Here's some fresh shots from the past couple of weeks as a hi-class, long-distance, cross-country lowbedder. Thanx, NJoy...
Description of pics. My computer's running slow and sluggish tonight, so I have to do things a little different here... Above photos are: A '70's vintage military P&H 25 ton truck crane, 1st one I loaded at Watervliet Arsenal, Watervliet, NY and hauled to Newport News, Va. 2nd is a different crane, but identical, loaded same place but hauled to Mechanicsburg, Pa. These cranes only had 1500 hours on them. Had 4 53 Detroits for power up & down, and a 5X4 two stick in the cab for transmissions. The know-it-all that received the one in Va. said he used to run one yrs. ago, but once I watched him almost kill himself coming down off my trailer, I insisted I take over the controls, and did. 3rd is a 325D from Cat dealer in Clifton Park, NY headed to same company dealer in Binghamton,NY. The CLOSED sign was a welcome sight as I made my way across from Albequerque, NM to Concord, NH last week. This was shot on the western side of Arkansas on Sunday morning. A beautiful thing...
Continuation of pics. Next 2 shots are a Cat 725 Haul Truck I hauled just 50 miles from a jobsite in upstate NY, back to the dealer off from a rental. The interesting one to me is this military Tactical Firefighting Vehicle. Photo was taken at a break I was on in Raphine, Va. at White's Truck Stop, a nice family owned place at the 205 exit on I-81. I loaded it in Danvers, Mass. and hauled it to Dona Ana, New Mexico base camp, which is a part of the White Sands Missile Base. There's unexploded ammunitions all over that place according to the signage, so it's not a great place to go hiking and kicking the sand around... This truck weighs in at 56,000 lbs.The body is mounted on an Oshkosh B'Gosh carrier, 8 wheel drive, and had NO TROUBLE WHATSOEVER crawling up onto the rear deck of my trailer by itself, with minimal throttle...powered by a Series 60 Detroit and an Allison auto behind it. Carries 1000 gallons of water, has umpteen pumps and systems, the most interesting to me was the 6 spray nozzles hanging down underneath the framerails. The sergeant said they were for brush fires; you simply drive right through a grass or brush fire, and foam it as you travel along. The front spray nozzle threw a stream far beyond anything I'VE personally ever encountered...:notworthy They shipped 2 of these trucks (we hauled both,) from Mass. to New Mexico for a 2 week training session, then they will return back to Mass. I'm not going to reveal what we charged to move them out of respect of good business ethics, but it's incredible what we spend on military maneuvers. Next is a shot, if you can see, of the Dona Ana Base Camp sign when I arrived. I probably would have been executed if they knew I had taken a picture while on base, but it makes good internet, so... NJoy.
This Volvo Grader I loaded the following day after delivering the firetruck. Just 250 miles due north to Albequerque, then 2350 miles to Concord, NH. Brandy new, from dealer to dealer. Last shot was in front of West Texas Peterbilt on a parts stop, just before dark in Amarillo, Texas on Saturday evening. Across the street they advertise a 72 oz. steak dinner for FREE if you eat it in one hour or less. The catch is not to eat any of the bread and garbage they try and stuff you with before the hunk 'o meat gets in front of you. That calculates out to 4 and a 1/2 pounds of meat, don't it? (Better be a "dunny" as Squizzy calls 'em, around the corner...:throwup ) Hatch, NM sign caught my eye.(I obviously don't have much going on in my life as you can see by this...) They're claiming to be the chile pepper capital of the world. Now that's getting the 'ol information out to the people on my part, right there friends...:scool Crossing the Mighty Muddy from West Memphis, Arkansas into Memphis, Tennessee. Thanx.
Last one. Here's the last of them for now, to stop the bleeding... It's an '80's vintage 235 without the boom, stick and bucket. I loaded it the next morning after the grader came off in New Hampshire, 20 miles away. It went to the port of Newark, New Jersey, where it was loaded onto a ship headed for it's new owner, a sheik in Egypt. Probably gonna have an easy life over there...I'd imagine it's pretty good diggin' in all that sand.:falldownlaugh My mission was complete after all this excitement for about 4 days. I spent a long weekend on a 312C with a thumb I brought home from work, doing some long-awaited projects like moving a 45 foot storage trailer, building an 800 foot road to access my lower 20, and all sorts of things that only a hydraulic helper can do. Couldn't think of anyplace I'd rather have been this weekend; home on the farm in an excavator with ice cold A/C and my favorite country/classic rock stations. Life was good, till Monday rolls around.:Banghead Thanx.
Thanks LowBoy...I enjoyed the Ride:thumbsup :thumbsup
Did you pick up the little mention of the "dunny" Squizz? It's a word I'll never be able to forget as long as I'm breathing now...:lmao :lmao :lmao
Yep, thats a big steak though
You're right on that. I guess as long as the honey wagon paid a visit to the dunny right before the steak was inhaled, you'd be alright. Only thing is it would probably void the warning label on the interior dunny wall stating " any more than 10 people using this dunny in a normal 40 hour work week, or one person consuming a 72 oz. Texas steak under one hour, could result in unsanitary conditions...":laugh :falldownlaugh
Those pictures aren't meaningless!! :wink2 And about the "thankless proffesion" part. There's people out the who apperciate trucker's (not actually here, but other places. Far far away places) Seriously though, I understand what you're saying. It really feels like it sometimes, don't it? Anyways, hang in there & Good pics.:waving
LowBoy some very good picks, I saved them all Thanks.:usa You all have a good day.
Nice pics.
Thanx for the little bit of appreciation that you give. I'm struggling every day to stay focused in this arena I'm in, with a wife I just celebrated 20 years of wedlock with,(man, how did I do it?:beatsme :falldownlaugh )and a couple of kids that I promised myself 18 yrs. ago I'd be a stay-around-town Dad to. I guess we all have our thoughts as to what we'd rather be doing, or what if we did something different, but when you stop and think about it...we ought to be thankful we are WORKING every day, right? Have a good one, men.:thumbsup
Well i have to agree with Jeff D, the pictures is not meaningless. It shows all of us what you put a lot of energy in, to make your way of living. I don't see that you are dooing a bad job, i can only see the signs of the oposite. Trucking is a special job that doesn't work for everybody, and you should be proud of the work you are doing.:notworthy We all should remember that the community dosen't function without the truckers transporting goods for us. Even the guy's with a lowbed is important to ceep the community machinery going around. I think your pictures and stories is very interresting, learning a lot from them. (make me want to visit you for a week or two for driving) I have spent time in that business, and found out i don't want to do that. A trip or two is OK, but not for a living.(i need the variety to function at work) Ceep up your proffesional and good work, and be proud of it!:usa Community dependes on all of you truckers!
Well, thanx for the words of encouragement, MKTEF...It's just my twisted sense of humor that made me refer to my thread as "meaningless". I do take a certain amount of pride in what I do, although I also need that variety you mention to keep things interesting. For instance, this week I'm working locally, doing a variety of different tasks, and I absolutely enjoy every minute of it that way. Just trucking constantly is no longer my desire, so I tend to get "beat up" after a couple of continuous weeks of non-stop, long distance hauling. I used to belong to another forum, strictly truckers on it. Ever time I posted a picture or shared an experience, one of those idiots would have something sarcastic to say, or had MUCH more experience, etc., than I did. I finally got sick of their mentality and told the moderator of that site to delete all my posts so no one else could read them, and came over here, once I found this site. It's been nothing but a positive experience since day one, and everyone seems to enjoy seeing new photos and hearing stories, as I do also from everbody else on various subjects. It's a sort of micro-hobby if you will, and it's good to be able to share the scenery without some imbisile trashing your profession.:thumbsup Thanx again.
Great Pictures Your pictures are very interesting, and thanks for all your great contributions to this forum.
The reason your pics are so welcome here besides being good, is most here cant read so need the pics to follow along.
The cat is out of the bag :usa youall have a good gay.
Lowbedding isn't a skill that anybody can do so its far from being meaningless. Liked the pictures :thumbsup
love the pics:drinkup u ever run though rhode island ,just wondering if i should keep an eye out for yea. u seem to be in the area a lot:beatsme
Appreciate it, Bruh...
Thanx LT, glad you like 'em.
I fully understand Mr.350...us woodchucks over here in the hills of Vt. all need pictures to follow along. All that there writing won't keep us in the know like them photograffs.:wink2
Great pics of "on the road". Moving dirt and building things are my passion and my profession but I believe I have a little bit of trucker in me. My favorite movie is still Smokey and the Bandit and there is nothing better than a road trip - just getting out and seeing our great country. I have great respect for long haul truckers that do this for a living - without guys like you the rest of us would not have the lifestyle we enjoy or the equipment we operate! Ahh the Big Texan - quite an establishment. Me and the wife were on a road trip over last New Years and ran across this place. Didn't try the 72 oz steak but had a good meal - even stayed a night in their roach motel ( road trips are great!). Isn't it funny that the table they put you at to "take the challenge" is right next to the kitchen where the cook is putting more steaks on the grill? Get 3/4 the way thru your steak and all you can smell and hear is more steak cooking.:throwup There was a kid that tried when we were there but couldn't do it. Even though I didn't try the challenge the dunny at the motel still got a workout the next morning. BTW did you see the Cadillac Ranch? I forget which road it is on but it was pretty cool. We had to wade through half-frozen mud and cow poo-poo but it was worth it. Keep the pictures coming- us site bound operators need to see a little more of what is out there.
You know, for some strange reason jimmyj...there isn't any big, ugly, wide loads coming out of RI that we've encountered as of yet. I'm on ferlow this week from all that running, right this minute I'm planning my day out as a building mover tomorrow. Got a 16 X 20 building I am going to jack up and stab some steel underneath, and raise it so I can back my lowbed under and haul about 3 miles down the road to it's new home. After this week though, I'll be right back into it with fury, and hopefully have another roll of WalMart throwaway camera film developed to show the world what not to do, and how not to do it... Thanx.
I hear you on the steak smell as you're trying to get through what you've got going on in front of you...:throwup I did see the signs for Cadillac Ranch, but being oversized, and not really supposed to be where I was on Memorial Day weekend at the dimensions I was, made a good excuse to stay with the program headed eastbound. Now that the trip is over and mission complete, I feel comfortable now revealing as Paul Harvey says, "The REST of the story..." I was 10K lbs. overweight and 6-8 inches wide when I left Albequerque,NM on Friday afternoon. My permits all came to me and every one of them said "No Movement from Friday noon until Tuesday, 5-29..." That wasn't my original plan. I opted for the Jesse James method, as I didn't want to sit in New Mexico until Tuesday, that would set me back drastically all week if I did. Every single scale across every state was closed for the holiday. Nice. I was well behaved, so I made it clear across to New Hampshire, 30 miles from my destination, when I came around a corner and lo & behold, the weigh station was OPEN...Not good. I was on the phone talking to the customer getting directions and making arrangements for me to unload after hours, when I accidentally blew past the scales. It wasn't 2 minutes later, here comes the Blazer with blue lights a' flashin'. I stopped, and he wasn't amused, he tore my door open and said, "license, registration, medical card, insurance, logbook and permits...NOW!" I had a Ralph Cramden speech impediment suddenly at that moment, I said, "Hommana,Hommana,Hommana,Hommana,Hommana...O.K...My logbook showed me sleeping at that time in Newburgh, NY, and my permit wasn't valid because of the day it was. He escorted me back to the southbound scalehouse and weighed and measured me. I looked at him with an "I'm-in-trouble, aren't I?" look, and asked him if I'd be camping out right here in the scale until I get things straightened out. He cracked a little smile then, and I saw a window of opportunity to make this go the other way then. I explained I wasn't deliberately trying to avoid the scale, (although it would have been less traumatic if I had,) I was innocently getting the information I needed to deliver this grader to it's owners. He ended up being a really class one guy, and let me go with a mail-in $72.00 log book award. What a decent DOT man he was, it could have been a LOT worse, believe me...:notworthy The moral to the story: Smokey and the Bandit is not good. It corrupts and deranges the minds of innocent young future truckers like myself. Had I not watched that movie 25 yrs. ago, I am certain I would not have committed that act of injustice. It's the devils' theatre, I'm convinced...:badidea :falldownlaugh Thanx for looking, and listening.
hello lowboy them some nice loads.i was at dona ana may 28. i deliverd a 120,000 lbs container loader from vallejo ca.as soon as i can figure out how to post pics i will.Go Big Or Go Home:
Welcome to HEF 9Axle! :drinkup Check out this thread for posting pictures. It should get you started. :thumbsup Posting Pictures
subject Lowboy,thanks for the pics.I do the heavy equipment hauling for a local excavation here where I live,their truck=trailer.But the biggest things I haul are Cat 350 off road dumps,D8N, dozers and one Cat 345BL trackhoe.We have some 621 and 621B Cat pans also.From my way of looking at it,if I dont haul it to the jobs the operators dont work,if the operators dont I dont get a paycheck every friday,which I do.So I make it a point to keep my operators happy and get the equpment to em soon as I can.I know how it is to load,chain ect all by your self,do it everyday.So I got a cold one for you buddy.:drinkup :drinkup :drinkup
Thanx catdaddy, for the cold one...I'll gladly accept it after a long, hard week...:drinkup I've been around home the past 3 weeks, moving our own rental fleet around, plus working for our regional Caterpillar dealer. I moved a brand new D-8T Monday this week, and a 735 haul truck which I have to move again next Monday. That's a big 'ol gal right there.:scool I'm sure my "mental therapy" work load will end shortly, and I'll be living back out of my clothes bag and shaving bag soon, hauling the big, wide, heavy and ugly stuff around the good 'ol U.S of A. come next week. It has been nice, I must admit, sleeping in my own bed this past 3 weeks. But...duty calls. Take 'er easy, catdaddy.
Good to hear from you, 9Axle. I didn't realize I had so many heavy hauling "compodres" out there, it's kind of nice to know others that do the same thing. Now I know I'm not the only crazy one out there... :laugh :crazy ointlaugh
crazy heavy hauler crazy oh ya. im going crazy trying to figure out my computer i wish it was as eazy as loading D10, 385 etc.im trying to compress pictures .countryboy gave me some info,but when i try to down load program my computer says i already have sofware.i cant figure it out i should stick to what i know go big ,go heavy or go home:bash
I know what you mean about the resizing deal. What I found on my end is I scan each photo first, put it in my "pictures" folder, then edit them in photoshop to resize them to fit this forum. In another forum I frequent, I don't have to do all that, it takes any size photo, any amount of photos, etc., making it much easier to show "meaningless photos of my thankless profession..."
Here are some things I've moved. Not quite as impressive as Lowboy's stuff, but here they are anyway.
And this ones not a piece of equipment, but it is kind of big.
That Cat excavator probably will become a car bomb in Cairo...................
:roll :roll :lmao :lmao
nice pics what kind of trenchior is that.i move 9 different size machines on a regular basis from a 855/955/1055 vermer,1060/1260[1460 trencore,190,000 lbs] give or take depends on lenght and width of chain.and 3 bucket trenchiors there old but im told they get the job dun . maybe some day i can figure out how to resize pics and show some too.
Are you talking about the machine in my second picture? Thats a self propelled wood chipper. http://www.banditchippers.com/index.php?option=com_models&itemId=15&lineId=3
my mistake that sure looked like a 1060 rocksaw. thats a cool chipper web site:thumbsup. never seen them before,ive only seen trailier mounted chippers.
It was a cool setup. I don't know too much about it as I was just moving it for a friend of my bosses, so my extent of running it was just unloading it off the trailer. I did see it being used once and it seemed to work real well.
Lowboy, I went past your house today going to the car show in Bennington. The truck looked great! I would have stopped in but it didn't look like anyone was home.
Oh, sbrem...it's filthy!:Banghead Ran all last week in the rain until Friday, and didn't have a chance to clean it up yet. I Was headed down to Englishtown, NJ Sat. a.m. to the big truck drag race, but it was raining Sat. morning, and I wasn't really excited about driving anywhere, anyhow. (I like to play hermit on the weekends, puttering around the ranch whenever possible.) Shoulda stopped in anyways and left a note like most folks do when we're gone, but I was here...never wandered away from the North 20 all weekend, and really wish I didn't have to Monday either, the way I feel!
Now I wish I had stopped. I figured I would have seen your pickup out front if you were there. Oh well, I'll catch up with you sometime. I had been thinking of going to Englishtown as well, but really didn't feel like going all the way to Jersey, so I just did the car show instead. I might be over your way again next Sunday going to the ATHS show in Ballston Spa NY, unless I change my mind and go to the truck show in Epping NH instead. They are both on the same day.
If I'm not out on a long distance mission next weekend, I was thinking of going to Ballston Spa for the show too. We (my son & I, ) went to it 2 years ago, and it was a nice show. If you wanted to, and we keep each other posted, you're welcome to come here and park, and we could head over together in style in a FORD pickup... just to save the greenhouse gas emissions. Let me know.:drinkup
I just may take you up on that offer if you are around. Like I said there is a small chance I may decided to go to Epping instead, but I'm 90% sure I'll go to Ballston spa. I'll let you know soon what I decide on.
Yes, WALKING is a good way to save the ozone. :cool2 :deadhorse :stirthepot opcorn (Just a little hijack......because I just couldn't let it go.)
I wouldn't know nothing about that highjacking stuff, C.B.,:beatsme but I can't let that snide remark just slip right by without some sort of consequences & repercussions...Seems as though there might be a "slightly abnormal overtone" happening on the Blue Oval subject now...All I was trying to do was to let another fine member of this here forum enjoy some stylin' & profilin' comfort of a F-150, but nooooooooooooooo, we gotta have a Boy Tie Man every place we go, don't we? :avid ( shaking head violently )
Each of us has had our retort so......I digress for now. Another time, another thread my friend....till we meet again. The duel shall continue...:drinkup SOOO....Any pictures from above stated tractor pulls. opcorn
(Wooo...still hard to cope with ill-fated Ford remarks, but.... ) I'm not sure what tractor pull I had referenced?
Hmm....I have no idea where I got "tractor pull" from either. :beatsme :crazy The pictures I was inquiring about were of the shows you spoke of above.. You said you went to some shows with your son, to which I assume are truck shows. Or were they car shows? They don't have many truck shows down here so I have to beg for pictures from others. I think I may have been to one big truck show. There's plenty of car shows but no big truck shows. If my comment above came off as ill-fated, I apologize. It was an attempt at humor...which might have failed.
Here are some pictures from truck show I have gone to this year Berube's chrome shop in Bow NH ATHS show in Bellows Falls VT ATHS show in Hudson Mass ATCA show in Barrington NH
Oh C'mon now CB...you gotta do a lot more than that to harm me. It's all nothing but pure fun, especially when I get to defend Henry Ford's contribution to this wonderful nation. Believe me...you'll know when I get "T'd" off, and it'll take a great deal more than a Ford joke... Those shows we're referring to are truck shows, mainly the upcoming one is an antique, historical society show that has the older iron, and plus the old antique one-lunger engines, etc. My boy went to one in Englishtown,NJ Saturday with 2 buddies which I renigged on at the last moment due to "perpetual weekend activity burnout" if you will. He was jabbering about it on the phone for 20 minutes, with all the custom trucks, drag trucks, shine, chrome, glitter, you name it. One new Peterbilt with a $40,000.00 custom butterfly hood, and many with lowering kits that drop them down onto the ground. They have acuators on the front bumpers nowadays that with the flick of a switch, turns the front bumper out 90 degrees, so when you're driving through rough tourain, or a landfill, etc., you don't tweak it on the ground. Amazing, some of the stuff out there now... If I go to the antique truck show coming up, I'll take a camera full of pics and post 'em for you, that is if the old FORD makes it back home...:naughty :thumbsup :laugh
Here is a link to a ton of pictures from Englishtown. Looks like it was a great show. One of these years I'll get down there. http://www.supershowrigs.com/TruckShows/2007/Englishtown/Englishtown.htm
Wow, Berube's had quite a turnout, huh? That old green & yellow cabover Peterbilt used to be owned by a guy down in Gill, Mass. on rte. 2 up until recently. He has a welding shop there, and once in a while used to see him hooked to a flatbed just keeping the seals wet going across rte. 2. My buddy from Dummerston took a ride to Boston/Syracuse/Clifton Park/Home (long day,) with me last week and mentioned that that truck was purchased by a guy up in Newfane and is just kind of puttering around with it now, too. I'm kind of fond of it, because my older brother bought one like it brand new in 1976 and it was the first LARGE CAR I ever got to drive and probably ruined my life.
Had a little fall out with the "better half" today which was a little humbling...hence the miscue. Nuff said.....H2O under the bridge. :drinkup Yes, that would be much appreciated. Like I said, I have been a little sheltered when it comes to truck shows. Those are great sites sbrem. Thanks man. :thumbsup
There ya go, CB my man...better put on your swimming trunks, cause you got some surfing to do now, son...:drinkup ointlaugh
Yeah the lot was packed at Berubes. Very good show. The guy from Newfane with the cabover Pete had it at quite a few shows this year. Real nice guy. Real nice truck too.
The P&G show in North Haven, Ct. didn't happen this year I heard, so Berube's probably got a lot of overflow from that. Besides, that shop down there seems to be going down hill for some reason, so a lot of people are going back to Berube's for their stuff.
Ahh...Cough...CHoke splutter...:dizzy :spaz :deadhorse :umno ointlaugh :jawdrop
No P&G didn't happen but some people threw together a show this past June in Wallingford Ct to kind of make up for not having P&G. It didn't have a huge turnout, but for a first year show it was good. I'll try to remember to post some pictures from that show sometime, but I'll have to scan them because it was the last show I took my film camera to. Digital is so much nicer.
Yeah, we'll have to keep posting truck show pics for Countryboy so he'll be in the know on what's out there in the custom big truck world nowadays.:drinkup I'm still working off of WallyWorld disposable cameras myself and doing the dreaded scanning thing, because us hillbillies haven't caught up to that fancy tecknollagee over there by the river where you're at... I never heard anything about the Wallingford, Ct. show this year. Must have been a last minute deal or something.:thumbsup
I didn't hear about it either and I live in Meriden,right next door.Ron G:beatsme
Hopefully it will happen again next year and be more publicized. Here are some of my pictures from the show http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q118/sbrem/PNA%202007/
Thanks for the update................I probably was thinking more along the lines of a heavy equipment show.I might have seen the flyers etc to a truck show but I wouldn't have paid much attention to it if I did see it.Not to take away from the significance of it but I can see pretty trucks driving up and down the highway every day. There was a nice heavy equipment meet in Colchester this year which I did know about but just couldn't make it down there.Did anyone else go?I think it was in late July.Ron G
I had wanted to go, but had other things to do that weekend so I didn't make it. Does it happen every year?
I have heard about that show in years past so it might be an annual event but I am not sure of that.It was an international event,that is to say it drew folks from other countries.Ron G