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"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
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guess I don't need that big truck after all
jim
*Would someone please translate this into .doc or even just plain old .txt ?
*Eric...You made my day!near the amazing stream,aj
*Thanks Eric,I needed that. I once say a man leaving the lumber yard with some 16' 2x4's UNDER his car tied to the bumpers.Ed. Williams
*I'll try to reformat for those without a .PDF Acrobat viewer.... -PhilThe stupidity of some people in this world never fails to amaze. This picture is real - not doctored in anyway - and was taken last week inWaldorf by a Transportation Supervisor for a company that delivers building materials for 84 Lumber. When he saw it in the parking lot of IHOP, he wentand bought a camera to take pictures.The car is still running as can be witnessed by the exhaust. A woman is either asleep or otherwise out in the front seat passenger side. The guy driving it was over jogging up and down on Rt. 925 in the background. The witnesses said their physical state was OTHER than normal and the police just shook their heads in amazement. The driver finally came back after the police were there and was getting down at the back to cut the 'twine aroundthe load. They told him to get back until it was taken off. The materials were loaded at Home Depot. Their store manager said they had the customer sign a waiver! Both back tires are trashed. The back shocks were driven up through the floorboard. In the back seat were 10 bags, 80 lbs. each of concrete. Onthe roof are many 2X4s, 4X4s and sheets of OSB. They estimated the load weight at 3000 lbs. The car is a VW Jetta with FL plates and the guy said he was headed for Annapolis. JUST UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
*Amazing!! I can't believe the string didn't break. Great picture Eric, I'm going to frame this one for my office wall.Bob
*"The materials were loaded at Home Depot. Their store manager said they had the customer sign a waiver!"HD made me sign a handwritten waiver that they didn't advise and weren't responsible for accidents resulting from transporting a full-size refridgerator on top of my 1988 Chverolet Nova (a.k.a. Toyota Corolla). Cornering and hillclimbing were definitely reduced during the 160 mile drive home, but it worked just fine. But then 450 pounds on top of a quality Yakima rack is a bit less stupid that 3,000 pounds in a Jetta. I would have taken a photo, but the crew was on site when I drove up, so it got unloaded right away. I'll try to dig up the photo with the three 55-gallon drums on top.Doing just fine, unarmed and truckless, in Alaska. -David
*That's one guy who should have coughed up that $40.00 delivery fee!
*
View Image © 1999-2000"The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it." Aristotle
*But notice how carefully they used 3 2x4s on the bottom to spread the load on the roof
*Guess the sacks of cement keep the roof from collapsing, just don't open a door? Joe H
*The problem is the guys at Home Depot don't know how to balance a load. I always do my own loading. I learned long ago that right about the time you get too tired of lifting those sheets of drywall on the roof by yourself is about the limit of what my Honda can carry.Also, I always put a few bags of cement up in the passenger footwell. It helps the car corner better when you have a trunk full of cinderblocks.
*Thanks Phil. because my computer said that one of the characters was not identifiable.....maybe because it was generated on a PC and mine is a MAC. Anyway, it's amusing to me because a buddy sent me a funny graphic from some third world country titled "Is your Ass too small" which I will attach. At the time I thought "The poor third world guy didn't understand leverage and was trying to make do with his limited resources. But hey, this is the most advanced country in the world...... sometimes.
*Well, I found a bit more of the story....Copied from ford-diesel.com:"Hey every one here is the story.I called the Waldorf Home Depot and a source I will not identify, he and others are concerned about their jobs, stated the following story. On a Thursday evening around 8 PM this guy came in, loaded the material onto a cart came forward and paid for it with a check. He knew about Home Depot's Load and Go Trucks and wanted to use one. He thought they were free with the purchase. It was explained that they were however he needed to place a Credit Card on Hold in case of damage or an accident, etc. After the store tried 4 cards and a Check Visa, none of which were approved, the customer asked if he could leave the stuff there overnight. The manager agreed. The guy asked what time the store opened and was told 6 am. He asked if the stuff could be left outside because he had a friend with a truck that drives pas the store at around 5 am. He stated he would pick up the stuff with a friend on their way to work. The Manager advised him that he could but it was his responsibility in the event of theft. The person I spoke to said at 6 am when he got their the stuff was on the car. All except for the bags of concrete. At that time he said the window was busted out of the back, the shocks were denting the floor and the tires were nearly flat. He also said the guy and girl had tied the doors shut and had to load the bags of concrete through the door. The manager of the store arrived because he had been called. for almost a half an hour they tried to talk the guy out of driving away. The manager even offered to drive their truck for the guy so that he wouldn't leave. The guy flat out refused stating he only had to go a short distance. Before they let him leave they had him sign a waiver and a release and also in it state he had refused even to have the store unload and deliver the material for free. As the guy climbed into the window the manager called the police. As the employee understood it the guy made it a few blocks to the IHOP parking lot and pulled in. At that point he believed is when the picture was taken.To further the situation the mother of the guy brought all the stuff back two days later stating that the check would not clear.Some info on how far Annapolis is from Waldorf, about a 45 minute drive without rush hour and about an hour and a half that time of the morning. The route would travel up Route 301 or Route 2 depending on which way he went both of which are hilly rural roads between the two areas of Maryland."Eric
*What would you expect from someone from FL. They aren't even smart enough to punch the right hole on a ballot.
*Well .... I guess I have a lot to learn before starting my porch! Naw, I'd never do anything so darn assinine!
*On this subject, I worked in a small-town home center just out of high school fo a couple of years. The sales staff loaded customers and this sort of thing was common, just not as extreme. I had countless people in hatchbacks put plywood on top only to have their wife or child HOLD one side of the ply, while they held the other and drove. My favorite was the man who bought an 10" x 22' fir rafter and tied it to the bottom of his mid-sized sedan. This was maybe all of four inches off the ground, as always no amount of advice or pleading would deter them if only I had carried a camera.
*In high school I had a friend who took a class on landscape design. Got a local neighbor lady to pay him to fix up her yard. His design calculations required about three yards of pea gravel. He pulled his dad's 3/4-ton pickup into the gravel yard and said "Gimme three yards."The lot man, apparently not too bright either, or not too concerned about liability, started loading it in whilst my friend went to get a Coke. When the friend returned, his dad's truck looked like low rider instead of a Camper Special. The rear tires looked flat and the rear bumper was about 8" off the ground. The lot man was shoveling gravel into the corners of the bed complaining that he wasn't sure that he could get it all in.Having "only a short distance" to drive, my friend took what was loaded and headed for the job site. He actually made it there without a breakdown, but said that he ran through the first red light he came to because the brakes didn't work too well with all that load!
*I saw a similar (though not as drastic) situation last week, yes H.., though this guy didn't need any loading help he was already stupid enough by himself. he was putting enough fiberglass sheeting on top of his car to build a medium sized greenhouse. he had at least 40 sticks of 10' 3/4" pic pipe sticking out the rear passenger side window. and he was tying it all off with the famous H.. twine. I smiled as I walked by and could not help myself. I said " Mercedes just won't build a good -Pup will they!?" and laughed (to myself) all the way to my truck. and then all the way to my job.you don't have to make jokes, when real life is this funny.(I'm sure some of my truck loads could make this list also so I'm laughing with, and at). David Jalovec D.. & S. Construction Watauga, x.
*My truck is a '78, 3/4 ton jimmy. Someone before me added the full set of springs from a 1/2 ton truck to what was already there. This sucker hauls like no other truck I've ever seen.Went to the gravel yard many times last summer. They have scales there that you can use, even though the rate is ten bucks for a pickup truck load no matter how much or how little you get. Went on the scales on my way in one time. Weighed empty just a bit over 1500 pounds. Went back over the scales on the way out on that trip. Barely over 9700 pounds. I kid you not !!! I may even still have the scale ticket to prove it.The truck was just a bit sluggish, (as in, it took an extra 30 seconds or so to get up to 55 MPH), and I had to add about 15 feet to the stopping distance, but the tires looked fine, and the truck seemed almost to enjoy the challenge.
*9700 lbs?Ah, com on. I believe you Luka, but I think I'd add 100 feet in stopping distance and go nowhere near 55 MPH. I'd be on the side roads crawling at a comfortable 35 and looking for the cops! I guess I don't take chances..LOL.Anybody have any more cool pics? Gotta love that poor donkey or whatever they call 'em over there.
*It's true. I guess I was a fool with that load. The gravel pit is less than 3 miles away and it's all secondary highway to the gravel road that runs past my property. I actualy did slow down to 45 miles an hour after initialy getting to 55, and I actualy have no idea what amount of distance I added for stopping, but I allowed plenty + ...I weighed two other loads at less than 8500 pounds before I started to back off with the size of the load. I finaly got smart and tied a couple pieces of rope to the sides of the truck. At just the right height from the ground. When either one of those pieces of rope almost touches the ground, I figure there is enough of a load in the truck. It still hauls a good two tons that way. How much does 3 yards weigh ?
*Luka- Ever see a tire explode under extreme pressure? Had a blowout on the highway with no load in the car? Seen brakes glow red? I hopeyou are kidding.
*Ever see a man with 50 bucks to his name, and no hope of any more money for most of a month, try to quickly make a parking pad so that the local roads committee board will not have his truck towed and impounded for parking too close to the road ?No, I haven't seen a tire explode under those circumstances. I did what I had to do. I will have to do it again soon and will not hesitate. When I kid I give some sort of hint that is what I am doing.
*Luka...Sorry buddy. Even a compact made outa Japaneese-beer-can pickup weighs at least 2500 pounds empty!
*I'll have to find the trip ticket. I am 99.9999% positive that it said just over 1500 pounds. Hmmmm maybe I should get them pissed at me and go back in there and run over the scales for no good reason. LOL
*Far funnier (or sadder) than all of this are the bimbos loading little 40 pound Jr. into the Suburban at the local day care. Maybe if they laid off the hairspray (and the associated fumes) they'd have the brains to buy the right size vehicle too.
*Luka,I'm w/ Mark T. on this. You've been led astray. My 3/4 ton Dodge Ram Quad Cab gets weighed at the dump every trip and it's 5650 empty, give or take. No way a Jimmy is 1500. The GMC web site shows them at 4,000 to 4,800 lbs.I think a yard of stone is about 1/2 ton. Still a helluva load...
*Luka, a yard of gravel is roughly 1.5 tons. Ditto the other guys on your empty weight. My Toyota pickup weighs 3200 lbs., and my old Ford 1 ton (with 10' dump body) weighs 7800 lbs. empty. We haul 3 to 3.5 ton often, but more than that is too much.
*Rein:I don't understand your comments. These days it seems, regardless of the family or the right sized vehicle, people love that price tag. Call it the prestige effect. The same holds true with the small family that builds a 6,000 sf home. They may only use 1/2 of it, but it's right up there with what the Jones's built down the road.
*Ken,The difference is that you HAVE TO put $50 in the tank of your work truck. These fools seam to like to. Then they complain!
*
You have gotta see this:
Carzy people out there.
Eric