they are numbered L1, R1,L2,R2 ETC. ETC. . On A windy day park so that the wind assists in re-tarping the wagon . Blow the tarp off and onto the ground and now you can work up A real sweat on A -5 deg. day. Start untarping at the rear and secure the tarp as you proceed . Pull back only enough to permit loading. Some of our work was inside which is really nice , but most was out in the open where you had to strategize to prevent an unnecessary work-out. Once the tarp was on the ground I took it off entirely , pulled it up onto the trailer floor , back into the holders ( we only had them on them on the right side) , put the ties back in and pulled back over. 2 or 3 guys could have pulled it back up , but I was alone . Tarps of any variety , supple , flexible in the summer turn into plywood when it gets cold. I worked with owner operators who refused tarped loads regardless of the tarping pay. It seemed often times we tarped loads for no apparent reason but A purchaser in A suit thinking it was A good idea , maybe. Trucking , in any form , has it's unseen demons lurking .......... get into the semi dump trailer with pick and shovel to remove frozen coal , aggregate , caked clay that builds up on one side of the bed and will tip the thing over at worst, but gradually reduce the tonnage moved as the tare increases. Trucks = Trouble folks , and there ain't no easy way out ! Sleeve

 

Here's a tarp ld. for you all. 1 piece tarp, canvas tarp not vinal.
Great thing was I did not have to put it on or take it off. The customer did.
Bad thing was it only had 1 row of grouments on it. Told them it wasn't going to work. We ended up having to put more rope and straps around it to keep it from ripping up more and blowing off..

 

you young guys must not remember the days of one tarps to cover a 45 footer with 8 foot drop.

those were a ###### to pick up and put on trl if the lift driver abandoned you.

 

I hauled the space shuttle...I had to tarp it. Took 4 Chinook Helicopters to drop the tarp on her. 10,000 bungees. Had to chain up too. 400 wheels. 6 miles of three-railers. Took her down an eighteen percent grade for five miles without a jake. And they say I ain't a super truckin big strapper.