The worst load.... [Archive]

JSontag

July 4th, 2005, 14:41

What was the worst load you have ever pulled on a flatbed?
Why was it so bad and did something happen on the way which made it the worst load? Let me here your stories......

DrivingZiggy

July 8th, 2005, 20:57

Onions. :angry:

I picked 'em up in California. By the time I got to Phoenix, they were falling apart. Fortunately, the tire folks where I had just bought 8 trailer tires were helpful.

The guy used their forklift to take a pallet off. I then re-stacked the entire pallet and was lucky they had some shrink wrap handy. I wrapped it up real nice and used some dunnage to kind of hold it up.

By the time I got the load to New Orleans, it was falling apart again. But the straps held until I got there, and I had to cut one of 'em so's the onions would all fall. But their crew picked it all up.

BUT, when it was all done, the boss annotated on the bills that there were quite a few bags missing. I told him to bring me to them and we'd count them together. He said they were sealed in the container heading for Puerto Rico and he would not break the seal. The discrepancy was that the shipper counted one pallet has having 10 times as many bags because they were packaged in the 5 pound bags and then stuffed into 50 pound bags. Hence the shortage.

When I finally received my check, it was $171 short.

So, it's not just the freight, but also the jerks you have to deal with.

Foxfire

July 8th, 2005, 22:41

I picked up a chain and an anchor in Brownsville, Texas one time. You'd think that would be a walk in the park job. Well, this chain and anchor was one of a set of 8 that came from an offshore drill ship that was stabilized with what is called a 4 point anchor set up. In other words, this was one BIG chain and anchor! They put the chain on and then laid the anchor on top of it. I used every strap and chain & binder I had and then used my 2' straps just for extra security. From the time I pulled out the gate until I got it to Peter's Rd. in New Orleans (Destrehan for those of you familiar with the area.) it was a constant battle keeping that chain on the trailer! All of those links just kept moving around.

Curlyfrompgh

August 30th, 2005, 18:09

My worst load was my first load of tall, aluminum,
"eye to the sky", coils. This is where I found the importance of having you straps on the center of the coil. This also was a prime example of why you should always check your load. When I picked up in Russellville,KY and left for Tampa, everything went smoothly. When I made my first load check(within 30 miles, the rule at the time) I found almost all of my straps had loosened up. Knowing that a load will settle and your securements will end up being loose the first time they're checked, this didn't bother me. But after the second and third time I figured out what was happening was the straps were walking off the coils. Since it was raining I couldn't untarp and re-do it right, so I did the best I could. I cut up a rubber mat & used the pieces to give the straps some traction. this worked but I found that most of the straps were cut and needed replaced. But you live and you learn from your mistakes or others'.(preferred) The key is to not repeat them. [/i]

Diesel Dog

September 16th, 2005, 01:59

Curlyfrompgh

September 18th, 2005, 01:27

Fence rolls. :yikes: That's when the 4" straps and winches earn their keep. :D You can keep tightening them until the load is tight, without having to use 2. Alternating 1 holding tension, while you unwind the other and start over again like you do with ratchets.

saddletramp

September 27th, 2005, 13:17

Cedar fence posts, bundled into units. They are square bundles when you load them, and by the time you haul them a couple thousand miles they are round bundles!

You will constantly be tightening the straps during your trip. :wtf:

Curlyfrompgh

October 1st, 2005, 21:12

White Dog

October 3rd, 2005, 16:36

Mine would be a load that someone else that doesn't know what they'er doing has tarped improperly.

Sharp steel where the stupid punk did not protect the tarp from the edges, and the tarps are shreaded to pieces so bad that the little whinney puke threatens to quit if he's forced to deliver the load that he picked up in Elkhart, IN. the rest of the way from here to Denver, CO.

So White Dog being the nice guy he is offers to deliver it after putting a hundred more bungies on it to tighten things up a little----and still has to stop 6 or 8 more times to fix floppy mess.

Only to get to Nebraska, and be asked nicely by the D.O.T. to fix more flopping or sit until I did. :angry: :angry: :angry:

Told the company that would be the last time!!!

Another would be 5 coils with 18" spacing----just enough where one tarp wouldn't cover it all :angry: :angry: :angry: (this is why coils are out for me).

Another? How about a 24 ton boulder that has been sitting outside in the elements for millions of years, yet once it's on the trailer some jack-ass required a tarp. :wtf: :wow: :wacko: :angry:

Big Lare

January 19th, 2006, 05:19

Not necessarily the most dangerous, but one most flatbedders hate and is often secured wrong, is a load of chainlink fence rolls. It continually squirms and shifts because their natural springiness prevents full strap/chain tightening. The common error is not securing the bottom layer separately in addition to the top layer. They usually know better, but run out of straps just doing the top, so skip the bottom and hope for the best.

Ask anyone who sells the stuff (like Master Halco) about the delivery trucks they see pulling in... scary.

Yes sir, very true. We just loaded up in Laredo at De Acero, we going to Abilene, TX and Trinidad, CO. We still have to tarp in the morn, right after we find 5 more straps to secure the lower pallets cuz the forklift operator staggered the pallets on top. we using v boards, cuz we noticed all the other flatbedders just used the strap and they tightened so much that the strap bent the rolls of chain link and chicken wire. Ours looks more uniform without the deformed rolls of wire on top.

Jimbo

January 22nd, 2006, 00:29

I would have to give a second vote for onions.

I picked up a load of onoins from Hatch, New Mexico, and took them to Chicago. here's the kicker....I had no side kit, and the bags were loose, not in crates or boxes. I used my tarp as a kind of top wrap, bringing it about 3/3 of the way down each side.

I got the load all the way there, but I saw plenty of bags of onions laying on the side of the road on that trip. I was never so glad to get a load off of my trailer in my life.

Now I haul bulk tanker freight, but I always liked my days of throwing straps over my loads.

Wuzzy

April 30th, 2006, 10:15

Hardest load I ever had to hold on a flatbed was plastic electrical tubing. 8 foot long bundles, 1/2 and 3/4 inch diameter.
24 4 inch straps, 8 2' straps, 8 chains and an 8 foot drop tarp.
Of course once I got it tightened I only had to make about 5,000 more stops between Minnesota and Vermont to re-tighten it

miss claire

January 5th, 2007, 08:32

My worse load has to be a load of broken pallets i dont know it didnt fall off.

Jimbo

April 14th, 2007, 21:47

http://www.jimstruckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Onion_Load_01-452x313.jpg

Here's a pic as proof of what I said earlier

the_wolf

April 14th, 2007, 22:37

I haven't hauled this type of freight before-- but i got stuck behind it. Paper. Why is it so bad? Its not bad when the paper isnt on fire. I got stuck behind a driver who was hauling a load of paper on a flatbed and threw a cigarette out the window.... which inturn landed on the paper and eventually lit it on fire. This happend approximatly 30 miles from my house after I had been gone for 2 weeks and got stuck in the back up behind him-- didnt have CB on to know there was a back up. My fault I guess. LOL. ;)