to all end dump haulers...

Oh wow!! Now that’s the set up!

 

Well guys I really did it yesterday. Hauling fly ash out of the power plant like I had been all week. We got ALOT of rain that morning and I was cutting across the lot like always to get under the sprayer to wet my load down, and all off a sudden I just sunk. Apparently I cut it a little to close to the corner and under a thin layer of rock it’s all sand to filter before it drains. I tried rocking, I tried caterpillaring myself out with the trailer. I was buried. Had to call a wrecker to give me a tug out. Went in to the boss upon arrival and told him “I know I screwed up, and I’m sorry.” He said “don’t worry about it. Nothing got tore up and in this line of work we got tow trucks on speed dial. If this is the worst thing we’ve done all week we’re doin good”. Still felt like a clod tho. Oh well lesson learned I suppose. Avoid corners of gravel lots in rain time!

 

I’ve done that before right in front of the scale at a quarry in Alabama, ground deceived me and gave way no sooner I drove off in it. They have huge loaders and were able to tug me out, still embarrassing none the less because I was right there for everyone to see.

On another note, @tndriver i saw one of your trucks on 65 south today around evergreen pulling a red, what looked to be steel trailer, any chance that was you?

 

Right I think that was the worst. I was marooned in plain sight, on seemingly level ground. They had loaders there they coulda pushed me out but they “didn’t want to be liable”. Which I can understand now days.

 

To make matters worse, I think it was the first week I had the truck, brand new!

 

Pretty uneventful week on my end; I'll give a quick synopsis, started the week loaded from the house and went to Pensacola, shot up above Montgomery and brought a load of rock back to Jacksonville, from there I brought fertilizer down towards Miami and reloaded out of south Florida back out to the panhandle of Florida, made my way back up above Montgomery and brought rock back down towards Daytona, headed back up to Jax and pre-loaded for Birmingham(Monday). Not a real stellar week, but I'm just taking it as it comes, hoping things show improvement sooner than later, but Covid is getting a little crazy down this way again, so we'll see what comes of that.

 

No I spent end of the week in ky/in. Supposed been a day run. But air compressor went down. Took forever to find me a loaner truck. Luckily I was pulling a van so any truck would work.

 

Where’s everyone been? Another financially slow start to the week for me, but having to bust my butt. I’m on my 2nd round already up towards Birmingham, I’ll turn that in the morning and head back to town then hopefully run something south for Friday to set me up for a preload going in to next week.

 

My suggestions...
Make sure your tailgate is open before you put the body up.

If you had your tag axle down put it up before you dump.

Watch the piston in the box as it goes up. If it starts to move to one side or the other pay attention.

Dont be afraid to reposition.

Frozen loads can be dangerous. Often liners are used or a special oil can be sprayed on the walls of the trailer, depending on what your hauling.

I only started pulling end dumps about a year ago ( and occassionally at that) and I was taught by old schoolers. But I havent had any problems yet. Good luck!

 

Well I been doing the fly ash Monday and Tuesday. In the rain, which always makes dumping at a landfill all that much better. I got pulled off that and asked if I wanted to come up by Chicago to bring back brand new trailers. Yea I do. Loaded railroad ballast at the yard to Boonville, MO. On our way the guy I was running with said “man my truck is starting this shaking I’m gonna hit the rest area and see what’s up” Soon as he pulled into a spot his steer blew.

Hung with him til he got it fixed. We were one exit up from a TA so they had him going in an hour. About as good of luck all around as can be had with a blown steer. Reloaded clay in Rosebud MO. Got to Logansport IN late and they said “well you can dump in the dark if you want, but i dunno why you’d want to.”
Never let fear or common sense slow you down fellas.