What do you guys know about this?

MikeJ

TB Veteran
Credits
189
Hi guys,

Yesterday we got my brother moved down to Kentucky right outside of Cincinnati. My truck pulled the trailer just fine actually it worked really well for the most part. Except when a tire on the trailer blew 12 miles outside of where I needed to be on the way down and I had to wait on the side of the road for 2 hours.





What happens is U-Haul uses these cheap little 6 ply 15" tires on the trailer and all those tires do is get hot and blow. It does not take that much the tires they use on those trailers are junk and just blow. They use cheap low speed tires. Well I can't drive down I-71 at 45 miles an hour I'd be the biggest hazard ever even 55 is to slow the tires need to be able to do 70-80 miles an hour.

Any how had to wait 2 hours for road service to come. The man from the road service company said U-Haul trailers blowing tires is pretty common because the tires U-Haul uses are such junk. He replaced the tire that blew with a better 10 ply tire which he said can handle high speeds much better. I gave the road service guy $20.00 tip for changing the tire. I've heard other guys do the same and tip the road service guy so I figured I would do the same.

If I was going to spec a 6x12 trailer for my self I would have the best most expensive tires on it that I could by why use cheap junk that does nothing but fail? I mean I know truck and trailer tires blow I see shards of tires on the interstate all the time, but I don't know I try control what I can the best I can I guess.

Other then that, though the trailer worked great besides some burnt out lights. The trailer I looked was built for U-Haul in December of 1976 so it's obviously not one of there newer units ha-ha. Actually there well made trailers all aluminum, they work good for household moving. I would rent one again. They pull really nice like if you have a fullsized pick up truck, cargo van or SUV there fine. I have a 2003 Ford Econoline-250 that I used for my business that I used to run and that van has a tow package and could have also pulled that trailer.



Over all it was actually a pretty good trip besides the tire blowing out. We ate dinner at Montgomery Inn in Cincinnati which is like one the most famous rib houses in the entire country. I guess Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Arnold Palmer, George W Bush, David Bell, Pete Rose and a host of a bunch of other famous celebrities and politicians have eaten there. I had always wanted to eat at Montgomery Inn and I figured there was no time like the present. My folks probably thought that we weren't dressed up enough for it, it's pretty nice, but I said there's no other time strike when the iron is hot, so I said "This is going to happen."
On a side note I think Montgomery Inn is a US Foods account (soon to be Sysco) because the butter packets said US FOODS on it.

Any how we pulled the trailer back with us because it's cheaper if you do that $27.00 a day if you bring the trailer back to where you got it. So what I did was got on Google Maps and looked for a parking spot so I knew where we could park at because obviously with a trailer you can't just pull into a parking lot. I actually got luckier then I though, 2 blocks from Montgomery Inn there was a closed up used car lot and I was able to pull in there and turn the truck around so I already had an out and then we just walked the 2 blocks to the restaurant.




This was my truck after I got it all unloaded. It's covered in bugs and pollen right now, but it was a pretty fun trip over all. Like I said how many times do you have the opportunity to eat at one of the greatest rib houses in North America? My brother is all excited I think he was pretty excited to be living on his own in his new apartment. It's hard work moving friends and family. However my parents and I really helped him get set up well, his apartment is small, but it was furnished pretty nice and on the cheap too! A lot of the furniture was bought used off of Craigslist and actually his furniture for what he got and for what was paid is pretty nice. So my brothers all excited, well will see how long that lasts after a few days at work. God I could never have my brothers job, he works for a big name brand investment company and sits in an office all day and that would drive me crazy. Which is why I'm in the truck and bus business. Right now I'm in the truck business, but might be in the charter bus business later on went through all the trouble to get a passenger bus endorsement, I fully plan on using it always did from the minute I got it.

Any how yesterday was kind of fun and now that I know a little bit about pulling trailers and stuff I wanted to ask you guys a question. What do you guys know about "hot shot" expediting. Like those guys who have the dually pick up trucks and haul cars or expedited loads? That line of work always interested me for some reason. I know that expedite trucks are all owner operators, and can very in size from a 250 cargo van all the way up to a Semi Tractor trailer.
I know a lot of expedite trucks are those big B trucks that have the big sleepers on them and usually a straight box, because expedite loads are usually smaller or lighter loads. Where I live in Ohio because of all the auto manufacturing we have a lot of expedite companies and I see them running around all the time. Cargo vans, Sprinters, the big time Class B straight trucks see a lot of those from Panther and then some tractor trailer units.
 
All I can tell you is that Panther was bought out by ABF about a year or so ago. I only ever got to talk to one guy and he was fairly happy but that was a while ago. Don't know how they're doing nowdays.
 
Panther was kind of an interesting company, I guess it was formed in the mid 1990's by a guy and like 3 owner operators and he dispatched the trucks from his basement in Medina, Ohio about 30 miles or so from where I live. I think there headquarters is still in Medina. I see there cargo van operators and there straight truck operators on a fairly regular basis.

I had just wondered if anyone on here ever dabbled in hot shot stuff like that I know that's kind of a niche thing, but it always looked interesting. I think the hot shot pick up trucks are like smaller flatbed type stuff. Usually like a Ford 350 dually and a 28 foot or so flatbed trailer maybe even a little shorter. You guys see them on the road from time to time.
 
I have seen them saw them over 20 years ago when I ran OTR. I could never understand how there could be enough demand for that service but what do I know? If I was a genius I wouldn't be driving truck.
 
In the auto belt where I live, there is a lot of expedite trucks, because the auto industry and all there suppliers I guess has a use for Just In Time stuff and smaller weird pieces parts. The welding and metal fab shop I used to work at was one of those odd niche industries where a lot of our stuff would come in via pick up truck, Ford E-Serries Cargo Van or Expedited Box Truck. We had 2 loading docks one for semi trucks and big straight trucks and one with just a ramp and our ramp loading dock got the most use. Our pieces parts that we welded were constantly coming in by pick up truck and cargo van also UPS, FedEx and also a lot of B trucks, FedEx Freight now and then, but we got a lot of stuff in and out via small time box truck operators as well as just cargo vans and pick ups. As you all know I own an F-150 and I was always running somewhere to pick up parts.

Our customers were always like that send a small batch over we would weld the stuff real quick and then send it out and a new batch would come in. We would have okay sized jobs, but because of the way the logistics worked and the factories worked every morning we would get a pick up truck or cargo van load of stuff two days later we would have that stuff welded up the cargo van would come back drop off more stuff and then we would load it with the finished product.

It's odd I know, but I see those big expediter box trucks all the time cruising up and down the high way I see them at Fords plant in Avon Lake,Ohio constantly.

Heck one of the guys I met at truck driving school was a former cargo van expediter for an expedite company. He said his one run was from Detroit, MI to Houston, TX the load was a small card board box with one 0 ring in it and it had to go from one nuclear power plant to another. He said he kept the box on the passenger seat of his van and called it Wilson ha-ha.

I always thought that too though who are these people that need these weird loads of this weird stuff, but I guess in manufacturing a part breaks down on a machine they need to get the part from the supplier to the plant as fast as possible, so they load they call in an expediter. Guy comes in driving a big B truck they load the part real quickly in a B truck and off he goes.





What I don't get is the weird hot shots that run travel trailers or those weird flatbed loads, I guess that's all brokered stuff like U ship where you get a few guys with F-350s and dumping trailers and another guy who sits in front of a computer and books loads on load boards. For whatever reason hot shooting with a big truck like that always kind of looked fun to me. Don't know if I'll ever actually do it, but it looked fun.


 
When I was over the road, I always liked when they sent me to Canada, because it meant a 1500-2000 mile run, and another long run back. So when I saw Fedex Custom Critical trucks, I thought I might like to do that, because I thought the custom meant going through customs, it's pretty critical. Anyhow they got a nice video about their service:

that's perfect, links image and video buttons are gone.

here's the video url, cut and paste and stuff; FedEx Custom Critical Services Overview - YouTube
 
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