Wierdest Loads Ever?

[Jim B]

Ok, here's a question for the 1:1 truck drivers on the board: what's the wierdest load you've ever hauled? I mean real "head scratchers". The type of load where you got the paperwork/went out to the trailer and said, "What the heck is that?". Those type of loads.

Not being a driver, I don't have any myself, but I had a friend (other that you guys) who was a driver. One day she (yes, she) was hauling a a refrigerated van full of grass seed, so she said she was a "reefer hauing grass". Ok, that's not wierd, but it is mildly humorous.

Edited November 21, 2010 by Jim B

[Dr. Cranky]

I just carry one type of load, always: GUNK!

[Guest Johnny]

Government loads! Had one where the paperwork was a blank paper with "Classified" stamped across it. Load was pad locked and sealed. As I took off I knew it was a very light load (ie felt empty). I did not cross a scale, was told to just pass by they knew I was coming.

When I got to the base they escorted me to a warehouse and had me back up to the doors. I started to get out and they made me get back in. They put garbage bags over the mirrors and told me to watch the SGT. in front of the truck for directions. I backed into the building with the guy directing me for any corrections. They stopped me with the cab just poking through the doors which were pulled up against the side of the cab just behind the doors. About 10 minutes later they slid the doors out about a foot and guided me back out.

They then had me get out and check the trailer was empty before closing it and placing a seal on the trailer. At the gate they checked the seal # then removed it, checked inside the trailer and sent me on my way!

I did ask the Colonel that was there at the warehouse about the size of the load and he said all he could tell me is it was a crate 3'x3'x2.5' and weighed less than 30 pounds!

Delivered a load for CBI to Oklahoma. Out in the middle of nowhere! Went to where I was directed to and was told to wait for someone to contact me.

While I sat there I saw a bulldozer coming over the rise about a mile out in the field. When he go to me he tells me to pull into the fielsd and he would hook up to help pull me to the job site.I saw the cat was caked full of mud.

I told him that there was no wy he was dragging this 2 year old Peterbild through a muddy field that I was going to go to town and call the boss.

He said no that they will take care and he got on the radio and talked to someone and then told me to pull in the field entrace, which was gravel, and drop the trailer.

About the time I got it dropped and had pulled off to the side a ratty old Hendrickson tractor came driving up the road. He hooked up and they chained up to him and away they went! Four hours later they came dragging back, literally! the wheels on the trailer were so packed with mud thy were just sliding.

They came to a stop just off the side of the gravel lot and just then a tank truck pulls up and the commenced to presuerwashing the whole rig! Took them two hours to get it clean and that included prying big rocks from between the duals! Then I discovered that two of the brake chambers were tore all to heck! Had to disconnect them and back off the brakes to get it to town for repairs, which they paid for but cost me another day!

Could talk about learning to drive an old twin stickl Mack and a nonbaffled asphalt trailer!

[old-hermit]

About 14 years ago the man I was working for bought a wrecked cab over Freightliner in Bowie Texas. He called me and told me to meet him at the Dallas/Ft Worth airport and we drove on to Bowie. When we got there we removed all the fairings, mirrors, etc, then removed the cab and shoved it all into the front of a 53x102 reefer trailer, then stuffed the rolling chassis in after it. On the way back the diesel bear at the Mississipi scale asked me what was in the trailer. When I told him, he didn't believe me, made me pull around back and went through the trailer with a fine tooth comb. I don't know what he was looking for but I was chuckling the whole time.

[highway]

Well, this wasn't a weird load, but it was the weirdest thing I ever encountered during my driving career. I was dropping a trailer in a dock outside St Joesph, MO because I was picking up a load of pork bellies and the dockworker told me they had to put paper on the walls of my reefer before loading the pork. I wound the dolly legs down, pulled the fifth wheel pin, and started pulling out. I noticed when the trailer came off the fifth wheel, it rocked a little and leaned to the passenger side and I thought it was just settling in a hole, just like I'd seen many times before. I didn't notice the trailer was sitting on the drive tires though! After the trailer cleared the drive tires, I seen the trailer REALLY lean, and I thought the trailer was going on it's side! Here I didn't know that a bolt had broke in the crossbar going from the gearbox for the dolly legs to the passenger side leg, and that leg never came down. The trailer dropped on the still up leg and left the trailer sitting at about a 30 degree angle in the dock with the drivers side trailer tires about three feet off the ground.

The moral of the story, I never dropped a trailer without checking that other leg wasn't down again!

[Aaronw]

Jacque Littlefield, the tank guy who was featured on the show Tank Overhaul lived in the SF Bay Area. Twice I passed lowboy loads going to his shop. The first was an early short barrel StuG III (WW2 German turretless assault gun) the second time a few years later was a German Panther tank. Both of them would have been awesome weathering projects for a modeler as they were in as found state. I don't know much about the StuG but the Panther was featured on the show and had spent 50-ish years in an Eastern European river before being found. As there are a few military bases in California it is not that uncommon to see tanks and APCs being hauled down the highway, but WW2 tanks do stand out.

I've also passed some interesting carhaulers over the years, one near Bakersfield had a number of nice restored old cars including a 1960s Cadillac ambulance. Probably in 1981-82 I was riding a Greyhound bus to Boyscout camp and we passed a load of General Lee Chargers and Roscoe patrol cars headed to the show.

[SpreadAxle]

Other than the missile launcher I carried 2 weeks ago, nothing really stands out as weird. I've mostly just hauled regular, common items. I'll be thinking over this one for awhile. I have a little over 13 years to sift through and see what I come up with. lol.

[superdog]

I used to haul chicken poop in a 66 dm 600 and bring it to a compost guy and then I mixed it with rotting leaves and grass clippings with a 1968 trojan 304 loader,had a cab but no doors ,absolutley the worst thing I have ever smelled,I used to puke out the window 2 or 3 times before I could mix even 1 load,well you do alot of crazy ###### when your'e young dumb and despeate for money.......those were the good old days,I shoulda' listened to my old man and went to med school..........

[SpreadAxle]

EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[junkman1153]

hauled a load of medical research supplies on the manifest. it consisted of 62 7x2x3 ft. crates. marked reseach ,cadaver,human, then info like male,female,age etc.we took them to a place where they were put in cars,buildings.buried,burned,and just left to rot. for research.

[Jim B]

Ok, that's just creepy!

[Guest Johnny]

I did pull a North American trailer once! Picked it up and when I looked at the bill it was a load of caskets from the Batesville Casket Company! Had 11 drops in the St Louis area all between 10pm and 6am! Delivery date was on October 31st!

[Clay]

Johnny, I would have been fairly nervous hauling something that "secretive"

Justin, thats what happens when you haul a load for the government. All my equipment is in 20ft shelters, however its not that secretive. The drivers have no need to know whats in it. So on our paperwork, we have shelter, 20ft 13.5k lbs (use to be almost 20k). Along with that we would have a much smaller shelter with everything that couldnt fit in the big shelter. Plus a HMMWV mounted shelter, couple of A/Cs and Generators.

With the Government, if you have no need to know, they won't tell you.

[Guest Johnny]

Matthew, That sounds very dangerous!

Johnny, I would have been fairly nervous hauling something that "secretive"

The first load I ever hauled for the government I scaled out at 103,000! with a 45' trailer I called the boss and was promptly chewed for leaving the truck to make the call and was told read the shipping instructions again, NO SCALES, NO STOPS! I had an almost 23 hour drive! It didn't take long to figure out I had a lead car and a chaser along for the trip!

I got the job of hauling the classified loads because at the time I was a SGTM in the Army Reserve and had a high security clearance already!

Clay has it 100% right!

[Clay]

Also, as most of you know, they have bonded trucks, meaning that there is suppose to be someone with the truck at all times, for my gear especially, because it has controlled items in it.

[junkman1153]

we hauled a load for the goverment from jersey to camp pendelton cal. the manifest was marked under contents ,"as need to know",route and travel times were listed. we went down the east coast.across the gulf coast,through texas .we advoided population centers,busy highways and congestion times on expressways. we were told the route was selected because the load was altitude sensitive. we travled mostly from 1am till 5 am parked in out of the way locations during the day. our constant companions were 4 ford ltds.it took 11 days to deliver the load. the only other thing that was weird they attached ground straps from the trailer to the truck frame and when parked they would pound copper coated rods into the ground and attach ground straps to them from both the truck and trailer. they also took air samples from inside the trailer through a valve in the side of the trailer.when parked we were taken to a hotel or truck stop till around 12. never refueled but the tanks were always full when we left out.when we arrived at the base we were taken to the mess hall after which we were taken to our truck outside the base.thanked and given our paper work .and told where to pick up a civilian load heading east.

[Guest Johnny]

we hauled a load for the goverment from jersey to camp pendelton cal. the manifest was marked under contents ,"as need to know",route and travel times were listed. we went down the east coast.across the gulf coast,through texas .we advoided population centers,busy highways and congestion times on expressways. we were told the route was selected because the load was altitude sensitive. we travled mostly from 1am till 5 am parked in out of the way locations during the day. our constant companions were 4 ford ltds.it took 11 days to deliver the load. the only other thing that was weird they attached ground straps from the trailer to the truck frame and when parked they would pound copper coated rods into the ground and attach ground straps to them from both the truck and trailer. they also took air samples from inside the trailer through a valve in the side of the trailer.when parked we were taken to a hotel or truck stop till around 12. never refueled but the tanks were always full when we left out.when we arrived at the base we were taken to the mess hall after which we were taken to our truck outside the base.thanked and given our paper work .and told where to pick up a civilian load heading east.

and when you add it all together what do you get? Bet you could make an educated guess at you loads contents!

Yep! Everything was routed and you did not deviate from plan, no matter what! We had a driver that did because of construction he knew about and he said he needed a change of underwear after they stopped him! No more Gov. loads for him!

Like I said I found out on the first one not to leave the truck unattended! On longer runs we either teamed (which I hate) or had assigned stops that were deemed secure by the Government! But like the above post there are some that have to stay away from population centers!

One driver had a tarped load and I mean TARPED! Three layers of tarps at least! When he stopped because of a strap loose he was accompanied by a G-Man (as the old man called him) to check the load. The guy told him not to even think of trying to look under the tarps! Makes one wonder just what was so secretive about the loads sometimes!

All I knew is they paid good! We got extra pay for the loads!

P.S. More than the Army paid me for hualing explosive materials in a combat zone!

Edited November 23, 2010 by Johnny

[junkman1153]

you are right the goverment loads paid very ,very good, they don't want drivers who ask questions," follow the route .follow instructions, we will know if there is a problem and handle it." a friend hauling a classified load was involved in a fatal crash,a car ran a red light he broadsided it ,killing the driver. the feds. checked the truck and told him to go on to a truck stop for repairs. he never heard another word about the crash. those ever present ,in his case,plymouths 2 stayed at the accident, 2 went to the truck stop a 5th was there waiting when he arrived.

[Rick]

In my short career I've had a few loads stand out as weird. The first one I was assigned to was a six or seven stop load (can't remember for sure, 20+ years ago) with one box going to each of our operating centers. It turned out to be all the permits and fuel stickers for all of our trucks. I hauled a Government seal load to an Army base, the contents were blacked out and when I got there they had me drop the trailer, they hooked up one of their trucks to take it for unloading, then brought it back to me. I had another Government load to an Air Force base where the paperwork was also blacked out. I was able to see them unload this one, It was a large wooden crate exactly as big as the inside of the trailer. No idea what was in it. While I hauled gravel, I had a strange one. Hauled loads of dirt to a large field somewhere and as I arrived each time people in hazmat suits would duct tape the doors and windows shut before letting me in to dump. They were definitely trying to bury something nasty there!

Rick

[Chuck Most]

I've never been a trucker, but some guys, at least to me, seem incredibly inefficient with what they haul...

[Kaleb]

Ive seen one haul a tonka road grater.

One of the weirdest position loads I have seen was a load of cars(used) you had the ones setting normally and one on its front bumper something like this.

_ _ / _ I was waiting for it to fall over.

[SpreadAxle]

I've never been a trucker, but some guys, at least to me, seem incredibly inefficient with what they haul...

That's just a little "trucker tradition". lol.

Edited November 25, 2010 by FlatbedKW

[highway]

That's just a little "trucker tradition". lol.

I don't know Ray, maybe a "flatbedder tradition".

Of course I rarely hauled anything without walls, but I have a Ford Aeromax and Freightliner FLD here that are members of the one million scale miles club!! I had to have something to keep me busy during layovers!

[junkman1153]

i was telling a friend about this he drove truck for 40 years he said as far as weird cargo he said these are the strangest. 4 dead hippo's, a dead whale, a fiberglass flying saucer.he was hauling 1/2 and a truck behind him had the other part both oversize loads at 15ft wide. the weirdest was he was approached at a truck stop in nevada by the police ,they needed an empty lowboy right that minute. he followed them out to a very remote section of desert.the military was there with a crane .they loaded the very heavily damaged remains of what he thought was a lear jet. strapped it down and tarped it . with a escort they went to a closed down abandonned shopping mall where a tent was erected over the trailer several ambulances were waiting and a local rescue squad and fire department stood by while the army took photos extracated 8 bodies he said there was a whole lot of cars with us gov plates.breif cases and papers were loaded in the trunk of one car. about 10 hours later he hauled the wreckage out to a air force base where it was unloaded into a hole crushed and covered. he was informed it never happened,he hauled a practice missle that went off course.he was appoached several times over a period of time at home or in restaurants about the plane he hauled out of the desert. he always denied knowing what they were talking about. it was a wrecked off course practice missle.

[Jim B]

Wow! Talk about Men in Black!