Profile For gyppo logger

i can shift a truck just fine, infact i wanted one of the 2 new 8 speeds they had at the terminal but was told they are for mentors only.

I've never heard of an 8 speed, must be brandnew, eh? I'm not saying your wrong, I'm always behind the curve when it comes to new equipment. That's why I'm shocked and very sad to read all these threads about whole companies switching their fleets to automatics.

Boy, I know for sure I'm to old, their taking all the fun and SKILL out of driving. Pretty soon there'll be grannies out there driving, I started in the mid 80's. They gave me a 63 narrow nose Pete with a cummins 350, 5x3 twin sticks, center point steering and hydrolic scales. It still had an old 75 gallon water tank behind the cab used for watering the brakes. You can't get a Ford pickup truck with a manual anymore.

I know auto's can be pretty beefy cause they work very well in something like a Cat 528 tired skidder, I personaly would'nt want one in my bigrig. I pride my self on being able to correctly shift a manual and I worked very hard at that mostly for respect and to show a potential employer I knew what I was doing. It's a trucker thing, that's what seperates us from them and the single most diffacult thing to master. But once you do, it's a huge sense of accomplishment and pride.

I would keep the Redwings, it's going to take time to break them in. Might try a light wait hiking boot (Hi-tech is a quality brand) and get a pair of Pac boots for the snow, like The North Face. Maybe pickup some rain gear too, like Helly Hansen. What ever you decide, go for quality and they wont fail

I'm 53, born 1961. I started taking one of those one-a-day multiple vitamins a few years back and it made a big difference in the way I felt every day. We don't always eat right on the road.

Your going to need general trucking expeirence before you start doing that type of driving. I got in to low bedding by swamping for a regular lowbed driver. I rode around with him and he tought me all the basics on a single drop, how long have you been driving and what type? I'm sure there are schools with companys like Tersi Trucking in Stockton, Ca. I've rented lowbeds and flatbeds from them, the owner was pretty approachable.

http://www.teresitrucking.com/employment.html

The way I've always taught people is that there are 3 RPM windows you'll deal with, a level ground window, a down hill window and an uphill window. Level ground is right around 500 RPM's, going down hill the truck will speed up when you pop it in nuteral so it will stretch to 750 RPM's. Going up hill it's smaller because you'll slow down, that's right around 250 RPM's. As stated earlier, these are generalized windows, each truck will be different, sometimes it helps to count while on level ground, like one-thousand-and-one as soon as you get it in neutral then push it back in. Don't take off in low when your empty, start in second. Also, if you find your self on a steep uphill loaded and stopped, you can feather the clutch just like a car, the increased resistance will negate the high torque. If the hill is steep enough and you try to fully engage before applying throttle, it will kill the motor every time.

I worked with a guy that was 5 foot tall and 250LBs, as long as he passed his physical every 2 years. I remember he had high blood pressure too.

Well today started with dropping a load of scrap..... you thought I was going to leave the S off didn't you... LOL

Then I dropped the trailer and picked up a beam trailer to haul this bridge beam that will deliver tomorrow.

From the end of my beam trailer to the front bumper I am 94 feet long.

Now that's driving! It's great your getting pictures of this stuff, I didn't get any of my first 10 years. That thing looks heavy, are your air lines on top of the beam?

This was my 359 (Cummins big cam 400 w/401 jake heads, Spicer 6 speed main box with a Brownie 1241 4 speed and 5:53 to1 drivers) , I'm at Yosemite National Park. We tried like heck to make this a three log load but that healboom just didn't have the ponies to lift the log, we had to cut it in half. They welded chain hooks on the graples and you can just make out the chain wrap. Getting ready to roll at 16.5' tall and 92,000 gross and those were dead standing snags. (Note the log sticking up just above my hood lying on the ground behind my truck and did ya notice the bunk logs are notched at the stakes?)

Loading a rubber-tired skidder beaver style, North Fork Tuolumne river at the bridge, 6 miles North of Twain Harte, Ca.

Getting ready to load a Cat 325C Fort Ord, Monteray, Ca.

Ready to leave for Chinese Camp, Ca. from Ft Ord.