[AT] Tractor hauling

[Mike Sloane]

I can well relate to John's comments relative to unloading equipment. We 
used to receive new tractors, TLBs, skid steer loaders, agricultural 
equipment, and 20 ton trailers at the dealership, and it usually fell to 
me to figure out how to unload it. And the manufacturer used any 
contract trucker they could find - from lowboys to 53' vans. Tractors 
and TLBs were the easiest - I would use an old Ford 7000 rollback truck, 
back up to the trailer, match the deck heights, set the stabilizers, 
cross my fingers, and drive from the trailer to the rollback, then pull 
back and drop the deck. I never lost a tractor, but I heard stories 
about others who others did. The big Eager Beaver construction trailers 
came in stacked one top of each other, sometimes 4 or 5 high. We would 
place a rough terrain fork lift on one side and a TLB on the other, lift 
the top trailer just enough to clear the one underneath, and have the 
driver pull his rig out from under, then v-e-r-y carefully lower it 
down. We were lucky there too, but the whole operation was hairy at 
best. The worst was square balers - they would come in unassembled and 
up on end, very top heavy, with the skids spiked to the trailer deck. 
Getting them off was a real challenge, and my boss would suddenly find a 
need to conduct urgent business on the other side of town as soon as he 
saw the truck arrive and leave me to struggle with the top heavy mess. I 
always assumed that I was alone out in back with the unloading, but one 
time I looked back towards the shop and saw windows full of faces - I 
guess they were curious to see if I would manage to wreck something, but 
never offer to help. :-)

Mike

JParks wrote:
> Ernst
> 
>   The only concern I would have in these situations is the loading
> and unloading at both ends of the trek.  There needs to be some good
> material handling equipment at both ends to avoid unnecessary delays.  The
> trucker can not be expected to sit around and wait while someone has to go
> and find his neighbor who has a loader (which may or may not have run in the
> last couple of years!) to build a loading dock to either load or unload the
> equipment.  The equipment should not have to be retrieved from the woods
> while the trucker is sitting in the yard!
> 
> There are a lot of things that can go bad in a situation like this unless
> everything is prepared before hand.  Good luck!
> 
> John Parks
> Boise, ID

-- 
Mike Sloane
Allamuchy NJ
mikesloane at verizon.net
Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>

Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought. -Graham Greene,
novelist and journalist (1904-1991)


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