Someone here once said, "If you don't want to tarp, increase your tarping fee, and then loads that "need tarping" will not need it anymore" :) When I get the small tarps, I am not going to unwrap them for anything less than 200 bucks, period. Half of the time the shipper wants it tarped because it hardly costs him/her anything. Like this last trip I did ... metal panels for the ROOF needed to be tarped! Forget it.

so do you wish for your Conestogo back?

not yet. the truck drives much better without it: less weight, less height, better visibility. i've just updated my trailer's flyer that i send out to agents ... it has my contact info, some pics of the stepdeck, and the specs. the last line in the FEATURE section now reads, "TARPS: NONE" :) On march 1, 2011 it'll be 6 months since I started with landstar, so i'll be able to start hauling oversize loads.

I'm doing my second load with the 'bare' stepdeck - both no tarp. Just weighed after getting fuel: the truck with 2 tanks of fuel, all my chains and straps, plus the empty 48 ft stepdeck weigh now 30,940 lbs. This is after I removed the Conestoga and the full roof deflector. Before it was 33,000 lbs ... I still have 8 STEEL wheels on the truck. Once those are changed to aluminum, the empty weight should go down by another 200 lbs.

Load 1: roofing materials from PA to BC (no tarp)
Load 2: wheeled equipment from WA to SK (no tarp)

Pardon what may appear to be a dumb question. I like to read this Board and am not a trucker......

Given the weight you posted above..... is it safe to say you can leagally scale 49,060 lbs?

Thanks!

R/

Frat

Yep, that's correct. Of course, it'll be difficult to properly center such a load, but if it's something short (that I can put in the middle of the trailer), as long as I do not go over 49,060 lbs I should be legal. That's with full fuel tanks. If I fill only one tank, I could probably take 50,000 lbs. (1 gal of diesel = 7 lbs).

Here's Load #2 I'm doing without the Conestoga sliding tarp system. 3 farm tractors ... 9.5' tall. I'm still surprised they fitted on the deck :) I was worried it'd be difficult to roll the front wheels on the upper deck, but all I had to do was put a couple of 4x4 under the wheels, and the tractor nose just went up. This is my first time with these kind of agricultural machines. A guy on the dock had to show me how to put it in gear :) Gears are LETTERED not numbered (the dock guy said, "Put it in "C" and I'm like, "What?") The amount of buttons and controls inside is probably 2 times what I have in my truck! The tractor in the front and one in the rear are 10,000 lbs, and the one in the middle is 14,000 lbs; so I used 3 chains/binders on each: 2 in the back - to stop the thing from rolling forward, and one in the front. Did 50 miles - so far they stay put :)

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...1112101407.jpg

now you are hauling good stuff............;)

Does farm equipment pay better, or is it average?

Above average. My experience has been that the more labor and money has been put into the product, the more money it costs to transport it by truck. Of course, a lot depends on where you pick up the load (area) and how many trucks are available there, plus how greedy the middle- men and women involved are. PLUS: how desperate the shipper is to get the stuff. I remember hauling some basic lumber but because of shortages caused by an earthquake the shipper was paying top dollar for the freight.

LOL I think that was me.

Good job on finally gettin' that turban off your trailer. Now when are you going to get that 53? If you're looking to spend some money, you can get a different kind of trailer so you can follow the seasonal freight.