Subsim Truckers

[swamprat69er]

My '71 had air steering, the air was cut off but the cylinder was still there. Talk about armstrong steering! 2 men and a boy to turn a ninety degree corner from stopped. A load of custom doors to Miami and then gypsy a load of pottery clay to Portland. The only good thing was the party at Portland......lasted 2 weeks.

[Aktungbby]

Ah Portland! All the emblem paper napkins for Vegas casinos and Der Wienerschnitzel pickles for Houston, TX came on my rig out of Portland OR. Usually as a back-haul for a load of molybdenum for a steel mill in Seattle WA all the way from eastern PA...across Snoqualmie Pass on I-90. 5 kegs of that is a full load weight wise-40,000 lbs. Later, I hauled Olympia Beer out of Seattle and Miller Beer back outta Irwindale, CA-critical commodities- I tells ya! I'm a maestro with the plywood and load locks-never lost a tall stack of beer cans-that's a real mess!...and you had to load stacks precisely single nosed/doubled amidships- to make axel weight... with a sliding fifth wheel and rear wheel carriage computations thrown into the equation. Weight ticket$ were always on the driver!

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Weight ticket$ were always on the driver!

They still are. Sometimes I can talk my way out of one. A favourite trick that only works IF there is a great lineup of trucks behind and the scale master isn't gunning for you with a tanker is to spike it hard as soon as your steer axle hits the scale.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by swamprat69er

That sure looks like a 1987 Freightshaker with a 12,000 lb steer.

My pop, against our advice, made the mistake of buying one of those monstrosities when he decided to go owner/op after the company he worked for, for twenty years hired a new transport manager who was all about rail.

Let's just say it didn't work out the way he hoped.

After the repo, the bank loan was getting paid regular until the bank decided to turn it over to a collection agency. That was the first and only time I ever heard my mother drop an F bomb. She hastily stopped conducting business with them.

[Aktungbby]

True wisdom! Never own one because it's just a cruel version of sweat equity & the plantation system and the bank always owns it anyhow especially with in-frame overhaul$ figured in. Two outfits tried to turn me into an owner-op by "working off the truck" usually as an anti-union (Teamster steward here) tactic, while they arranged the load-think robber baron$???!!. Unfortunately for them, I had taken accounting in college... and owned a gun...and became a real estate appraiser instead...yet another bank-involved whore's business! That culminated in our 'profession' being blamed (scapegoats) for the collapse of the nation's inflated economic real estate 'bubble'! but at least now our kids will reasonably be able to afford a house-post collapse...so maybe I'm a "rever$e patriot" instead of a culprit.

[Wolferz]

The housing bubble was just another way for those greedy bankers to steal what didn't belong to them. They kind of liked owner/op truckers too.

Even the government gets in on the act. If you become a trucker, you aren't allowed to claim per diem deductions off your taxes your first year out on the road. Bloody pirates and highwaymen!

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

What are the driving hours and break legislations in the USA I know its massively different than here in the UK.

It's kinda complicated.... here goes:

when you start your day, you must shut down after 14 hours. So, if you do ANYTHING at 6am, you have to shut down by 8pm.

In that 14 hour period, you can drive up to 11 hours (the other three hours can be non driving duties, like loading/unloading, fueling, checking the truck, and chasing hookers... oh, wait).

During the day, you can not work more than 8 hours before you must take a 30 minute break. Somewhere in your day, you need a 30 minute break. If you work 2 hours and then take your 30 minute break, you will need to take another if you intend to work more than 8 more of your 14.

When you completed your 11 - 14 hour day, you have to take a 10 hour break (sleep, hookers, food). You cannot drive the truck even 3 miles to get food, you have to stay put (company drivers, anyway).

After your 10 hour break, you can begin again.

Now, the worst of all parts of this mess--you cannot work more than 70 hours in an 8 day period. So, say you have been running 12 hours a day.., after about 5 days, you will have to run fewer hours each day, say about 4 a day...or you can take a "day off" known as a 34 hour reset. Meaning, shut down at 6 pm Monday, don't drive that night, or Tuesday, until 5 am Weds morning. Which is a pile of crap for drivers like me who live on the road in our trucks. I have to sit around a truck stop all day. It's stupid, because I don't get anymore rest than when I am driving.

Question: from Barstow CA to Denver, which route has the least amount of steep grades? I would rather drive an extra 150 miles than drive 7% grades all day.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Oh man, gross. Let's keep this thread, clean, ok?

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

and chasing hookers... oh, wait).

Question: from Barstow CA to Denver, which route has the least amount of steep grades? I would rather drive an extra 150 miles than drive 7% grades all day.

WELL! Been on the road too long already I see, you're sounding like Swamprat, Wolfertz and me! But seriously, time is money and shortest is best: I-15 out of Barstow thru Vegas to Utah and pickup I-70 at Cove Fort thru Grand Junction to Denver; The northern I-80 route thru Cheyenne, WY would involve Parleys Pass at Salt Lake or the southern route I-40 thru Arizona and North at Albuquerque, New Mexico on I-25... will involve Raton Pass at Pueblo if approaching on I-25. Either of those will also put BIG corners(more than 150 miles) on your mileage. There are some 7-8% grades with escape ramps and Vail pass on I-70, but remember, Denver itself is 1 mile high too, so you're talkin' 7,000 feet at Vail Pass (10,662 ft). I used to run overweight loads of birdseed out of Aurora, Colorado near Denver westbound to pet supply stores in California and have driven it...the steeper westbound downslopes direction. Any way you cut it, you're crossing the Continental Divide here-no great options and I don't recommend US 666 out of Gallup NM at I-40 even though it looks good on the map. There's mountains thataway too. At least you won't need chains!

[Stealhead]

US 666 is no longer used the number is US 491 now same road though.Kind of a popular route for drug runners due to the sections of Navaho land it goes through they take advantage of the smaller amount of law enforcement.

[Aktungbby]

Not to us die-hards with serious avatar issues BBY!

[Wolferz]

My employer wouldn't allow us anywhere near Colorado. Too Rockie.
We couldn't go into Mexico either because you have to be armed...
To the teeth!
As for Portland Oregon, I've hauled A gigantor roll of TP out of there bound for Quebec Oh Canada! Oo la la bby. Subject to the Canadian rules of the road, eh?

[Stealhead]

No way would I go to Mexico without an armed escort.A big rig is just a big fat target down there and of course they know that you are unarmed.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

No way would I go to Mexico without an armed escort.A big rig is just a big fat target down there and of course they know that you are unarmed.

They just want your trailer when shopping for a new home.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Not to us die-hards with serious avatar issues BBY!

What's up with that?
I thought US routes used the same format as interstate highways.
Even numbers run east/west, odd ones north/south.
I'm now totally confused.

[swamprat69er]

Worked 51 hours last week and I am doing yet another 36 hour reset. I'll load up tomorrow at 2PM and rest until midnight, then it is off to Cochrane,ON 4 more loads to Cochrane (this contract is 380,000 litres and we will have 3 trains hauling) [ I carry 41,000 L/load and the others 38,000 L/load], and then deadhead to Thunder Bay and haul out of there for the rest of the summer. I might get 'lucky' and catch the tail end of a contract out of Winnipeg,MB after the TB contract is done.