What would you do

Haha see I went the other way with it. I was hoping he was.

 

Do you mean getting into it as a company driver or as an O/O?

 

As a driver I think the best way to start out would be doing flat-bed work for an outfit that does OS .
You'll be hauling crane booms, counter-weights, generators, tracks, small wheeled and tracked support equipment, just about anything. You name it and if it's in support of the regular OS you'll probably haul it.
Take every opportunity to learn how to operate whatever you're hauling...Cats, graders, shovels, everything.. You might have to do a lot of your own loading and unloading when you move to rgns. If you can't run machinery you'll be stuck on flatbed forever.
If you have anything on the ball your boss will let you break into rgn work as openings occur. He'll probably start you off on the smaller stuff and work your way up...over time...to whatever the maximum is that he hauls.
We don't see much turnover in rgn drivers in this area. Most of the jobs are hourly with benefits and drivers seem to stay a long time with an outfit that plays square with them.

 

"If I had it to do all over again..."

I probably wouldn't change much. I've wanted to drive a truck since I wa as running wild - hitching back and forth across the country, traveling with carnivals and such - so, I guess I'd start by getting my CDL and hauling carnie rides until getting married, settling down and (eventually) divorced. Then pick up where I left off and jump in a truck again. I ran vans my first 3.5yrs out here and then went open deck. The open deck outfit I started with hauled legal and OSOW equipment and that's where I still am. I'm just an O/O now. I think I'd like to have become an owner sooner with, maybe, my own authority.

 

I have to wonder if it wasn't for the added emission system, the Cummins would be a better engine.

 

frankly, i never wanted to do much in any sort of specialized trucking. the responsibilities, hours of operations, and everything else, out weighed simple van hauling for me.

god only knows the heavy haulers out this way, but it never phased me to do more than drive past thier locations, as i went about my business going shopping or whatever else in my daily routines.

i'd suppose that if YOU want to get into this sort of hauling, get a simple flat bed job, learn it, and learn it WELL. then after x amount of time, start applying for heavier haul/over dimensional work.

 

But it had other issues, it was just a problem engine. It alone caused more grief in two years than the other trucks combined, and it was barely ever running, because it was in the shop. And then the phone calls with cummins pushed me over the edge of anger...they told me that when they downloaded the computer data it showed abuse by us because it would sometimes be held at 100% throttle for what they deemed too long. I live in BC mountain region, all trucks get held to the floor for long periods of time here. We have long and steep pulls, plus they knew at the kenworth dealership where i bought it what i do and i pull heavy loads most of the time, and in the mountains. Yet the other engines don't care about it, so why would Cummins even say that. Its a diesel engine in a class 8 truck, they should all be built to be held foot to the floor all day long if the driver wants to. My Cat and Mack engines don't care about being run at wide open throttle for 20 or 30 minutes, they just keep pulling and don't get overwhelmed and start shutting down. This was the only engine in my 34 years of driving and numerous trucks that spun a bearing. It had constant injector issues. Developed both a coolant and an oil leak in the first 6 months. Funny thing is that I like dodge pickups and the little cummins in those seems to be a fine engine. My latest pickup has a bunch of emissions stuff and yes it uses def fluid, but has been 100% reliable, they just can't build a class 8 truck engine it seems, and should stick to pickups. Not to mention that they pull terribly, i mean seriously lacking power. They are all pulling way under the rated power it seems the last many years. Back say in 1995 a 500 hp cummins would pull along side a 500 cat or Detroit...now a 565 or 600 hp cummins pulls substantially less hard than a 500 hp motor from the other guys.

 

I'm going to shoot myself in the foot here but.. I haven't had any real issues with this '09 Cummins.