Working the National 1300A

Just found this, pretty cool:https://trailtech.com/trailers/bin-mover

Yes they are common here. Most of the bin and hopper bottom suppliers have them. I think they rent them out too.

No word back from the rancher yet, I don't mind a bit, but a short text saying "we got it handled" or similar would have been somewhat appreciated, after I called the Canadian bin factory 3 times and texted back and forth with him a half dozen times. I think I got my feelings hurt, not really! If I have time I may fly over there and eyeball from the air and see if they are still there, or moved. Balls in his court.

Had a pop up job this morning, all I was told was it was some HVAC equipment, turned out to be a 11,000 lb. chiller. No pick points other than the holes in the base, meant for slipping a pipe clear thru it, it appears, shackles wouldn't work and I don't normally pack around 9' sections of 1 1/2" pipe just in case I get a call like today. Got it done, after making real sure the HVAC guys were all onboard with how we rigged it, in 4 places not 6. It turned out to be much heavier on one end, but it all went well. I did my usual thing with loads a bit out of the ordinary and heavy (heavy for me at least) I picked it 2" , did a final walk around, asked them one more time if they were good with everything, then picked it for real.

Likely the heavy end is the reason for the "Do Not Fork" I can easily see it slipping off forks located at the center. Good on you for having suitable slings and chains.

Especially as I go across the Port scales at 200 pounds or so under the 40 K limit on tandems, and that's only if I remove all the dunnage from the rear storage racks. That's also why I took the jib off. It's just a habit from flying and living on a mountainside, not carrying dead weight, so I keep a lot of my rigging in my crane shed and just haul it when I think I may need it, and did get lucky on this job.

Turns out my customer was real busy "moving spuds", I am in Idaho after all. We have until June to move the tanks, and I am the mover of choice. I will cheat and fly over there beforehand and eyeball things on the sly, that way when I show up for real I know exactly how and where to get it done. Plus a good excuse to fly.
Another job yesterday, the white semi trailer lost it's axles (or something) and I was being asked to pick it the rear end up, and I flew over first, about 25 miles and over some ranges, landed in a nearby field, another too long to get there by driving but a short flight thing, and it was a good thing I did. They couldn't have positioned it any worse, directly under the power lines, and can't move it now, so I had to pass on this job. The trailer was partially loaded, weight unknown, so a steep boom angle, into the wires, would be a given. A good example on how the plane really does come in handy for me, it's not just about screwing off and having fun. Not at all, though I did.

I worked for a fellow who loved to fly, so we flew to work, the job was 180 miles away. It was actually cost effective to fly the four of us back and forth everyday, than pay for food and motel rooms. I thought it was great, as I learned to fly the twin, from the right side. Finished up on the left side to get my multi engine rating!

Nice to have a short field taildragger over there. My twin is never so handy as that. I need 1800' of unobstructed grass at cool sea level. Hot and high it just gets worse, except for the fact that it is a Riley Rocket with turbonormalizing. Taking advantage of that is a fistful of monkeying around on the rollout, figuring out two mixtures, then dialing in manual wastegates whilst keeping it out of the weeds. Much easier to do as a two pilot operation

This happened less then a 1/4 mile from my place, a confused log hauler took the wrong road up the mountain, and lost traction, then tried to turn around and got stuck. I got to watch, the load was about ready to tip over, it's steeper than it looks. The 75K load of logs, plus the truck's wheels in ruts, and the tow truck on a dirt road, sloped, made me think that there was no way he'd pull him out. But after parking the other log truck alongside the wrecker, he rigged his snatch block to the stuckie's front end, and then rigged the load hook to the other log truck. So two big rigs to pull against, and darn if they didn't move a bit while winching the other guy out, a nifty bit of rigging . It still took another hour or so to get him up the rest of the way, until they got on the level. I would have liked to have seen the haulers face when he drove a mile and got to the paved road he should have been on the entire time.

I had another bout of one my outriggers not coming up, what started as an intermittent problem. I did my last 3 or 4 jobs without being able to full extend (down, out worked), it was stuck halfway down. Just high enough (on the rear right) to drive around town, but I had to really pay attention backing into job sites and on any transition slopes. Never did drag it, and kept my customers happy. I was able to do it by torquing the right front of the rig up a ways, than stuffing my cribbing tight as possible under the stuck pad, to preload it in effect, so when I continued the setup everything was as normal.

Turns out, this time the problem wasn't a valve cartridge (cartridge valve?) with chewed up O rings (I had a spare onboard, but the old one I pulled was pristine) but one of the valves coil electrical connection, one of the two pins was broken and making intermittent contact. It took a CAT mechanic (pricey, but they are less than 2 miles from my yard, and they are quick so no missed work) to trouble shoot this, but once again I added to my knowledge base if similar ever happens again I'll know what to do. I had a nightmare the night before I took it to CAT: I was standing behind it with 2 mechanics explaining the problem, when I noticed BOTH rear legs, instead of ending in the ball that engages the socket on the pads, were ground down flat, I guess the dream me had been dragging them around town. I was on the phone waiting for the parts guy at National to answer when I woke up.

Just put one of these on my dead end. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ropinator-...ee-work-with-cranes-You-need-it-/114308801936 I like it, it's shape aligns it right up into my ATB weight, while protecting the cut end, simple and effective.

This tandem axle dual wheeled trailer got stuck, pulled by a 1 ton 4x4 dualie. You can see my tracks in the upper left corner, where I came in a ways, stopped and said the heck with this, and still almost couldn't make it out. My customer estimates the loaded container will weight "about" 18K. Loaded with household goods mostly, and "some shop stuff". We shall see, after it hardens up a bit.

Not much going on here....because no one thought to bring a ladder to access the top of the water to rig the tank! Not my problem, or the trucker's, though we jokingly blamed each other, while the contractor hustled up a ladder. I was of course asked to give him a ride up, but I pointed out he'd also have to ride the tank while the pick was made so that dissuaded him pretty quick. Asked if I thought I could land my plane in the huge smooth field, by it's owner, I did so a few hour later, while also overflying several upcoming jobs. At one point sending a pic to a builder who said he was ready,( trying to get my schedule locked in, gambling they'd get there, screwing up my schedule when they wouldn't) but was yet to have trusses delivered, while unknown to him another project of his had trusses on the ground already, "why don't we do that first?" A small example on how the plane really does come in handy for me in my little hoisting biz.

I got my 17,000 lb. container lift done yesterday. This was an estimated weight (and you know what that means) the husband's stuff was all in the front, the wife's in back, I was told. I showed 22,500 on the LMI, ( with the back being heaviest...) which I was just able to do on a 3 part line. Didn't use a spreader bar this time, but a 1 1/2" shackle I use mostly as a rigging gatherer, so I don't crowd my load hook when using 4 slings. I shackled 2 20' slings together, so 40' of rigging per corner, which gave a good angle to my hook. IF I did more than the occasional container, I'd get some 40' 5/8" wire rope slings made up. For the last 15 years, I have settled on 12' and 20' lengths as my mainstay sling length. They seem to handle all my HVAC needs, and whatever misc. work comes up, plus my local rigging supplier always seems to have them in stock.

That is a good looking angle there. Nice of them to make work for you when a purpose built container rig would just slide it off.

Natman said:

I'd get some 40' 5/8" wire rope slings made up

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You would like those 40'ers until it came to roll them up and get them in a box.

Yeah, probably why I won't do it! Though I wouldn't carry them on a daily basis. On this job I was getting close to the upper working load limit of my 2" slings, figuring 22,500 divided by 4, plus a bit of derating for the angle, (not to mention the out of balance loading of the container) which is why I went so long, to get a better rigging angle, to keep the loading down as much as possible on my 2" slings, as I guessed the load may be heavier than they figured. But they are also almost brand new so I wasn't too concerned. I used my 4 20' 3" slings on the bottom, the 2" on the top, (no reason for that) and would have preferred using 3" all around, again with the weight being an unknown, but I didn't have 8 of them.

I take my older rigging home, using it on my 40 acres, grossly abusing it doing stupid ranch stuff chores. Out in the sun, sharp angles, all the things we don't do for real. It is interesting and reassuring how tough the nylon slings are even after years of abuse, compared to how I baby my working rigging.

No purpose built container handlers in the area, the customer checked. Turns out the customer bought 80 acres, and will immediately start work on a house, plus he builds pole barns for a living, and I will now be his goto guy for all his hoisting needs. One problem though, he really wants a ride in the plane, I might be able to arrange that, especially if he keeps paying in cash.

I was serious it is nice of him to provide work, that was not intended as snarky at all
I have a bag with a couple 2" 20's and shackles and chains in my truck for that kind of abuse. So many times getting back a ways will help you get somebody out, when you don't have a winch. Get them dirty lay on lawn in rain to clean, here in PNW.

skyking1 said:

I was serious it is nice of him to provide work, that was not intended as snarky at all
I have a bag with a couple 2" 20's and shackles and chains in my truck for that kind of abuse. So many times getting back a ways will help you get somebody out, when you don't have a winch. Get them dirty lay on lawn in rain to clean, here in PNW.

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No snark detected!
As a joke, I sometimes pull out my tow sling (shredded and abraded, beat to death) and say 'this is all I got." Then I open my box with the real rigging in it....., I have been told that some operators around here with smaller boom trucks show up with NO rigging, and use whatever is handy/provided by their customer. Same with a tag line, some I surprised I have not only one, but two!. I have been told many times I carry more than anyone else, and maintain it better. It's dirt cheap, for what I make off it and what it costs to replace, so I don't scrimp. I have had to tell more than one person, that NO, they are not using any of my rigging for pulling their stuck whatever out of the mud. I constantly have to tell guys NOT to drag my slings thru the dirt, but carry it, some think I'm kidding but they quickly see I'm not. It's great having a job where you can be an obnoxious jerk.... doing things only the way YOU want to, my way or the highway, and then be praised for it as being really safety conscious!

Sounds like the kind of business I'd like to get into.

We had a new local fuel supplier just finish up their newest outlet, and as the chain is my usual supplier anyway (cheapest diesel, bonus points, good coffee) AND it's only 1.5 mile from my yard I have been a steady customer since day one. Unlike their other outlets in my area, this one has a big rig area, with the dual pumps. So now it will be easy for me to fill both saddle tanks every fillup, and like I do with my Prius (!), keep track of my mileage. Too big a hassle to jockey around and fill both at their other stations.
I had a 2.5 hour drive one way, to Driggs ID the other day, than about an hours work setting 5 vent fans on a country club's club house roof. Just going by the odometer, and including the short bit of work, driving 62-3 MPH and cruise control, with almost no city driving, I got 6.7 MPG. Nothing like the 64 MPG I got the last tankful in the Prius, but better than expected. I "flight plan" for 5, anything over that is pretty good. I will continue to tell my customers it gets around 5 MPG, as it probably gets less when town driving.