Flatbed Variety

Had to make an over night run yesterday. Since we get perdiem for hotel and food when we have to stay out over night then I thought what the heck, I will just take my portable sleeper with me....

All this for some equipment...... This is only the second grader I have ever hauled and the first time I had to load one by myself so I had to figure out all the blade controls to get it on the trailer correctly.

The pictures are great and the one with the tent is funny. Believe me I have seen more than a few drivers that needed an over sized load trailer just to move around.

The pictures are great and the one with the tent is funny. Believe me I have seen more than a few drivers that needed an over sized load trailer just to move around.

LOL yeah I have too. I am a big guy but the steering wheel still does not hit the belly. I don't see how some of them drive safely and still reach the clutch.

I'm sure you had all the proper securement on that tent load, and had it listed on the manifest too, right?

I'm sure you had all the proper securement on that tent load, and had it listed on the manifest too, right?

What? You can't see the 6 each 1/2" chains holding it down?

Gotta break out the portable sleeper again tonight. Could go load the excavator tonight but it is 100° right now and will be 53° in the morning and I will still have time to unload and get home tomorrow night.

Well it did not quite make it to 53 but it was better loading the excavator at 63 than it would have been at 100. See, when we haul equipment like this there is usually no one around so we load, chain and unload all ourselves. No waiting to get loaded or unloaded.

I had 7 axles total on this run and because of the weight of this machine, 85k, I had to run under what Montana calls DW21 conditions and because of the weight in Wyoming I could not exceed 65 mph. That was ok too. Under DW21 conditions you have to have an assessment for the truck and trailer combination. What they do is come out and measure all the axle spacings and check the ratings and give you a printout with the maximum amount of weight that you can run. In this case I could run 14k on the steer, 59350 on the drives with the drop axle down and 63k on the trailer. When all was said and done I was 12,800 on the steer, 59,820 on the drives and 60,040 on the trailer. I know that I was over on the drives but here they tend to give you a little leeway so I ran with it. By the time I got to Billings from Sheridan I was 59,540 on the drives and the others were the same.... Still over but good to go. Rolled through the Laurel scale and he did not even stop me on the scale to weigh the axle combinations.

One more thing about the DW21 restrictions... On a 2 lane road you will need 2 pilot cars no matter the width. The reason being is that at every bridge you have to stop 50 feet from the bridge and wait for traffic to clear and the lead pilot to stop oncoming traffic. You then must proceed to centerline the bridge at 5 mph max and the rear pilot must keep the traffic behind you from entering the bridge until you are completely across it.

Now for the photo....

Today I'm hauling "logs."

Well, it might not be the kind of logs you're thinking of... Not these kind of logs:

I've got a load of what we call "aluminum logs." This is the shape the aluminum is in before they heat it up so that it glows a "cherry red," and is then soft enough for a powerful press to force it through a die which will produce the various shapes of aluminum extrusions that I haul around the country on this dedicated account for SAPA Aluminum.

This is 47,000 pounds of solid aluminum logs. Not quite as gnarly as a 47,000 pound beer load, but it did get interesting over in the Smokey Mountains where I delivered it to, and it was also fun taking some of those backwoods Pennsylvania mountain roads when I was leaving Cressona.

Are those logs laying in some kind of channel to keep them from rolling side to side? It's hard to tell from the picture but it almost looks like the logs are just laying on flat pieces of wood and the steel bands around the logs are what is keeping them from rolling. That would be scary.

it almost looks like the logs are just laying on flat pieces of wood and the steel bands around the logs are what is keeping them from rolling. That would be scary.

That's how it works Brett. You know flat-bedders have nerves of steel, or of aluminum in my case!

You are exactly right about the steel banding - it is what keeps them from rolling, along with the pressure the band exerts onto the wood. The banding is really tight.

What you may not be able to see from the photo is that they are bundled three to a bundle. You don't have large groups bundled together - that would make it really scary. I've hauled a lot of these, and I've never had an issue with them. Of course most flat-bed loads don't cause you any problems until you and the truck get into a problem, that's when you start sweating it.