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Well it all started out last sunday night. Turned on car in drive way let idle a bit loaded it up and off I went. Got 6 miles to my trailer and just backing up to it car stalled and wouldnt re start.
Looked in both tanks to see if guge was wrong and I had run out. To my surprise right side tanks about full left side Empty. Ah something is wrong here car sucked air died. Got a few gallons of diesel and away i went. Topped off at Petro exit 108 Portage WI. Ran 45 miles down road. Got out to see what tanks looked like now. Opened left side down abit Opened Right side fuel came runnin out .
So not much I can do ran to chicago picked up monday for MI. Thought about it all night something is wrong with tank. Stopped at KW of milwaukee. They found tank wqs turned. Pinched line wouldnt allow even return to left tank all went to right.
Good egough ran up to Mi got unload relaod headed to Milwaukee area then went to Minnesota to ford palnt with frames on Wednesday. Got back to milwaukee with a cement pre fab wall for the Cabelas. Went to re load for Ohio. This is where it really went down hill.
Got 12 7 inch by 335 inch soild steel pipe that has been chrome plated for Hydraulic rams. They where capped and wrapped in a cardboard tube. Afraid of damaging load I belly strapped them togther used 10 straps. I tarped it then took off. I got 12 miles away on the Marquette Bridge I 43/94 run togther there. Slowed down fcor traffic felt a couple taps like I got rear ended. NOPE. I saw in the cars shadow that there where bars in my headache rack.
I pulled over trying not to turn car at all. Yeap three of them came out of tube and scar the rack. Called boss. He called wrecker cops came out and everthing else. No one yet placed blame so Im standing there waitng all the straps are tight yet I just pulled tarp off. Soon a officer came up to me and said those pipes are greased so U didnt technaccle strap athing but the card board togther.
Anyway 700 dollars later and a trip to home depot to make a false headache rack Im on my way. I get to receiver they saw the missing card board. Boy where they pissed. They refused the load but had no choice but to take it off still wondering how I got it the 440 miles to there door.
I was told by the office lady that the shipper was to use metal bands to bind the cardboard tight. Since they didnt and no one called the reciever to tell them I lost the load there is abig fight over who replaces the 3 shinny doors on my rack who pays for the wrecker who pays me for my down time and so on.
I get out of there and Im told to drop down to Wierton West Virgina for aCoil load to Deliver to Seneca in Baraboo. I take off down there get there late last night to find out load is not showing up on the board. Or since its past 5 the office booted it out of computer already. and they have nothing else for me. I waited 1 hr after the dispatcher called the broker and was finally told to put it in the wind they will get money for my dead head on monday. So I got home around 2 today to apissy wife and the guilt from this past week. Why do I feel so bad who knows but I do.
I got a smashed headache rack a damaged load claim to deal with and a 650 mile dead head. I need sleep or whiskey.

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You know Driveshaft................the late and great John Denver wrote a song that remind me of your story............."Some days are Diamonds, some days are stones"................you hang in there..........IT gets better...........and, IT is you.

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Geez, here I was feeling bummed at myself for walking into the fender spot mirror after raising the hood on my car this week. About knocked myself out then bled like a stuffed pig.
I cowboyed up though and with a cold pack from my cooler and some towels, managed to get it stopped, bandaged what I could, and got on my way, nose and ego throbbing.

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Oh yeah I didnt freak out about it I just got it fixed tighten the laod the best I could and drove off. But I feel bad about the fact I busted so much (edited) up
Nothing I coulda done differently they say so I did the best I could and limped it to where it went.
I just feel bad about all the (edited) that came along with it. I know life goes on no one got hurt so Next week is anew week I look ofrward to it and lesson learned

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Driveshaft.... I take it that the Cylinder rods were on the deck and you threw starps over them and tied them down.
Did you Belly Wrap them with some of the 10 straps ??????

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Pipe man go back and read my post. There where 12 tubes 4 on top 8 on bottom laid out on 4 x 4's

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I understand....however, hold them down with 6 straps and the other 4 belly wraps around the rods to hold them bundled together instead of just down on the deck.
Were the 4 on top seperated from the 8 on the bottom by 4 X 4 also or were the top 4 nested to the bottom 8 ????/????

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yikes!!!

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Okay I'll be more specfic. You have to excuse me if I come off short. I had to go though this for two days now.
The load was centered on the trailer. So it was placed on deck by a over head crane. I stood outside the door cause I dont have a hard hat. The guy asked me how I wanted it loaded. I set six 4x4 down and he went ahaead and centered the first 8 on that. Then he set shorter 4x4 on top and set the remaining 4 on that. I slowly pulled car out of builing and looked a tload and began to strap.
The first strap the front of load went from right to left under than over back under all 12 then tighen down. So did the next strap. The next one went between the 2 layers then over back between (so I belly straped the top four) I did this three times and did the other 7 straps by belly straping all 12. I hope you follow me. 7 strapes belly loaded all 12, 3 just the top 4.
So first 2 went around all next 1 went around top four next 2 went around all 12, next 1 went around top 4 next 2 went around all 12 next 1 went around top four last 1 around all 12.
Just before I tarped it the guy came out and I sigend the bills on the back of trailer. He saw how I did it and said nothing. I tarped and then left.
The only things that I know now that I did wrong was I didnt nail wood to the side to keep them from rollin.( Thats why i belly wrapped) I didnt have wood to make false headache rack in front of pipe.
As for what the wrecker and Milwaukee Police said I did nothing wrong. All straps where still tight And know I didtn quickly tighten before they showed up.
The 2 outside pipes on the bottom shot out and hit doors on the rack and the one from the top fout came out and redecorated the middle door. That one did the most damage actually caving in the handle.
Boss said its fine dont worry. So I try not to. But I take allot of pride in everything I do from the look of the car to how I secure the load. So not only did this dent my headache rack it dented my pride and ego.
I hope you guys can get a clear picture of this and can see how I attempted to secure the load from HELL.

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Thanks for the reply.
Maybe the shipper should consider building a shipping rack and they can secure them to the rack and you secure the rack to the trailer.
We get a lot of that oddball crap around the oilpatch. And the smaller the diameter, the harder it is to secure properly.

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I can't see how you could have done too much more to secure the load. The best thing would have been a front rack on the trailer and them tight up against it so they couldn't come spilling out of the tube, but as long as they were greased and tubed, about all you could do was strap them as you did. The friction and tension of your straps just wasn't transferred to the pipes because of the packaging. It was solely intended to be a protective covering, and had no ability to transfer that friction to the cargo.
It's lousy to have things damaged and go through the hassles with the shippers and receivers. Glad the boss understands what happened and is dealing with it well.
And things will get better, they always do.

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Mark; would blame it on the trifocals . . . except for the "starps" thing

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