Flatbed Variety

Pat, you need a sleeper cab for those trips!

OS, those aluminum logs look like fun!

Here's a couple of recent loads. First is a tarped load of roofing materials, mix of shingles and rolled roofing, mostly the latter. I didn't have any V boards for the rolled roofing (23 pallets) so I did the best I could with edge protectors and tarped it even though it was a no tarp load. My dispatcher did me a solid and gave me tarp pay anyway.

Second is a load of steel from Alabama to Utah . . . or is it Texas? The BOL didn't agree with what dispatch sent, so I've been sitting here since 1700 last night waiting for them to figure out that part. Of course, the folks in the offices involved don't work 24/7, so really they've been working on it for about an hour. Meanwhile, I've had two good meals at the mom n pop truck stop I'm sitting at, so I'm content.

New pics coming tomorrow with flying boxes

Nah, trucks already weigh 25k and a sleeper would be that much less we can scale.

As promised, been hauling these all week.

Well, I went from flying boxes to flying beams. I delivered this beam yesterday and have a longer one on for delivery tomorrow.

Well, I went from flying boxes to flying beams. I delivered this beam yesterday and have a longer one on for delivery tomorrow.

I don't know much about flat bedding, but the few guys that I have talked to seem to love it. I was blown away the first time I had seen a beam like that.

Driving a Kenworth with a Flatbed with loads on the First page is what I want to be doing... However I think for the first year I would be better off learning how to properly drive a Van/Reefer for at least a year before I worry bout securing loads.... Rookie can dream ;)

Driving a Kenworth with a Flatbed with loads on the First page is what I want to be doing... However I think for the first year I would be better off learning how to properly drive a Van/Reefer for at least a year before I worry bout securing loads.... Rookie can dream ;)

Nah, it's not that hard. The driving is similar, and the load securement is separate from the driving anyway, so there's no reason you can't learn both at the same time. When you're securing a load, you're not worrying about driving at that moment, and vice versa.

I would say many flatbed loads can be easier to drive than vans, since you often have a much lower center of gravity, you rarely have to worry about low clearances, and you can usually see exactly how the load and securement are behaving in real time. That being said, I did flip a truck when my load of lumber shifted on me 2 months ago... But don't let that one incident deter you!

Driving a Kenworth with a Flatbed with loads on the First page is what I want to be doing... However I think for the first year I would be better off learning how to properly drive a Van/Reefer for at least a year before I worry bout securing loads.... Rookie can dream ;)

There is absolutely no reason that you can not start out driving a flatbed as a rookie. Many here have done it such as Old School, Persian, Bud, me and many more.

This was my first ever load.... and it was 10 feet wide...

And to top that, this was my second load at 126k pounds gross, 14'8" tall and 11'6" wide. Talk about being nervous right out of the gate....

Well, I went from flying boxes to flying beams. I delivered this beam yesterday and have a longer one on for delivery tomorrow.

I don't know much about flat bedding, but the few guys that I have talked to seem to love it. I was blown away the first time I had seen a beam like that.

This was considered to be a small beam at 80k and 83' long which put me at nearly 135 feet long bumper to bumper. The one I have on now is longer but about the same weight because it is narrower. The longer and heavier beams we need to use a jeep under the front of the beam giving us 3 more axles. I think the longest beam that we have hauled was 147 feet long and weighed in at 147k. The beams are roughly 1k per foot of length.

With flatbedding, you either love it or hate it. The haters usually do not last very long.

Well spent 8 hours today unloading 4 trucks... That is how it goes with bridge beams because they have to move so slow when moving them, especially when the cranes are near the max lifting capacity.