Interesting people and loading strategies

Just felt like sharing.

I've get bunches of sewer and drain pipe (thin walled PVC) from time to time and sell it. It's 4" diameter and 20 foot long. People have traveled from 10 minutes to 2 hours away to get it from me. It's an interesting commentary on people, loading, and life.

They'll drive 1.5 hours in a Nissan Pathfinder and arrive with a bag of broken, pull tight straps and a couple ratcheting straps. Eagerly they choose 10 sections of pipe and bundle it into a circle with the two ratcheting straps then sit it across the top of the pathfinder on the little luggage rack. Next they notice they don't have anything usable to tie it to the vehicle. This fellow left the bundle and went to the HF store at my urging and bought 4 ratcheting straps and we used two to lash it to the rack. Since one corner of the rack was broken that strap went through the vehicles front doors--not the first time I've seen that done. The the other two straps at my suggestion were used to tie it down to the front and rear of the vehicle to keep the 20 foot sections from swiveling in interstate traffic while being perched on the 5 foot long luggage rack. It tied down pretty good.

I have mixed feeling about being involved in loading. If I leave it up to them I guess I will not be liable. If they seem clueless it's hard to let them go with something I know is a terrible idea--kinda feels like telling a guy who's been falling off his bar stool all night that I'm not taking responsibility for his driving so it's his call as he's getting in his car.

I usually stress several time to people loading stuff that my suggestions are just my opinion and they need to decide if it's secure enough. But this fellow spoke broken English--words might not help. Still I told him and his wife "drive carefully" and "watch the straps". I'm confident they'll have plenty of warning before it becomes a danger to others. I'm less confident as to how the luggage rack will hold up. Oddly the wife seemed to know her way around ratchet straps etc but her husband was clueless--I'm glad she was along for the drive.

I've seen everything though from twine to packing tape used. Several luggage rack jobs. A 6 foot bed pickup with the pipe stuck in over the tailgate and up under a toolbox. A couple 16 foot trailers. the two ramp kind work great for hanging off front and back a bit but one had a full width mesh tailgate--the pipe went from the front of the trailer up in the air and over the top of the tailgate which was over 6 foot high. I joked it looked like a giant race car spoiler and he'd get a lot of good down pressure on that trailer in the wind for traction. One guy wasn't messing around--he showed up in his employers straight truck with a 24 foot bed with 4 truck mounted ratchet tie-downs that could have held concrete pipe.

Worst job ever was the heavy, big, piece of crap home made lawn/garden trailer I got as an unwanted part some lawn equipment at an estate sale. The guy who bought it from me sat it on it's wheels on top of his trailer (which had only 1 foot sides and only secured it with one piece of bailing twine from the tongue of the lawn trailer to the front of his trailer. He jokingly insisted he knew the Mexican way of hauling things--he did appear Mexican, he spoke great English and seemed to understand when I told him if that trailer came loose in traffic it would be the most expensive trailer he ever bought. He had a 20-30 mile interstate trip ahead of him.

Lastly, let me say I have done and will probably do again stupid things. Special thanks to my guardian angel.

Yes, if you see something unsafe and do not at least try to correct it you can be held responsible. But you can only do so much. If the driver insists on doing something stupid you can't hold him. There is no law against stupid.

How's about this. Had a bad tire I put on CL, and this little gal called and wanted it. I put it on top of her car with a bale fork, and she proceeded to tie it down with bungee cords. She had about 25 miles to go to where she lived, through suburban traffic- I can just imagine the double takes and rubber neckers......

I worked for a guy part time that was just as likely to haul a tractor home with bungee cords holding it on a trailer as a chain. The hwy patrol turned him loose after stopping him with a 504U on a tandem trailer,pulling it with a Geo Tracker. No load binders, with a chain that would not hold a large dog.

Why/How do you get bunches of PVC pipe for free?

Saw a guy at Lowes getting a new refrigerator with his own 1/2 ton pickup. Guess he couldn't wait for Lowes to deliver it free. Lowes set the fridge in the pickup and left him to his own devices. He just tied a length of rope around the back of the fridge and tied each end to the front cargo holders. I had visions of him turning a corner and that fridge tipping over out of the bed into traffic.

Reminded me of an incident in Sioux Falls, SD, back in the 70's. I was following a pickup with a range in the back that was not tied down; it was a range with an oven on top (that they no longer make). He went around a curve and I watched that range tip right over the edge of the bed and practically disintegrate on the highway. He stopped the truck, got out and threw his cap on the ground while cussing a blue streak. Wondered if it helped the situation any for him to throw his cap on the ground?

Just this morning I saw a fellow with a small skid loader on a flatbed trailer without anything tying it down. Oh, he was being careful though....only driving 45 in a 55 zone. What makes these people tick?

Here is a 12" 20' plastic pipe I got on Craigslist a couple of years ago for $50, it was NOS. I had to haul it 35 miles but not on interstates though I did have to go through a small city and a couple of towns. I like the 2" heavy ratchet straps, they seem a lot stronger than the little 1" ones a lot of folks have. I have also carried a 12.4-38 tractor tire up there, and one of those 275 gallon water totes. I found that the culvert didn't seem to bother the car any more than if I have a canoe up there, it was a bit longer but probably weighed a bit less.
Zach

Back in the 80s the county got my neighbor to let them pile some pea gravel on his place for a road project. After the road project was over they gave the remaining gravel to neighbor rather than go to the expense of moving it. Neighbor sold some of it. One guy came in a small Nissan or Toyota pickup and shoveled the bed piled up full. Truck was, of course, sitting on the axles with the springs flattened out. He drove off with the load, I don't know how far he got.

KEH

Something like this... LOL


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsygbjOyJmC4&ei=WUVVVPLhNsGjyAS29IGIBw&usg=AFQjCNF_2y4OC6rN9hV8U6a2N7-M5eNcoA

Your looking at it the wrong way around...

I remove unwanted stuff for free and these folks need my services. From time to time many folks have things that are in their way--thus costing them time/money. Sometimes folks realize the value of just having it disappear vs spending dollars of their employees time to make cents on a sale. Sometimes folks resort to free ads--just come get it. In theory this would work but in practice it rarely does. I am that rare exception. While my competition might be free too, I offer many advantages over them:
I don't ask questions.
I jump when called--I drop what I'm doing and go right over there.
I take EVERYTHING (broken, bent, ugly, etc)
I don't leave a mess.
I don't request or require any assistance loading.
I don't interrupt their activities.
I stay out of their way.
I'm a quick loader.
I express my gratitude for the work.
I don't look like a liability about to happen as I drive off.

It takes a few dealings with my competition before folks recognize my true value. My challenge is to convince them I'll be different so I get the first job which is when they see my true value first hand. Many times folks are so turned off by my competition they don't want to take a chance on me and actually pay to have a trash collector take things off.

I'm always open to new clients!

Nice!

Single or double walled? I carried a single walled one with my pickup using my home made "pipe rack". It bounced more than expected but wasn't a problem. Recently carried a 24 foot piece 2x3 square tubing (like for carports) the same way. No problem but it did look like I was jousting.

This came to mind
Home Depot Overload

Some time ago, I saw a car with MANY 10 foot sections of black iron pipe running underneath car, All were slightly swinging while being suspended from front and rear bumper with twine!!
Red cloth on FRONT nothing on rear!

Double wall, smooth inside, ribbed outside. I like that kind better because things don't get stuck inside so much. 24' sounds like a lot, good for you.
Zach

Double wall is nicer but single cheaper. Double should be a bit stiffer and might not bounce up and down on the ends as you drive That's what I was wondering.

24 foot appeared long and I initially loaded it laying on the 3" side (2" high and 3" wide) but I noticed bouncing and pulled over and turned it 3" up and 2" wide and it was rock solid the rest of the way home even at 65mph.

The 20 foot pipe strapped to two wooden structures at either end of an 8 foot bed do pretty well but I decided early on to center the pipe on the rack vs the vehicle to lessen the up and down bouncing of the unsupported pipe ends as I don't want it to hit the top of the cab. The 24 foot tube was metal and a lot more rigid and I ran it further out front over the hood than the tailgate by far.

My rack is made of 2x4s screwed together with 2 long screws at each joint and they just sit in the stake pockets. I found what fits stake pockets best are old 2x4s back from when they were thicker--off hand I'd say they were 1.75" thick. Then ripped to like 2.5" wide. I use ratchet straps from tie-down in the bottom corners of the bed up over the pipe and down on the other side. Holds the pipe to the rack and the rack to the truck. I usually go around the rack uprights a bit to keep the straps from wanting to pull the pipe into a bundle in the center. I do find with larger loads some of the center pipes slide a bit too easily and I've taken to using a 2x4 with a grove cut in it's wide side (found in a dumpster once) and laying it across the top of the pipe and putting the strap over that to evenly press down on all the pipe works nicely. I do that on the front only usually.

My rack creaks and groans as the wood rubs in the stake pockets but it's done remarkably well. I check the screws before each use. I'm thinking now I will replace the 2 screws with a bolt soon because this rack has become a regularly used accessory.

Look at the first pic of the red Jetta, and the last pic of the Jetta that's in black and white. If you look close, you'll notice it's the same car.

Saw this one at HD a couple of years ago and had to take a pic. What's in the pic is only part of it. There was actually even more short stuff, not visible, packed on the inside.