Profile For BravesCountry91

Ya know, the first thing my brain said was "I wonder if they make a 4" ratchet" while I'm sitting there using those 2". And the stake pocket wench...never would have guessed! I'm stopping in Florence sometime this afternoon for a shower and I'm gonna keep and eye out for both of those things.

I've been coming here for years for tips and tricks and questions especially when I was brand spanking new to the industry. I can't believe it took me this long to join. Yall really are some lifesavers on here.

Hey Turtle, thanks for the reply and the helpful pictures bud. I have that extra outlet on the trailer but no line or setup to dump. May be something I have to look into in the future if need be but I'm making do for now. Got through Maryland with no issue as expected. I'll never have to worry about that overhang law with anything I'm currently doing anyways. To answer your earlier question, I'm just hauling flatbed, no stepdeck. It's been a really good trailer to me so far. Of course PODS don't have considerable weight that other freight has so its less of an issue.

One issue I have ran into however is a bit of a wench situation. I've noticed the very back of my load exceeds the available wench placement on my trailer. I even have empty wenches, but they can't be slid any further back due to some bolts in the railing keeping them there. I'm assuming this is to keep them from being slide in place over the rear tires as I've been told that can blow tires when the air settles or something of that nature, however I have a feeling DOT still wants the back of that load secure. I got creative (no chains or binders at my disposal when this occured.)

I grabbed 2 ratchets, ran two 2" straps through them and secured them to the rub rail and over the rear POD (7 foot POD for reference so 2 strap minimum) along with the normal 4" strap at the front of that last POD. I don't know if that's legal per DOT in place of 4" strap, but I passed a few officers and didn't get any smoke from anyone. I'd love some feedback on this issue. I feel the answer may be chains and binders which is fine, just wondering about the whole situation as a whole. Thanks again fellas.

I appreciate the tips fellas. Yeah, they are fixed. I got my first full load on it today and could definitely see the difference of backing/turning as opposed to empty. Dang near gotta pull it up and over and up and over. Or just nose into a spot which I'm sure I'll find myself doing when necessary. Thanks for the dump valve tip Old School. I actually did notice the the extra electrical plug on the trailer and thought that may be what it was for. But no other line, so I don't have it. Maybe have to look into that one. My very first run was from East PA over to NJ and back. Heading down to FL over the next couple of days so definitely handy having that legal information. I will be going through Maryland so I guess I'll find out one way or the other. I know these PODS don't have much weight to them so I doubt I'll even need to scale, but probably will just to err on the safe side. I'll keep adding more tips/things I run into on my journey for any people looking for future info on this subject. Thanks again.

Hello all, I'm new here. I'm actually somewhat of an experienced driver but I labeled myself as a rookie for a good reason. A little background and hope yall like novels:

Originally from Louisiana. Obtained my CDL in 2018. Did a few months of OTR (dry van mostly, little bit of reefer) but quickly went local as a former warehouse I worked at few years had a daycab position open up and wanted me to jump on it...so I did.

Relocated to Florida a while back and kept working local daycab work all over FL, home-based out of Tampa. I quickly familiarized myself with a 41 foot KPRA after a tough morning at a scale lol.

Anyways, considering the majority of my experience has been local, dry van, day cab, easy work for the most part, I decided it was high time for me to hit the road and go OTR and get better over the road experience.

So I JUST landed on with a company on a PODS acct, this is my first experience with any sort of flatbed work. I don't feel too worried as I've had a little bit of training with them, but I'm always open to tips and tricks of the trade. Here's where I could use some help. For clarity, I thumbed through the flatbed tag on the forum and found some helpful things, but nothing hyper specific to my questions, that's how I wound up here.

I'm pulling a 48' fixed spread axle trailer. I've never pulled anything other than tandems before, and never anything other than a 53' outside of yard moving containers for my old company every once in a while. So I'm pretty aware of the backing issues with these fixed spreads, haven't run into a major issue yet. Coming from a lot of local work, I'm used to tight city corners (Miami brings up headaches) and overall comfortable with myself enough to go slow as I need to backing on truck stops and doing 50000 pull-ups to get the right "rainbow" setup if need be.

Anyways I guess some tips and pointers on driving a fixed spread would be helpful. I'm not gonna lie, I don't know exact configuration. Whether 10-1, 10-2. I can measure but wasn't sure how. Is that the distance between the spread itself? And then the big questions I can't seem to find straight answers anywhere. Can I pull this thing in CA, FL, MD, and elsewhere with no issue? Does it just follow the normal sequence of don't be overweight on axles and don't be overweight on gross. Which I believe if I'm right on spread is 20k on axle? Also pertaining to dump valves for easier cornering, backing, etc. How do I know if I have that or not, how to work it, or how to go about getting it set up if need be? My main concerns are just travelling through certain states. I figured being a 48' it shouldn't be an issue but absolutely wanted to know from way more experienced veterans in this trucking world.

If you stuck around this long thank you very much in advance and any tips or tricks will be very much appreciated from this rookie!

- Jordan (BC)