What's asphalt hauling like?

At my last company I drove a semi, truck and trailer, and a set of doubles hauling hot oil. I also operated a transfer truck and trailer dump doing roadwork at times. Ask away...

 

It’s super easy.

just don’t fall out of the paver and even if you do it’s 2019. Everyone has a skid steer.

around here if you fall out you buy a case of beer for the crew.

I had the paver accidentally back up on me and lost 10 tons of mix or so. lol that was their fault.

I work for a paving company. I love it, I do it all from drive to labor. Today it was self serve day so I was big iron.

 

Oh yeah that’s tanker most likely. Probably a gravy job.

 

Hauling asphalt oil is easy work. I had a daily 565 mile run. Go to the refinery, load, drive all night, unload by gravity or pump off, take it back to the barn. Pretty simple and straightforward.

 

You guys still hauling mix?

I think I’m gonna be done on the 14th, maybe stretch it to thanksgiving but I doubt it.

 

Hot, messy and miserable.

It's completely seasonal, workload is completely centered around the weather (if it's raining, you're sitting) and once you're loaded (after a several hour wait at the loading plant) it's "we need it there yesterday".

You do a lot of sitting in the truck and standing around. Sitting in line to get loaded, standing on the rack getting loaded, drive an hour or two to the paving site, then stand around for 1-2 hours waiting for the pump to suck the trailer dry.

Pump off's for emulsion loads are the worst. You *will* get covered in it (hopefully you are wearing coveralls, boots and a face shield) and there's no easy way to get it off of anything, including skin, without a harsh solvent or gritty soap.

I did it over the summer for two months and hated it. Made me realize liquid tankers aren't my thing. Should always be an hourly position for pay, because delays always happen.

 

Just exactly the opposite here except for the seasonal part, at least where I hauled from, which happens to be the only place here. lol

All short runs, up to 100 miles was by the hour, pulling single or double. I did have to load at the rack most of the time hauling hot oil, though sometimes they would pre load for me.
Hauling emulsions we did not load at the refinery, and I just sat in the truck while they loaded me at the plant. Anywhere I unloaded, I only got out of the truck, if I wanted to, the reciever did all the hoking up and pumping off, sometimes when pulling a trailer they were not used to, I would have to show them how the valves were set up though. On some of the places I would climb up and crack the dome open too. I rarely got any onme other than my gloves, when I did a little WD40 takes it off easy enough.
I loved hauling the emulsions, I could get nearly anywhere in he state in 6 hours, and would leave out in the evening and sleep where I needed to unload, crack the dome before I went to bed, or leave a note on the valve telling them too, and they if I slept through them unloading, they would wake me up, and down the road with a fresh 10 I would go. I called it old mans trucking, about as easy a trucking gig as I ever had.

 

If that's what it was at Paul's I probably would have stayed, lol. I might still be bored but more driving and almost no work and mess? Yeah, that wouldn't be half bad.