Profile For Brad C.

Byeee, I would love an answer to one question. Do you need the job or do you want and welcome the challenges you are about to face?

I’ve got to agree with Big Scott, most youtubers who don’t film in a “studio” use gopros.

Fact is distracted driving is distracted driving. Even when a distraction is completely out of your control it will show in an accident report(keep those windows closed if possible). My fear would be, even if it’s not a major distraction but it’s not beyond my control I would end up with an ugly scar on my Employment history.

Haven’t made my way to the ny coils material yet so I don’t have the foggiest of ideas what the requirements are. Comparing the math in the question to my experience in the towing industry in the state of OK is why it makes sense to me. Although, I imagine there are major differences between hauling coils and hauling a vehicle on a flatbed wrecker. But the question does seem to want you to calculate the number of chains based on half the WLL rating. Just out of curiosity are you familiar with how securement devices (chains, straps, cable, etc.) are rated?

The polishing touches are getting the wife and kid(18) their licenses and a few arrangements made. Indeed I am ready and I’ve been home not getting paid for going on three months now. My accident despite being a single vehicle accident was by the local pd determined “distraction beyond drivers control.” Get ready for a good laugh if you want the full story. Just suffice it to say I try not to run with open windows any more.

So over the course of the past week or so I have been back on here re-preparing myself for entry into the trucking industry. I’ll start with a humongous thanks to everyone for their contributions to the site making it such a valuable source of information. Short of a few final polishing touches on the home front I am just about ready to start talking to recruiters and getting applications in to companies for sponsored schooling. Unfortunately though I think I may have a problem or two. First and probably the biggest is my employment history. The last several years have been crazy to say the least. I had a job as a tow driver payed under the table and then after some difficulty finding a job probably made my worst career choice yet. I tried driving with yellow cab. I ended up giving up the cab job because I had lost so much money in the business it was ridiculous. Since then I have essentially been a stay at home husband shuttling my wife and kid to work and home because neither had their drivers license. Crazy schedules and their income made it a really bad idea financially for me to get a job. And for the second issue back towards the end of 2015 I was involved in a freak single vehicle accident. It doesn’t show on my MVR, but I want to cover my bases and make sure I don’t make a bad decision in the course of applying for my new career. Hopefully I haven’t bored y’all to death and I eagerly look forward to your input.

Texting either with the keyboard or voice dictation is still texting in my opinion. And to be completely honest even talking on the phone with Bluetooth is still a distraction. Just because it is legal doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Just my two pennies worth.

Ok grumpy I’m going to try to help here with explaining their math. It appears in the example they have left a lot of details out of the question. Also don’t kick yourself too hard over this.

In the example it’s asking how many 1/2” grade 70 chains are needed to secure a 34500 lbs load keeping WLL to 50% of rating. Just to keep it simple we know 1/2” grade 70 has a WLL of 11,300 lbs. 34500/11300=3.05 if you stop and round to 4 here the chains are at just over 75% of their WLL in a ideal world. So we multiply the 3.05*2 to get 6.10 and round to 7 for again in a perfect world using 44% of the WLL on the chains. All the other variables mentioned by others are definitely something to be remembered but the test wanted the simplest answer possible.

Are you saying I should only rely on 50% of the chain's actual WLL?

As in, each chain which has a WLL of 11,500 should be treated as if it will only secure 5,650 lbs?

That seems to be the way the question is worded. Even if done so in a trick question sort of way.

Oklahoma DOT requires a four point tie down on vehicles towed on a flatbed wrecker. Common practice is to use either 4 grade 70 chains with a 3700lb WLL or 4 2” wheel straps with a 3500lb WLL. Not a single vehicle I towed came close to a 14000 gvwr let alone actually weighing that much. So seven chains rated at 11,300 for a 34,500 coil doesn’t sound out of place to me. Just an observation based on my past experience as a non-CDL tow driver though.

Ok grumpy I’m going to try to help here with explaining their math. It appears in the example they have left a lot of details out of the question. Also don’t kick yourself too hard over this.

In the example it’s asking how many 1/2” grade 70 chains are needed to secure a 34500 lbs load keeping WLL to 50% of rating. Just to keep it simple we know 1/2” grade 70 has a WLL of 11,300 lbs. 34500/11300=3.05 if you stop and round to 4 here the chains are at just over 75% of their WLL in a ideal world. So we multiply the 3.05*2 to get 6.10 and round to 7 for again in a perfect world using 44% of the WLL on the chains. All the other variables mentioned by others are definitely something to be remembered but the test wanted the simplest answer possible.