Subsim Truckers

[Wolferz]

Hope you don't wake up to find your tractor up on blocks.

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Oy, I hate routes like that. Especially with no shoulders, and steep hills and sharp curves....my poor old Cascadia doesn't have a lot of power, so on full loads I am roaring along at 25 mph -- a bundle of nerves.

Looks like I am sitting today in Gary, IN, my next load is not until tomorrow. That's twice in a week I've had to sit a day. Well, I just checked my last pay statement and I got a sizeable increase, so I guess it's all good (great, actually!).

You don't want to come up to Northern Ontario, all the roads up here have very little (2') shoulders. Especially the lesser roads. Even the Trans Canada highway has little to no shoulder.
But nice scenery this time of year.

Turn your sound OFF! You don't need to hear the rattling of the Freightshaker.

[swamprat69er]

I gotta reset my log book so I am taking Friday and Saturday off besides the last 1/2 of today. I will go and load on Sunday afternoon and deliver 5 hours away for first thing Monday morning. (8AM)

[Onkel Neal]

I'm in Dallas, and freight has been slow lately. So, even though I have a load to LA, and I have 6 hours of driving....I'm going to take my 10 hr break now and start out at 2am.

Originally, I thought I would have time to visit my daughter here, but it turns out she is going to my home town when she gets off work, so, bad timing

My last unload, the plant wanted me to back into a really tight space, I had at MOST 4 inches on either side.

And then yesterday on the phone in safety meeting I heard that we are not supposed to load/unload near trains Makes sense, I guess next time I will have an issue when the plant wants something like this....cuz I know they are going to insist, and after 3 hours of delay I will be cleared to do it.

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

And then yesterday on the phone in safety meeting I heard that we are not supposed to load/unload near trains Makes sense, I guess next time I will have an issue when the plant wants something like this....cuz I know they are going to insist, and after 3 hours of delay I will be cleared to do it.

So it is safe after sitting and waiting on your nickle for 3 hours? How is that any safer than backing right in and unloading without waiting the three hours?

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by swamprat69er

So it is safe after sitting and waiting on your nickle for 3 hours? How is that any safer than backing right in and unloading without waiting the three hours?

I think he meant that he had to wait three hours while the home office made up their minds to allow it.

I've put 53' dry vans in spots where most wouldn't dare to back a car into. Like a very small LTL yard and dock with the whole area stuffed with trailers. The dock was crammed full with about 2" to spare between two trailers. Needless to say, I was sweating profusely by the time I slipped her into neutral and popped the parking brake.

I've been with my pop when he "L" parked a 53 footer in an alley dock. Tractor just inches from somebodies back fence.
That took some skill!
I've only "L" spotted in one dock but, had to do it numerous times a day and I got really good at it.

[Onkel Neal]

Exactly. That's something I learned real quick, anything other than a smooth run will cost me $$$

Such as, about 1 out of every 5 trailers I pick up has some serious maint. issues, usually tires. Which means the driver who dropped the trailer either did not do a pretrip, or he declined to call it in, or the company did not follow through. So, Neal gets to locate a Wingfoot to change the tire, usually a 2 hour process.

But, there's not really much I can do, sure can't go forward with a tire like this.

[Onkel Neal]

Other interesting sights from the road!

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Other interesting sights from the road!

Both of those tires look like they seen better days.

Those chipper dumpers are a trip! Seen from afar. I've got a buddy that pulls chiptrains and he is right in love with them.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Exactly. That's something I learned real quick, anything other than a smooth run will cost me $$$

Such as, about 1 out of every 5 trailers I pick up has some serious maint. issues, usually tires. Which means the driver who dropped the trailer either did not do a pretrip, or he declined to call it in, or the company did not follow through. So, Neal gets to locate a Wingfoot to change the tire, usually a 2 hour process.

But, there's not really much I can do, sure can't go forward with a tire like this.

Yes sir, A nice fat DOT fine if you get pulled into a chicken coop and they see tires like those. When I was on the road I was a driver and nothing more. I didn't change flat tires or unload trailers. Ever! My Co and I wasted way too much time waiting to have a maintenance gig fixed. My very first run was hooking to a trailer with a huge crack in the side rail. We refused to pull it until it was fixed. Luckily we were in the terminal in Carlisle, PA.
But, we have done drop and hooks at LTL yards and found the loaded trailer sitting there with one or more flat tires. The outfit I pulled for was a stickler on maintenance and safety issues, so the flats were always on the driver/s who dropped the trailer.
Picked one up in A LTL yard in Chicago one time that had a glad hand completely separated from the nose of the trailer. Six hours later, it was fixed by a field mechanic. We didn't get paid by the hour for sitting there and it could have been fixed long before we got there if the previous driver had reported it.

[swamprat69er]

Way back in the dark ages, (before I discovered tanking) I hooked up to a load of paper in Fort Frances, ON. When I 'hit the pin' I thought the trailer moved so I hit the pin a second time and sure enough it moved! Now this drop yard was all covered in slushy snow EXCEPT for one spot which was snow covered, so I pulled the trailer into that spot and got my 9/16 wrench and hammer out and crawled under. Sure enough, it was one of the oldest trailers the company had and had the old manual slack adjusters on it. It seems that one of the kids that had the trailer before me had adjusted the brakes on it, backwards. I took the 10 minutes and set them up and off we go. Another case of the previous driver not reporting anything or the company not acting on the report before the trailer gets dispatched out again.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by swamprat69er

Way back in the dark ages, (before I discovered tanking) I hooked up to a load of paper in Fort Frances, ON. When I 'hit the pin' I thought the trailer moved so I hit the pin a second time and sure enough it moved! Now this drop yard was all covered in slushy snow EXCEPT for one spot which was snow covered, so I pulled the trailer into that spot and got my 9/16 wrench and hammer out and crawled under. Sure enough, it was one of the oldest trailers the company had and had the old manual slack adjusters on it. It seems that one of the kids that had the trailer before me had adjusted the brakes on it, backwards. I took the 10 minutes and set them up and off we go. Another case of the previous driver not reporting anything or the company not acting on the report before the trailer gets dispatched out again.

Dispatchers just don't care.
The last place I worked, the shop manager handed me this spiel that they couldn't fix everything that was wrong with our tractors. I said; "That's all well and good for you buddy, where do I send the ticket so you can pay the fine? If it's on the rig it has to work and DOT inspectors are not forgiving!"

[DragonRider]

I'm not really a "Trucker" just a class C1+ truck driver but the upside is the firm I drive for .... Krispy Kreme

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by DragonRider

I'm not really a "Trucker" just a class C1+ truck driver but the upside is the firm I drive for .... Krispy Kreme

That should make you popular with the cops/coppers.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by swamprat69er

That should make you popular with the cops/coppers.

Not anywhere near as popular as the dray wagons