This was a real winning proposition. Deadheaded nearly 300 miles west to Penn Yan, N.Y. to get this loader, and haul to Fort Drum, N.Y. a 150 mile journey, but it paid nice money to do so. That is, until New York State dept. of Permits dropped the ball. I ordered my state and Thruway oversize permits at 9 a.m. this Monday morning, way before I arrived at the Armory in Penn Yan to load this thing, allowing several hours for processing of permits. Thought I'd give them time to wake up, but they never did. By noon, I'm loaded, chained, flagged and signed...ready to set sail. The Sargeant even had a crew up at Drum that would stay after hours to assist me, not that I need any assistance, but it's an encouraging jesture. I'm waiting and waiting and waiting, calling the permit service I use, pestering her to find out what the hold up is. She calls me at 4 p.m. and says, "you ready for this one?"... the woman at NYS permit dept. said they denied my permit, because "Fort Drum" does not exist in their database. I get a motel room, and try again Tuesday morning. By 10 a.m. Tuesday, I'm getting impatient. I dial up the manager in charge of the NYS permit dept.in Albany, and sternly but calmly explained that my one day move has now turned into two, possibly headed to 3, and the profit margin is dwindling rapidly now that I've lost one backhaul because of their mistake. He (manager,) said, "but sir, Ft. Drum doesn't exist..." I replied, "with all due respect sir, last week I was there 3 times in a row, with 3 seperate military D-7 Cat bulldozers with blades attached from Camp Smith in Peekskill, N.Y. In addition to that little factoid, my 74 yr. old Uncle Bill was stationed there in 1951 training at the 10th Mountain Division for the Korean War, when it was called "Pine Camp" back then. It even has it's own ZIPCODE, and is bordered by 3 state highways, so I can assure you, I know IT'S THERE!..." After blaming everybody else but his own dept., he assured me they would be issued shortly. By 2 p.m., the boss is wondering what's up. I tell him all this, and he says, "I'm surprised you haven't set sail yet". I said, "with the Admiral's permission, the ship will be at full steam ahead immediately". He said, "Iy Iy, captain". Now I can just imagine some of the people reading this post, and re-evaluating my character and integrity over this. Bottom line is, I am still waiting for that same permit right now, and that was in September...The state of NY gladly took the fees for the permits that never came though. I ran up through Geneva, N.Y. and onto the NYS Thruway, 44 miles east to exit 36, to head due north on I-81. Upon approach of the tollbooths, I looked to my right in the tandem trailer compound yard to observe nothing less than a dozen NYS DOT vans, cars, Broncos, Blazers, you name it, it was there. Here comes LowBoy, 11 feet wide, all dressed up, but no place to go. The only way I can possibly describe the sensation I had at that moment in text, is to describe how it felt when I was about 10 yrs. old, riding my bicycle, and slipped off the pedals and landed directly onto the frame tube, and with the same amount of excruciating groinal pain, I had a flashback of that very incident. No kidding either. With some type of supernatural guidance, I just cruised through the EZ Pass lane, looked straight ahead like a horse with blinders, and went about my business, just waiting for the pursuit to begin. I made it to I-81, then a couple of more exits, then by Parish, NY I was feeling pretty confident that I wasn't going to be the most important person in New York that day. Pulled into Ft. Drum, (the place is still there,) unloaded, and had the overwhelming sensation of a Viking at that time... I know, another long, drawn out story. But not without merit. Mission accomplished, and chalk another one up for a government agency striving to make our businesses and economy work faster and more efficiently. It's really just a circus, minus the bearded lady, most days.
Any chance the patriotic DOT boys might've intentionally looked the other way since the cargo was apparently military? Or doesn't that help?
permits it was a military move they should of just passed on wanting them .
nice pics , you know how many hours on that , looks like 2hrs . you would think that our military would buy better machines
It's a curious situation about that. However, the Sargeant at the Armory where I picked it up said that they have to have a permit for every single move they make overdimensionally, and was surprised to hear me say it only takes a couple hours to receive them usually. He said they apply a month in advance. I can't explain that, other than them needing designated routing because of being in a convoy, slower-than-average speeds, etc. When I inquire on a Thruway permit for NYS, it is "self-issuing", meaning the permit service can issue it immediately to me once the information I relay is conveyed to the dept. of permitting. I've had them in 20 minutes before. To directly answer the question, I sincerely feel it definitely does help with a military machine, but they're certainly not exempt. Anything wider than 8'6", over 80K gross, or over 13'6" in height, and any vehicle over 75' in length (with the exception being lesser in some states like New Jersey,) requires a permit. That doesn't necessarily mean that everyone obeys those requirements, but some missions require more attention to detail than others. As for close calls, I find "close" is only an adjective used in horseshoes and hand grenades, and the story I just posted.:cool2
The hour meter was in excess of 10K hours, I do remember that. The loader was taken out to Wisconsin and had a complete rebuild 2 yrs. ago, and was mistakingly shipped to Penn Yan Armory instead of Fort Drum. It stayed at the Armory the entire two years, only plowed the yard with it during storms since rebuild, and the loader was taking up 1/2 of their little yard. Took the Army 2 years to straighten the transportation situation back out to get it to Drum. But then again, you can't rush into these things. The machine sat on the trailer two days, and not one drop of oil was underneath it. Good solid old piece, Cummins powered.:thumbsup
Awwwwww lowboy, you don't need a permit for that, its not that much over width!! great story, nice pics!
Nice story, even if it wasn't a geat experience for you. Dealing with the DOT paper pushers is always a pain in the butt, same with the DNR. But what are you going to do, just try to get by. Thanks Trbo
I like your style, nedly...I kinda was thinking the same thing on that one!
It’s not out past the mirrors on the tractor, your good to go. My hats off to Low Boy. Another great job and great story.:usa All I can say is I hope my move on Thursday goes smoothly.:Banghead We got a new driver who is a nerves Nelly about everything. Asks a million questions and listens to nothing you say.:beatsme I wish I could get this driver to under stand than when you bind a chain you are not supposed to deform the links in the chain. He believes you should make them as tight as possible, this includes using a 4 foot cheater pipe with ratchet binders. :Banghead :Banghead :beatsme :beatsme I told him that is just as bad as not having them tight enough.
Thanks for the words of encouragement Truckie. Again, I don't condone this type of stuff, it's simply a matter of personal preference, and principle. I don't appreciate the lack of cooperation on the part of the ones in authority who create the laws,(and the problems,) in the first place. I moved that Hough over a month ago, and I'm STILL waiting for that confounded permit to come. Imagine if I were a straight-shooting, by-the-book individual (you know, like Digger... ), I'd still be in the Days Inn in Geneva, NY, eating Wendy's Baconators every day, and watching the Discovery Channel 24/7, having HEF's withdrawls because I don't have a laptop! As far as your new Sonny Pruitt is concerned, needing the chains to play a C-cord every time, I have a post about that situation in the safety competition thread in Busted Bomag topic I think, about what happens when you put a 4 foot pipe to a ratchet binder. Print that out and let Sonny read that, see if he wakes up then. :
I here ya Low Boy. You only do it if absolutely necessary, and I’m the same way. We were supposed to bring back the one magnet crane from the coal mine and our lovely state of Pa have mucked up once again. They sent me a permit today for the move and they had me going 2 counties and 50 miles out of my way. I told them I just ordered 2 permits 2 weeks ago to do the same move with 2 different pieces of equipment. So needles to say I am dealing with a new person and new person in the Penn DOT office and the called and ordered our permit through someone else, so it looks like Friday will be the day for the move and I wont be around to here the banjo string chains play. At the end of October we have to move a few machines to a mill job I got so I am going to use the permit company you gave. Thanks again for the info.
You'll be happy with Peggy, she's a really nice lady to talk to and deal with Truckie. Tell her I (Tommy from Earthworm,) referred you, and she'll take excellent care of you. Ya oughta have me come down and do that move for ya...heck, I'll suck that machine down through there without those stupid permits like Grant through Richmond... Only kidding...
LOL No problem I will let her know. Hey ya never know you might be headed our way soon. Our company bought a 944 Lebehir crane from Florida. Heck it might be you bringing part of it up. I know we got a few other moves to do and they are bigger machines that we cant move with our set up. If you could shoot me some company info and numbers I would greatly appreciate it. We might be able to use you. Thanks Mike.
If the timing's right Mike, maybe we could help you out on that crane next week. I'm loading Monday morning in Mt. Vernon, NY for Miami, Fla. and will be there Tuesday evening. I'll PM you right now with some info. Thanx.
lowboy, next call me up and i'll run blocking in the Screaming Ford just like in the bandit movies. D.O.T. will be so busy chasing me that you could haul the load sideways and they would not notice, LOL. nice loader, very nice. thansk KoO Published Author
oh i forgot to add, just like in the smokey and the bandit movies, Natashia will be riding the the "black" Screaming Ford. but i don't think she will changing out of the wedding dress, maybe changing in to it, LOL thansk KoO Published Author
Hey, great idea King. Only trouble with that theory with you being the blocker is with all the oil running out of the breather tubes of your double-breasted Yamaha, I wouldn't be able to follow you, and God help me if I had to turn the wipers on! They don't call them 2-stroke jokes "road oilers" for nothin' you know.!:falldownlaugh :lmao About Natashia. She's more than welcome to ride with me. I have "accomodations"...:naughty
lowboy, the dripps are not that bad up here in the cold. maybe in the hot south the oil is warmer and will drip easier. i don't know if i want Natashia riding around with you, she might think all that chrome means money, LOL thansk KoO Published Author
Must be the viscosity is different in the oil up in the Great White North then, down here in the tropics of Vermont those 3 horsepower 18 wheeler motors left trails of petroleum behind them. Always thought of mounting a 55 gal. drum on top and piping the syrup directly in to save flipping the hoods all the time back in the day. I won't direct Natashia's attention to chrome, I promise.
the Screaming Ford gets one gallon of wal-mart 15/40 oil a day. if it is driving or idling, it is one gallon a day. so i carry about 4-5 gallon is in the tool box along with injectors, antifreeze and tools. (napa on wheels, LOL) Natashia coming from Russia might have different views on chrome. thansk King of Cuddles
Good to hear you carry spare injectors for your Jimmy. I've had them stick the rack wide open when they seize, and had to pull the panic cable before. Then it was off to the side, usually timed it with the rack seized with enough fuel and gears to get to a rest area. Pull the valve covers, find the dead soldier, remove, replace, and time with the timing pin which I also carried in glove box.. Back to screamin' in a jiffy. :drinkup If it works out right, you and Natashia can work on the "rack" together now. (No pun intended...:naughty ):thumbsup
oh lowboy, you are a funny man but don't give up your day job, LOL Natashia will be pouring the russian beverage while i quickly change the injector. something about a Screaming Jimmie gets her all excited, it might be the vibration of an engine showing no mercy, LOL http://kingofobsolete.ca/spare_no_expense_tour_WEBPAGE.htm i have been lucky,the injectors have all been on the drivers side except for this time on the passenger side. (dumb air clean has to be removed) http://kingofobsolete.ca/two_valve_tour_WEBPAGE.htm also got an email that Natashia's boots have have been mailed to the KINGDOM today. thansk King of Cuddles
You're rapidly becoming my new hero, King...:notworthy Those boots being mailed are a positive sign.:cool2 King of Cuddles is perfect name for Russian woman to call her man. Something about having a powerful, authoritive figure for Russian woman to look up to... causes strong emotional bonding within Russian women. Must have something to do with past history in their country...don't really know.:scool
plus Natashia will like the fact i'm a "KING" and have my own "KINGDOM" with DUAL toilet paper roll holders so you never run out. i did some lowbedding yesterday, big load, 10 kms round trip, LOL thansk KoO Published Author
Whooooa, King. Hold the fort a minute. Natashia won't stick around very long if you keep hanging around one-stack-Macks with windows in the backs. Women like macho, masculine vehicles, loud, obnoxious exhausts, not rear end of bulldogs starting at them...:spaz You'd better x-nay on the Mack-nay and get back to Screaming Ford pictures, or those boots will do some walking! :nono
well lowboy, it was the white mack or the red one because the other trucks were out. the red one is hard my neck. i think Natashia would not mind which truck she gets to ride in, LOL thansk
shifting is even harder, LOL but it should Natashia's flavorite colour, LOL thansk
The best thing about the red one is, you could even get a little "fresh" with Natashia,(because you'd have no choice laying over in buddy seat to drive,) and she'd have to accept it.:lmao
lowboy, this truck from my wasted youth is even better, look at the size of the cab and when you shift to fouth, you can slide you hand on to her leg. Natashia will like this truck with the 3" side pipes and geared to run. only got speeding ticket at 145 mph when the police could present them in person. oh my wasted youth, LOL thansk King of Cuddles
Now THAT'S what I'm talking about...Nice ride King. Your youth wasn't wasted...like mine, you used it to build nicer than average stuff. One question though. The fort on the back, was it removeable I hope?:beatsme I built a very nice truck when I was a kid too. Not as nice as that one, but nice to me and my best buddy, another die-hard FORD fanatic. It was a 1979 F-150, Super Cab, 8 foot fleetside bed, old Massachusetts Turnpike Authority truck, so it was canary yellow with flourescent yellow stripe. A real looker. I purchased it from dealership as is for $2,000.00. Brought it home to my best buddy's shop with nice pit and lights and heat. First thing I did was rip that ugly 8 foot body off, cut 13" out of frame and electrically glued it back together, and shortened the driveshaft all in one night before going on girl hunt.(Girls loved us for our look back then, grease was in, not purple hair and noserings like cissyboys of today.) Next, I gutted interior, took 3-on-tree out and replaced with new process 4 speed box. Painted whole interior black, installed nice cheap but good looking indoor-outdoor blue astroturf carpeting and two new captains' chairs that swiveled. Looked like inside of some of the vehicles on American television show called Pimp My Ride, only I invented it in 1981. Next, replaced ugly 8 foot fleetside bed with nice 6' stepside bed off of 1956 Ford pickup with nice rounded rear fenders. Painted whole truck black, put chrome stacks up through steps in bed, stainless tube grill and 4 new chrome wagon wheels. Installed genuine Kenworth big truck throttle pedal for gas pedal. Never got a chance to register truck, was too busy building it and hunting girls at night. Never insured either. One month after completion of truck, and pinstriping was done (black paint, red & silver striping freehand,) I was driving it too fast around curve in front of best buddy's house where we built truck, Kenworth gas pedal stuck and wouldn't return, truck slid sideways with L-60 tires on sand, caught and then did a roll-over-Beethoven in front of buddy's house and landed on drivers door with my thick Hungarian head being squeezed between door and asphalt. Thick head prevailed with asphalt, pulled head out, crawled up and out passengers door and started:cussing :Banghead :guns :soapbox bloody murder because I just ruined all that work we just did the last month, and lost so much girl hunting time doing it. There wasn't one salvagable thing left on that truck after rolling it that way, except 1 chrome wheel. All others were bent, cab tweaked, steering box broke, nothing left. And to top it all off, not one beer was involved to blame this on. I also paid the bank every month for 24 more months $225.00 for a truck I no longer had. That was the worst part of the whole thing right there. Oh, MY wasted youth...:Banghead
wow lowboy, you had quite the adventure. i never wrecked them, only lost things in dievorces that i got to pay on for a couple years. that is worse because i got to pay for some one else to enjoy. yours was cut and dry, enjoyment over. as for the "love shack" on the back, it comes in very handy at the drive in movie threatre. you remember those??? the truck didn't have a back seat, now i have the 64 bel-air with the big back seat. thansk KoO Published Author
I'm thinking if you still have the Love Shack in the Kingdom, you should put a hitch on the Bel Air and trailer the Shack to the drive in. Sure, I remember them. There's actually still quite a few of them around here. Before I bought this hacienda in 1995, we lived next door to one in northern New York State for 4 years. It was kind of nice to sit on our neighbors front porch with popcorn and Sam Adams (always a GOOD decision,) and watch the big screen TV on Saturday nights. We didn't have sound, but to this day, if I ever did lose my hearing completely for some reason like listening to screaming Jimmy's or something, I will always be able to carry out a full conversation with the public because of those days of watching the big screen with no sound, because I have an uncanny ability to read lips now. I think those days on the porch were actually quite advantageous, even though my wife still blatently disagrees...:drinkup
oh you should have seen the pete i got to unload today, since it was mine property no pictures allowed. it was a double bunk with the huge straight pipes and when he used the jake i thought it was the Screaming Ford, LOL. very very nice and the driver was excellent in unloading off the aluminum deck. take your time and do it right. you have to respect a man's machine that he takes bride in. the way i looked at it, i was getting paid by the hour to unload and if it takes longer more beer money for me. the fellow had a nail in the trailer tire so we popped a plug in it and air it up to pressure, plus welded up his fancy strap winder for free. the way i figured it, the fellow did a nice job hauling this equipment and the least we could is return the favour. he was a 100% professinal driver in an industry that does not give credit where credit is do. ok, i'm stepping off the soap box and it is back to Natashia, LOL thansk
I appreciate your efforts in showing respect to a well deserving professional, and treating him like a king, King...:drinkup That's not the norm these days.
this guy was phoning 2000 kms away for the KINGDOM and kept us posted so when it came time to unload it was easy. i was brought up to treat people they way you wanted to be treated. ok, back to sexy Natashia, she would have loved that double bunk because there was lots of room for indoor sports, LOL thansk Published Author
So, tell us about her. :naughty Or was that a freudian typo? ointhead
Natashia is a nice girl from russia, so she knows how to cuddle to keep warm, (something i like), LOL thansk King of Cuddles
Please, let's keep this thread on topic...this is a no-nonsense forum created solely for the purpose of sharing accurate and correct information on the cutting edge of tecknologee. :bash No more about trucks, please... fftopic ointlaugh
back on topic, what was the topic again, LOL thansk