Put in the big hole and gouge on it (truck driver check in)

[drifter379 1,106]

I loaded up in Sherman Tuesday. Trying to get unloaded in Seattle tomorrow but they are telling me I have to wait til Monday.

Motherfuckers!

I’ve got a good friend that lives up there so at least I’ll have a drinking buddy this weekend.

 

My last tank of fuel.

 

 

That was fighting a head wind across KS,CO, and WY yesterday.

The mileage should go up as the motor gets broken in and loosens up a bit.

 

This bitch has plenty of power. 34k on the deck and climbs hills like they aren’t even there.

Came off a 5% grade in the big hole let off the gas and the jake had me down to 60mph.

 

Translation: I am very happy with my truck so far.

 

When I get a good flat stretch and no wind I’ll test that governed limit. Just to see what it will actually do.

 

[drifter379 1,106]

[Jkwellborn 6,713]

You still leased on to Joe Tex?

[drifter379 1,106]

You still leased on to Joe Tex?

Yes, for now. They have been good enough to me that I was able to buy my own truck. And it’s the first step in working towards my own authority.

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

So, like, how does this work? You are leased to a company who has contracts? Or they bid on deliveries? You are hoping to go out on your own, so that you could then place your own bids? Please forgive my ignorant questions, just interested in understanding how your industry works.

[drifter379 1,106]

So, like, how does this work? You are leased to a company who has contracts? Or they bid on deliveries? You are hoping to go out on your own, so that you could then place your own bids? Please forgive my ignorant questions, just interested in understanding how your industry works.

My company has a brokerage which means they have their own customer base that needs trucks to haul their loads. So 99% of the time I haul loads generated by our company. As a lease driver I pay the company a % of the loads I haul for them. And the rates are set by my company.

If I go independent with my own authority I will have access to may other brokers and can haul any loads I want to. I will no longer be paying a percentage but will be able to negotiate the price I am willing to haul the loads for.

Pros of a lease: I have a dispatcher that coordinates loads for me to keep me moving.

Cons of a lease: I have a dispatcher that basically determines how much money I can earn each week.


Pros of independence: I am the only one that determines how much money I can make each week.

Cons of independence: I don’t have a company that I’m tied to with consistent loads.

[Gil Bang 25,980]

drifter, isn't there an app these days for available loads? 

Also, are you pulling somebody else's trailer or your own?

 

Also, to clarify, by "authority", you mean the legal licensing required to  contract with others, correct?  Out here in CA, the Public Utilities Commission issues the permits to truckers giving them the authority to contract with others. 

I know in the dirt hauling world, the owner of the trailer(s) (end dump or bottom dump) usually gets 25% of the revenue that they generate.  The "broker" keeps another 5-10% of the revenue resulting from the hauls that he arranges. 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Gil Bang

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

Thanks man, that's interesting.

[GringoSalado 1,651]

Lot of ads for lease deals to haul sand in the ohl fill, pneumatic trlrs but particularly for that Sand Box system (where you don't have to wait on the frac site to get unloaded as the sand literally rides in a removable box instead of a vac tank).

Not sure what exactly what it pays (ad I just pulled up claims 81% of gross) or how (by the load or by the mile).

Buddy of mine is talking about this and I was curious. Drifter, or anybody, don't deals like this have a spec for the truck they lease (i.e. "must be less than x years old w/ y hours or z miles")? The ads and their website don't say shit about this. What if you roll up in a 82 Mack or some shit (I s'pose a cream puff like Drifter's would be equally bad in some ways).

[RPM 26,326]

Pretty much any legit OTR company has an age limit and equipment requirements on lease trucks. Local/intrastate, not so much.

[Jkwellborn 6,713]

drifter, isn't there an app these days for available loads? 
Also, are you pulling somebody else's trailer or your own?
 
Also, to clarify, by "authority", you mean the legal licensing required to  contract with others, correct?  Out here in CA, the Public Utilities Commission issues the permits to truckers giving them the authority to contract with others. 
I know in the dirt hauling world, the owner of the trailer(s) (end dump or bottom dump) usually gets 25% of the revenue that they generate.  The "broker" keeps another 5-10% of the revenue resulting from the hauls that he arranges. 

I’m pretty sure there are several apps. I know there are sites dedicated to loads and one would think that now there would be apps for them.

We deal with quite a few brokers at work. Some of them have carriers they use regularly for certain runs.

[Gil Bang 25,980]

5 hours ago, RPM said:

Pretty much any legit OTR company has an age limit and equipment requirements on lease trucks. Local/intrastate, not so much.

My dad wanted to lease one of his trucks to a certain company. It was outside the age limit, but he showed them proof of a recent out-of-frame major overhaul and photos of the tractor's condition, and they made an exception.

For those of you thinking "what the fuck is an out-of-frame major overhaul?" here's the scoop.  Unlike a car,  you can actually overhaul a truck engine without removing the engine.  You can install new cylinder sleeves, pistons, rod and main bearings, injectors and cylinder heads while the engine is "in frame".  If the block needs work such as head surfacing or align boring, you need to pull it from the truck for an "out of frame". 

[Clintonaldo 2,575]

I can’t stop laughing at Drifter wanting loads. I am a child. 

[drifter379 1,106]

I can’t stop laughing at Drifter wanting loads. I am a child. 

Only good paying loads.
I ain’t cheap.

[Parliament 14,263]

My dad hauled cucumbers with a GMC 9300 with an 8V71 when I was a kid.  I would somehow curl up and sleep on the passenger seat.  Like a cat or something.

[drifter379 1,106]

If caterpillar still made truck motors it would have said
“Purple painted pussy powered pete”

[Jkwellborn 6,713]

My dad hauled cucumbers with a GMC 9300 with an 8V71 when I was a kid.  I would somehow curl up and sleep on the passenger seat.  Like a cat or something.

I bet your mom also hauled cucumbers.

[RoundRobin 828]

13 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

I bet your mom also hauled cucumbers.

Mine’s bigger. 

[RPM 26,326]

They're very sensuous.

[Gil Bang 25,980]

4 hours ago, Parliament said:

My dad hauled cucumbers with a GMC 9300 with an 8V71 when I was a kid.  I would somehow curl up and sleep on the passenger seat.  Like a cat or something.

That engine was an oil-blowing motherfucker.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Gil Bang

[Gil Bang 25,980]

hey drifter, just curious...the low tire light just came on in the car.   Do trucks have tire pressure sensors these days?

[drifter379 1,106]

hey drifter, just curious...the low tire light just came on in the car.   Do trucks have tire pressure sensors these days?

Not that I’m aware of.

[drifter379 1,106]

Leaving Sherman Texas @4:30pm.
Need to be in LA Monday morning. That’s California not lower Alabama. Let’s see if we can make snowman and the bandit proud.

[Clackles 276]

This thread is the best on surly.  Have to ask, are you really transporting a single rail beam from Sherman to LA?

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

This thread is the best. Whenever I see it bumped I get excited.

Also, yeah, a single I beam... there's no one between here and there that makes one?

[Jimbaround 975]

They’re very nice beams.

[Gil Bang 25,980]

looks like OP won't be sweating the scales on his journey west.

Got a backhaul lined up?

[drifter379 1,106]

30 minute break in Tucumcari.


Yes it’s only one piece of rail. But it’s much better than that. It was already on site in LA but it didn’t have the right bend in it. So they loaded it on a truck and sent it to Sherman, unloaded it and took it into the shop.
After an hour of doing whatever they did , they brought it back out and put it on me to take back to the site in LA. You can see the curve in the pic. Notice the yellow mark to show which way to bend it.

It pays pretty good if you’re wondering.

[RPM 26,326]

Reminds me of the time I took 1 pallet from Plantation Turkey in Waco to Perdue Chicken in Delaware for inspection and they sent it back. 40K minimum weight and it might have been 1500lbs. 

Made me look like a badass going through the hills.

If you want a bit of nostalgia the next time you go through Tucumcari check out the old Shamrock truck stop on the west end of town. Back in the 60's/70's/80's it was one of the best places to stop. OG trucking. It was featured in Overdrive several times.

It's abandoned now, but cool to imagine everything that rolled through there.

Used to be the Giant truck stop outside Gallup. When it opened, they had billboards every 2-3 miles preaching about their 40 ft buffet. I starved my way all the way across New Mexico to go full Homer on this buffet. I finally got there, a golf cart picks me up and carrys me to the building. The place is a palace. Full theater showing new movies, doctor, dentist and chiropractor on site. I'm fucking impressed.

I make it to the legendary buffet, pay for my plate and the first thing I see is salsbury steaks. I grab a couple, add a small mountain of mashed taters and head for my table. My heart is thumping thinking of the gluttony about to happen. I take my first bite and Satan is attacking my mouth. My stomach is in instant revolution. It was not salsbury steaks, it was liver and onions.

As hungry as I was for 400 miles to get there, the thought of food the next 400 was worse.

Edited June 2, 2019 by RPM

[drifter379 1,106]

[drifter379 1,106]

729 miles today. Shutting down for 10 in Acoma, NM.


For those that don’t know this is only a hard run to meet the deadline because of the electronic log. If I was still on paper I’d be eating breakfast in Arizona.

[drifter379 1,106]

hey drifter, just curious...the low tire light just came on in the car.   Do trucks have tire pressure sensors these days?

Just saw this this morning. I honestly never knew they existed.

https://www.technotrucker.com/tire-view-tpms/tire-view-tire-pressure-monitoring-system/

[Gil Bang 25,980]

20 hours ago, drifter379 said:

30 minute break in Tucumcari.


Yes it’s only one piece of rail. But it’s much better than that. It was already on site in LA but it didn’t have the right bend in it. So they loaded it on a truck and sent it to Sherman, unloaded it and took it into the shop.
After an hour of doing whatever they did , they brought it back out and put it on me to take back to the site in LA. You can see the curve in the pic. Notice the yellow mark to show which way to bend it.

It pays pretty good if you’re wondering.

It's as if they used my erect cock as a template (to scale, of course)

[Gil Bang 25,980]

18 hours ago, RPM said:

Reminds me of the time I took 1 pallet from Plantation Turkey in Waco to Perdue Chicken in Delaware for inspection and they sent it back. 40K minimum weight and it might have been 1500lbs. 

Made me look like a badass going through the hills.

If you want a bit of nostalgia the next time you go through Tucumcari check out the old Shamrock truck stop on the west end of town. Back in the 60's/70's/80's it was one of the best places to stop. OG trucking. It was featured in Overdrive several times.

It's abandoned now, but cool to imagine everything that rolled through there.

Used to be the Giant truck stop outside Gallup. When it opened, they had billboards every 2-3 miles preaching about their 40 ft buffet. I starved my way all the way across New Mexico to go full Homer on this buffet. I finally got there, a golf cart picks me up and carrys me to the building. The place is a palace. Full theater showing new movies, doctor, dentist and chiropractor on site. I'm fucking impressed.

I make it to the legendary buffet, pay for my plate and the first thing I see is salsbury steaks. I grab a couple, add a small mountain of mashed taters and head for my table. My heart is thumping thinking of the gluttony about to happen. I take my first bite and Satan is attacking my mouth. My stomach is in instant revolution. It was not salsbury steaks, it was liver and onions.

As hungry as I was for 400 miles to get there, the thought of food the next 400 was worse.

Placeholder to tell you about a regular run my dad had.   I need to verify that the statute of limitations has expired. 

[Gil Bang 25,980]

So, there was a product manufactured in Southern California.   Dealers who wished to sell this product had to purchase it from distributors, not from the manufacturer directly. 

There was a distributor located close to the manufacturer.  Like 5 miles close.   There was also a dealer who sold the product, in the same town.  

Turns out that the distributor in PHX sold the product cheaper than the distributor in SoCal.   So, the SoCal dealer would order the product from the PHX distributor.  So, my Dad would pick up a trailer full of this product from the factory in Town X,  haul it to PHX, the guy at the distributor in PHX would inspect the load,  sign the paperwork, then give my dad new paperwork for the delivery to the dealer, and dad would turn around and haul the same load back to Town X in SoCal and deliver it to the dealer.   

Well, the guy at the distributor was a big fat fuck.  Like 400 lbs fat.  

So, my dad started double-dipping.   He'd pick up a load at the manufacturer in his trailer, and get the paperwork.  Then he'd drop the trailer in the yard, and grab another trailer, and load a completely unrelated product which also went to PHX.    He'd park a block or so away from the distributor's yard, walk in, and say "hey, I've got this load, come inspect it and do the paperwork so I can get the fuck out of here".   By now, fat guy had  seen enough of these loads and didn't really want to walk a block to look inside the trailer, so he'd just do the paperwork at his fat guy desk, and my dad would leave, make his delivery of the unrelated product in PHX, deadhead home, swap trailers, and make the other delivery to the dealer in Town X, and get paid for both loads. 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Gil Bang

[Jkwellborn 6,713]

729 miles today. Shutting down for 10 in Acoma, NM.


For those that don’t know this is only a hard run to meet the deadline because of the electronic log. If I was still on paper I’d be eating breakfast in Arizona.

Must have been hauling ass to make that many.

[RPM 26,326]

@Gil Bang Sounds like your Dad and my Dad may have hung out together. They certainly thought the same way.

[Gil Bang 25,980]

I've thought about it, and who gives a fuck?  It was 25 years ago (or more)

The product was Science Diet dog food.

[RPM 26,326]

Quite a bit of heavy rebar specially made for Reactor #2 at Comanche Peak made a really nice corral somewhere in North Texas. But not according to Brown & Root paperwork.

 

Allegedly.

[Parliament 14,263]

Thought this thread would be the right place for this:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC64FbxoHfUWd5hykYk5_BvQ/videos

 

[Steel Shank 9,428]

"Heard Six Days on the Road" and "Truck Driving Man" today driving back from Dallas so this hits close to home.

[Gil Bang 25,980]

23 minutes ago, Steel Shank said:

"Heard Six Days on the Road" and "Truck Driving Man" today driving back from Dallas so this hits close to home.

just passed a Jimmy and a White

My home town's comin' in sight

Six days on the roan and I'm a gonna make it home tonight

 

 

No mention of snatch or ice cold Bud Light when he gets home, but you know what he's thinking. 

[drifter379 1,106]

Must have been hauling ass to make that many.

Didn’t make as many today only 601. I’m getting old. Decided it was better to sleep than end up in the bar ditch. I’m somewhere in bum fuck CA.
134 miles out from my destination.

I guess we’ll see what this la traffic is all about in the am.

[RPM 26,326]

36 minutes ago, drifter379 said:

I guess we’ll see what this la traffic is all about in the am.

Please don't tell me this is your first trip to LA.  T's&P's 

[Gil Bang 25,980]

Didn’t make as many today only 601. I’m getting old. Decided it was better to sleep than end up in the bar ditch. I’m somewhere in bum fuck CA.
134 miles out from my destination.

I guess we’ll see what this la traffic is all about in the am.

Where?

[DaysOff 7,959]

729 miles today. Shutting down for 10 in Acoma, NM.


For those that don’t know this is only a hard run to meet the deadline because of the electronic log. If I was still on paper I’d be eating breakfast in Arizona.

What are your max duty day/rest requirements? Is it based on every 24 hours or mileage?

[drifter379 1,106]

Please don't tell me this is your first trip to LA.  T's&P's 

First time in over 15 years.

[drifter379 1,106]

Where?

Newberry Springs. 20 miles out of Barstow on 40.

[drifter379 1,106]

What are your max duty day/rest requirements? Is it based on every 24 hours or mileage?

It’s based on a 24 hour clock.

I can drive 11 hours and be on duty/working for 14 hours.
I have to take a 10 hour break before I can restart my daily clock.

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

It’s based on a 24 hour clock.

I can drive 11 hours and be on duty/working for 14 hours.
I have to take a 10 hour break before I can restart my daily clock.

How much do you have to plan in terms of where you'll stop fir the 10 hours? Id you were going to be in the middle of death valley for example, would you just say "fuck it" and pull over on the side of the road? Would you stop before your 11th hour of driving to be somewhere better off? Change the route?