Az. DOT economics lesson

[NIsaacs]

An older couple that live nearby asked me if I would help them move a storage shed, 10'x12' (dumbbell me) I said sure. I figure several guys could almost load it by hand and at 10' wide I could use two personal vehicles for escort and boot leg it 25 miles from Holbrook to Snowflake... . wrong!



Turns out counting the eves, it is 12'x15' almost 12' high and weighs about 2 ton. So I decide I better get an oversize permit. The local DMV does not sell them anymore so I have to go to the nearest Port of Entry (60 miles away). They say my 12,000 truck and 10,000 trailer license is not enough, that on a commercial permit, I need to pay for the total weight of truck, trailer and shed on the truck tag. Also I will need two commercial pilot cars licensed by the state for 12' wide but under 12' I don't need any. So we thought we would modify the eves to get under the 12' but it would be too much work so we hire two pilot cars at $4 a mile each, I go back to the DMV and buy 16,000 license on the truck for $109 go back to the port and buy the permit. They advise me that if the shed was not perfectly centered on the trailer I could still get a ticket since it could be over 12' now..... I said ok... .



Gonna move it this morning with a lighter back pocket



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

Your post brought back memories of my experiences crossing AZ.

I and a couple thousand other RV transporters always hated pulling through AZ for similar reasons. I had to stop and weigh then go inside, wait in line, then purchase a $100 permit (or bypass the scale and risk a huge fine which I did a few times) and it was always a slow antiquated manual process. AZ was just about the only state that didn't use a computer system for commercial trucking documents.

If I had not pulled a lot of trailers in and out of KA I would never have passed through AZ. Oh well. I don't have to do that anymore.

 

[GCroyle]

I wish I had a picture of this tale, it would help alot.



A couple of years ago I think it started on a saturday a group of locals "house movers" took an old house rigged up all kinda axles and patched framework under it and decided to move it on a main 2 lane street just outside of and headed in the direction of the town. Can you imagine the LLE's expression and comments seeing this coming down the nice residential neighborhood street.



They got pulled over, just got it off of the road.



City did their thing, made a decision.



For the next week or so, driving down that road you watched them take the ENTIRE HOUSE apart and scrap it, clean up all the debris and then I have no idea what fines etc. was levied.

 

[NIsaacs]

Hauled the shed yesterday, all went well. I did touch a low wire first thing ( I was 14'-8") so I was scared of them after that, even the really tall ones



Yes Harvey, the AZ. ports are a pain and they have notices up of no faxing in or out. The female supervisor gave me heck right off. I think she figured after all the cost associated with the permit that I would not be back and would haul it anyway... ... not sure where that come from:-laf I used to go around the Sanders Port all the time through the Zuni reservation when I was trucking. Arizona is hard on their own residents. I never had any trouble with the other western states, just my own.



Nick

 

[mwilson]

Hauled the shed yesterday, all went well. I did touch a low wire first thing ( I was 14'-8") so I was scared of them after that, even the really tall ones

My step-father was a house moving freak, he would buy land with buildings on it and then move the buildings to other real estate that he owned.



The movers that he hired were pros and taught me quite a bit about the process.



We would build a duplicate cellar at the new location, when it was ready the movers brought two Walter 4x4 trucks that were rigged with hydraulic towers. Put a truck on either side of the foundation and with the use of steel I-Beams lift the house clear and drive both trucks forward at the same time.

The scary thing was sometimes the old foundations would collapse when the weight of the house was removed.

When the signal to lift and go was given the pair of Walters trucks were throttled up and moving while the celler was caving in.

When they cleared the foundation they set it down. Had special axles that they would place under one end of the house, in effect turning it into a trailer of sorts. One truck stayed hooked on the front and off they would go. The truck could raise and lower the front of the house as needed to help with utility lines, etc.

When they arrived at the new lot, they simply reversed the process and set the house on the new foundation.



One trick was if the house was not too high was to nail a pine board to the ridge of the house, extending several feet out. Hook a rope to it so if you came to a low wire a man could pull the rope which brought the board down. Pull ahead until the wire was on the board and then release the rope. The wire would slide along the roof and not hurt a thing... :-laf



They were very good at it and I feel fortunate that I was there to learn something.



Bigger houses were a lot bigger deal, sometimes it required 2 Sheriffs, a couple of utility trucks to take wires down, and other miscellaneous equipment to move one 10 miles or so. Sometimes it took all day to get from point A to point B.



Mike.

 

[HBarlow]

Hauled the shed yesterday, all went well. I did touch a low wire first thing ( I was 14'-8") so I was scared of them after that, even the really tall ones

Yes Harvey, the AZ. ports are a pain and they have notices up of no faxing in or out. The female supervisor gave me heck right off. I think she figured after all the cost associated with the permit that I would not be back and would haul it anyway... ... not sure where that come from:-laf I used to go around the Sanders Port all the time through the Zuni reservation when I was trucking. Arizona is hard on their own residents. I never had any trouble with the other western states, just my own.

Nick

Hitting the wire would cause me to pucker up a bit!

 

[mwilson]

Up here the lowest wire is always the telephone wire, it is quite supple and will stretch quite a bit without any harm.



With the tall loads of logs I used to haul it was possible at 60 mph to catch the phone wire with an errant log and flip it right up over and then on to the power lines.



Then all Hell broke loose in the nearby houses. :-laf



Not a good thing.



Mike.

 

[GCroyle]

Again, sorry no picture.



YEARS back in Bay Village OH a "mansion" on the shore of Lake Erie was IIRC donated or aquirred by the nearby Metro Park at Huntington Beach, Baycrafters. the direct road route was a very busy route with large trees etc. They put it onto a BARGE on the lake, so that meant going downhill to the barge from the house and them coming uphill off the barge. If you have ever seen this piece of shoreline the land is maybe 60' higher than the waterline, in some areas might be called a cliff. IIRC the paper that day had a pic of this mansion out on the lake just floating away.



Gary

 

[NIsaacs]

Kinda like the Ford commercial pulling the Chevy and boat out of the lake. The lady owner of the boat told the Ford guy "boy that sure sank fast" the Ford guy says "yup, like a rock"



The first log truck I started driving was an old '63 B Model Mack that you could throw a cat through the floor boards, talk about hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Third day solo, I had my wife with me and going into a bad corner I went straight over the edge and turned the trailer over, stake broke and saved the truck. All my wife could see was me with about a foot of steering wheel and shaft sticking out of the steering collum trying to stuff it back down. It had come loose from the u-joint at the bend in the firewall. Loved that dang old Mack tho.



Nick

 

[mwilson]

Alright Nick,

Seeing as this is your thread I won't be hijacking it if we head back to our trucking days... ... ... .



1st truck driven for a paycheck...



1972 GMC 6500 series, 427 big block gasser with a 5 and 4 transmission.

12 yard dump body with high sideboards, would haul 14-15 yards on it's back.

Governor was unhooked and I was instructed to drive as follows...

Take it to 5000rpms, then shift up.

If it drops to 4500rpm shift down.



I can run a two stick quite well as a result of that experience...



Also have arthritis in my right elbow which may have been helped along by shifting the above described truck..... :{



Edit... I would like to have all the gasoline back that I ran through that truck in those two years... ...



Mike.

 

[NIsaacs]

Mike, if the story has an engine and wheels, I'm interested



Even with all the years of driving two sticks, I was never as good as most truck drivers. Old timers would tell me to "just main box it or you will get tired of shifting that old Mack". It had the little 205 HP Thermodine (sp) and the quadruplex 5x4. The sticks were close enough that coming out of 3rd and under to 2nd over I could use one hand flat, span both shifters and slip it in gear.



Nick

 

[mwilson]

Mike, if the story has an engine and wheels, I'm interested



Even with all the years of driving two sticks, I was never as good as most truck drivers. Old timers would tell me to "just main box it or you will get tired of shifting that old Mack". It had the little 205 HP Thermodine (sp) and the quadruplex 5x4. The sticks were close enough that coming out of 3rd and under to 2nd over I could use one hand flat, span both shifters and slip it in gear.



Nick

As you work with a two stick set-up for a whle duplicate gear combinations become apparent.



For example 4th gear main, 4th gear aux is equal to 5th gear main, 2nd gear aux.



So at highway speed loaded on level ground gaining speed with truck in 4th gear main, 3rd gear aux your next shift is to 4th gear in the aux. Then you would split to 5th main, 3rd aux and then finally to 4th gear aux.

Low speeds and hills required more complex combinations (I could overtake a loaded 250 Cummins in a hill but the shift levers were pretty much flying).



Main box was syncronized (unlike your Mack) and the aux was not. You could float shift the aux and keep the Big Block howling between 4500 and 5000 rpm.



The elbow I brought on myself doing stuff like that... ... . :-laf



Edit: This was much easier to do with a gas engine, a diesel as you know won't die down fast enough for rapid fire gear changing...



Mike.

 

[Bill Stockard]

As you work with a two stick set-up for a whle duplicate gear combinations become apparent.



For example 4th gear main, 4th gear aux is equal to 5th gear main, 2nd gear aux.



So at highway speed loaded on level ground gaining speed with truck in 4th gear main, 3rd gear aux your next shift is to 4th gear in the aux. Then you would split to 5th main, 3rd aux and then finally to 4th gear aux.

Low speeds and hills required more complex combinations (I could overtake a loaded 250 Cummins in a hill but the shift levers were pretty much flying).



Main box was syncronized (unlike your Mack) and the aux was not. You could float shift the aux and keep the Big Block howling between 4500 and 5000 rpm.



The elbow I brought on myself doing stuff like that... ... . :-laf



Edit: This was much easier to do with a gas engine, a diesel as you know won't die down fast enough for rapid fire gear changing...



Mike.

WOW!!! Reminds me of a job one summer driving a IH R-190 with a RD 450 inline 6-cylinder engine on LP with a 5-4 hauling cresote power line poles. The RD 450 6-cylinder would run hot unless we drove it with the hood side panels off... . talk about hot!! On those 100 degree summer days, what heat didn't come up through the holes in the floor board came in through the windows right off the engine. My hands and arms had so much sweat dripping, it was hard to hold on to the sticks while working the boxes... . the good ol' days.



Bill

 

[mwilson]

WOW!!! Reminds me of a job one summer driving a IH R-190 with a RD 450 inline 6-cylinder engine on LP with a 5-4 hauling cresote power line poles. The RD 450 6-cylinder would run hot unless we drove it with the hood side panels off... . talk about hot!! On those 100 degree summer days, what heat didn't come up through the holes in the floor board came in through the windows right off the engine. My hands and arms had so much sweat dripping, it was hard to hold on to the sticks while working the boxes... . the good ol' days.



Bill

Oh yeah, the heat from those old gassers was just incredible. Only thing that would stay on it for mufflers were dual Cherry Bombs that terminated right behind the cab. Going ahead was bad enough but having to back up a half mile or so while building a woods road was torture. As Bill says, the heat is boiling up off of everything. The mufflers were kicking up dust, you were on a seat that was vinyl except for where the foam was showing through and the sweat was running right down the crack of your arse.

Still thought I was a Super Trucker just the same.



Mike.

 

[Bill Stockard]

Oh yeah, the heat from those old gassers was just incredible. Only thing that would stay on it for mufflers were dual Cherry Bombs that terminated right behind the cab. Going ahead was bad enough but having to back up a half mile or so while building a woods road was torture. As Bill says, the heat is boiling up off of everything. The mufflers were kicking up dust, you were on a seat that was vinyl except for where the foam was showing through and the sweat was running right down the crack of your arse.

Still thought I was a Super Trucker just the same.



Mike.

Yep, you are right about the seat. I had a Cool Cushion (you remember those?) to sit on... it was worn out with about half the wires exposed. Super truckers indeed!!:-laf:-laf:-laf

Bill

 

[GCroyle]

Now we whine if our bun warmer/bun cooler/integrated cell phone/remote start/gps/dvd/on star/bluetoothed/individual climate control/todays newest electro gizmo goes on the fritz.

 

[NIsaacs]

Yep, you are right about the seat. I had a Cool Cushion (you remember those?) to sit on... it was worn out with about half the wires exposed. Super truckers indeed!!:-laf:-laf:-laf

Bill

Yup and don't forget the hot canvas water bags that went along with the hot trucks!! Always tried to hang them in the coolest spot so they would stay under boiling temps, and a new bag was just nasty tasting:-laf until you got it broke in.



Nick

 

[NIsaacs]

Talk about super trucker, my first pickup was a 1940 Chevy 1/2 ton short wheel base with a homemade 6'x7' wood flatbed. I was hauling hay one day from a local rancher with it and a single axle flat bed trailer. Well, I got in after dark one day so I parked the rig on the crest of this little hill for the night. The next day my little brother (about 8, I think I was about 13) was going to help me unload. When I fired up the big rig I told him I was going to show him how to pop a wheelie,:-laf so with about a ton on the pickup and a ton on the little trailer I let it roll backward down the hill a little and popped the clutch..... the right rear axle said "bang"... . with no wheelie:-laf



I didn't do that anymore.....



Nick