I have been looking around at some post of people using there trucks to haul stuff ei: hotshot freight ect ect,and I have heard some talk of this around the freight yards when I used to drive truck.

I am trying to do a search to get some info leaning toward transporting toy haulers and horse trailers campers,trype of freight but all I come up with is stuff for big trucks can anyone give me a search word or a company list?

Would having a SRW truck disqualify me?

I live in PA so it would be stuff around the Northeast.

Pav

 

Right now the rv industry is dead, so most companies will likely not lease anyone until spring. I have been doing it for 4 years and never have seen it get this dead at this time of the year. I have only hauled 2 loads in the last 2 weeks!

 

Sorry to here about that.

I guess the fuel/gas prices have something to do with it?

Pav

 

I don't think so,I think it's mostly that everyone who wants to drive is doing it.
I've notice when the snow is knee deep it gets alot easyer to pick and choose loads

(at least thats how it looks to me,over here in the west)

 

Fleetwood permanently closed plants in TX , CA , and MD and moved some operations to Mexico . Coleman had a tent trailer plant in Somerset , PA but I can't find information on that plant anymore either .

 

The guy arcoss from me works at fleetwood here,still running but they do the kind you drive.

Any links or search idea's for jobs hauling with my truck?

Pav

 

Well I haul exclusively for Jayco, so whenever they have a product shortage or a slowdown so do we (plus right now we just plain have to many drivers). I just grabbed a load from our other yard that hauls for just about every other company just to get some work. The problem is that load pays less than what the Jayco stuff does. As far as Fleetwood goes, its been a long time coming I have been hearing about financial problems, product quality issues, and labor issues for a while. Maybe they can combine shipping with Dodge and get a break.

It should get a little bit better as people get tired of waiting for loads and quit and then in another month or two all the snowbirds leave for the winter. We will have about half the drivers we have now by November.

 

I have been hauling RV's for about 4 years too. The last 15 months have been slower than usual.

Our company has the big yard down the road from you in Goshen. I assume you haul for C.

Our company also kept hiring till they got too many drivers again this year. It won't be long and they will filter away.

 

Where in IL are you? I am just south of 80 of 55. Who do you haul for?

 

I haul for Quality Driveaway.

I live in a small town north of Springfield.

I saw your post about auto hauling. I have thought about that too. Just not sure where to start.

 

Not that far from me, I am exit 236 off 55. I have thought about freight and cars a bunch but the costs of going out on your own are so high. I have been seeing a bunch of dually p/u's hauling containers around here too, guessing they must be empty. They always seem to be going the opposite direction, so I never get a name of the side.

 

My exit is 109.

I had my own authority last year and could not get in with the RV factories. It was early in the year and the freight was struggling with the after effects of Katrina. Finally gave it up in April. All of the illegals were still hauling and getting away with it.

I have seen many of the car haulers and it always looks to me that they are close to the weight of 26000. That seems to be alot for these trucks. Now I saw the thread on the length issue and I just don't know.

I would like to talk to some of the haulers and get more info. cccoop said just to go to the auction places. I may have a contact that can look into this for me.

 

Roadmedic wrote:
> I would like to talk to some of the haulers and get more info.

A little off topic here but wouldn't it be nice if small truck haulers like
us would get more active back and forth with each other on the CB.
I've been towing campers out of Goshen for 5 months and have had
one bs session with another hauler and he was a coworker,, I didn't know,, that followed me out of the yard and we bs'ed to Indianapolis where we split.

I know we have the bs in us,,, I usually shut down in Flying J RV lanes for the night and it's almost like a union meeting with one ton haulers gathering around shooting the breeze, swapping info, ideas, comparing vehicles and equipment. I've learned alot in them FJ parking lots. Even meeting other
drivers delivering at RV dealerships when I'm there delivering.
You just can't seem to help but start up a bull session.
I have even swapped quite a few phone numbers and stay in touch regularly
with some that will probably end up being life long friends.

 

I gave up on the CB a while back, I never even installed it in my last truck. Its just become a place for some idiots to fight and call each other names and screw off. Its a shame it used to be a way to pass the time. I now pass the time with my in dash DVD player, sirius radio, and my laptop w/ a mobile internet card. It is true how easily we can get ourselves into sometimes way too long BS sessions in the yard, rest area, or truck stop.

 

Yep you're so right on the crap the cb puts out. But I think it has
always been that way. I burn my on CDs at home and spend my listening time
on that,,,don't have sirius. I listen to talk radio political stuff alot.

The only times I ever hang out and shoot the breeze with other drivers
is when I'm shut down for the night or having to hang around a dealer
to get checked in with nothing else to do.
When I stop at a rest area, I'm in and out in just a few minutes.

I usualy don't turn the cb on unless I'm nearing a large city where backups
are more common than not. It has saved my butt avoiding jams
so many times I can't count. Going through Chicago I'll have it on and
one of the local radio stations that broadcast traffic reports every eight minutes. Listen to both, back and forth at the same time.
I take them there backups real dang serious. I hatem.
Turn the cb on fifty miles out and, as you know, you'll get all the info
you need on where the backups are and rerouting info from the locals.
Start grabbing the Atlas and recharting. I just bough a laptop and going
to load the Microsoft GPS software so I'll have to learn how to configure that
real fast when rerouting is necessary.

But if the rv haulers/towers, hotshotters, etc could magicly come up with an alternate channel to switch to for our own bs, that would be nice, but what are the chances of that happening. Somebody needs to think of a clever way to get that going.