Post by Wyatt on Apr 9, 2022 18:21:12 GMT
I broke into the occupation of truck transporting by being an independent contractor for an outlaw company name of World Truck Transport out of Medina, OH. With World you could either transport used or new trucks. I opted for new and ran under Auto Truck Transport out of Kenosha, WI. They had yards in Macungie, PA, Dublin, VA, Springfield, OH, Cleveland, NC, Mt. Holly, NC, Garland, TX, Laredo, TX, and Portland, OR.
I ran primarily out of Cleveland, NC, where the class eight Columbia and Century class Freightliner, (Freightshakers) trucks were built. Auto Truck drivers were unionized, so they looked at we World drivers as scabs. I understood why they didn't like us. Auto Truck drivers were required to have double-triple endorsements on their Class A CDL's which allowed them to drive one truck and pull up to three behind it. I had a Class A only, which allowed me to pull a single combination, i.e., drive truck and one more. There were World drivers who only carried a Class B which allowed them to drive only one truck at a time. This infuriated the Auto Truck guys because your lead truck was the money truck, $0.50 per mile. All of the trucks you were dragging only added $0.01 per mile each to your pay for the load and believe me, a four-way involved a lot of grimy work on the delivery end.
So here the World drivers got to sit on their butts in the breakroom drinking coffee waiting for a single while the Auto Truck drivers had to pull a load off the dispatch sheet and get on the road. I wanted to make the jump to Auto Truck, so I got my double-triple and started pulling three and four-ways. The Auto Truck drivers eventually accepted me because I wasn't a lazy a*s.
I got a load that finaled in Missoula, MT that I had to go to the terminal manager and ask for because they saved the longer loads for Auto Truck drivers. My second drop was in Fargo, ND. Right next to the hoist were two World Truck saddles. I knew this was not normal as World Truck saddles were issued to the guys that pulled used trucks. I called it in to Madina and said I would take them to Missoula where World could get me a rental vehicle that they would pay for and I would take the saddles to the satellite yard in Toole, UT.
I delivered out in Missoula and called World for instructions. That's when things went downhill.
"Can you do us a favor?"
Being new and a ride for the brand sort I naïvely said yes.
"Can you take those saddles to Minneapolis, (1200 unpaid miles), deck in the field three century condos and take them to Bakersfield, CA?)
Being as I had a brother in Bakersfield, I said yes.
I picked up the rental, that I ended up paying for, and drove to Minneapolis. I had to go to a suspension shop and buy eight U-bolts in order to mount the saddles to the frames of the trucks. I borrowed a die grinder and a carbide burr in order to wallow out the holes in the saddles as the U-bolts were too large in diameter to pass through the holes in the saddles. I field decked the trucks with a wrecker which involved torching the stack extensions off as they were seized in place. Searching for and robbing enough cage bolts off of the several trucks parked there in order to cage the brakes on the two trucks behind the lead. It took a while using the nut and running it up and down on the threads in order to clean the crap out of the threads so I could use the bolts. Pulling the steer axle tires and wheels off of the two rear trucks and fastening them to the deck behind the sleepers in order to drop the trucks closer to the frame in order to bridge them. I had scrounged enough rubber brake line in Fargo to hook up the brakes in the drag trucks and enough trailer wire to Jerry-rig lights on the back of the rear truck. It took most of the weekend. It rained most of Saturday.
I took off for California and blew a turbo out of the lead truck just outside of Ogallala, NE. They put me on a hook and dragged me back to Ogallala, (Sound familiar? Think Lonesome Dove). When we got there the wrecker driver dropped me on a dirt track next to the wrecker yard. There was a shop for a fella that did custom hay work and although it was after hours there were people in there. I went in and inquired as to whether their John Deere tractor loaders could lift the trucks down. They didn't know and we just got to visiting and they were kind enough to take me home and allow me to bunk in the basement overnight.
The next day they dropped me off by the trucks and went about their business. The wrecker driver came and tied a truck to the lead truck in order to pull it away once the second truck was lifted free. He pulled a swing boom wrecker to the side of the second truck, jumped out and took off.
After waiting a few hours twiddling my thumbs, I pulled the wrecker to the side and grabbed two John Deere tractors and positioned them on either side of the second truck. I was hooking the up when the wrecker guy shows up in a COE tractor and flatbed. He comes to me and starts having a snit fit about, "You will wait for me!" To which I responded, "Mister, you work for me!" He then ranted that the tractors were not mine and I had no right to use them. He then jumped in the truck he had tied to the lead truck and tried to pull away. Slam! He didn't go anywhere. Turns out he was still chained to the lead truck. I unhooked the one tractor and put it back where I got it. When I came back, wrecker guy's father had shown up. I offered to put the second tractor away, to which he growled that he would do it. It had a four-way joystick bucket control and he plowed up about 30 feet before he lifted the bucket off of the ground. I was impressed with both he and his son's mechanical aptitude.
I found a truck engine shop in Ogallala that would swap turbos with one of the rear trucks which were identical, for $150. I went the couple of blocks to the TA truck stop which was next to Interstate 80 and bug-a-lugged back enough oil to refill the crankcase from the oil that had been burned off when the turbo blew. The safety sensor had killed the engine when the oil level had dropped to critically low. when I pulled the hood up to fill the crankcase there was a bogie chain lying across the front axle that junior had run off and forgot in his hasty exit. Being as the mood was darkening, I took the approximately three foot, three eights chain with a grab hook at one end and wore it like a belt. I figured if things got jiggy, it might come in handy.
World called me and said that the new owner had nixed the turbo swap as they thought the old turbo might have grenaded and filled the engine with shrapnel. Back to re-deck. I told them they would probably need to use the other wrecker company in town as I was now persona non grata with the original one. I got a call back and was informed that they were going to stay with the original people, meanwhile wrecker guy's old man drove by and said he would kill me if I caused any trouble, yada, yada, yada.
Junior arrived with not one, but two helpers and we proceeded to undeck-redeck. When they got the number two truck in the air, I snatched the left side steer axle tire and wheel and mounted it by myself. Same with number three. I carried the 150 lb. saddles from one truck to the next for remounting and when we took the old lead and made it the number three truck, I dismounted the steer axle tire and wheel and put it on the deck behind the sleeper. Those boys never said one word to me the whole time.
When we were done, I had some cleaning up to do, steer axle tires to secure, brake and electric lines to run and hook up, etc... All of a sudden, I hear this shrill whistle coming from the wrecker shop. I figured it was junior whistling me up like a dog. I ignored him. Suddenly here comes this Dodge pickup tearing around the corner. He went broadside to me with his passenger door towards me from about 30 feet away and starts yelling through the truck that I need to pay him. I ignored him. I was supposed to pay with a Comcheck but I wasn't about to until I was ready to pull out for Sidney and points west.
Once I did all that I could there I pulled around to the TA and they were kind enough to allow me to use their torches to torch the stacks off of number three and use their inch drive impact to torque the steer axle lugs on my "new" number one truck. I called World dispatch and told them that now it was okay to pay, they said that they already had... Thanks for covering my six World.
It was pitch dark when I pulled out of Ogallala and I watched my left side for unwelcome, "fellow travelers" until I rolled over the Wyoming line.
