My Work Truck
I shouldn't say this is "my" work truck. This is the company truck. Another guy has been driving this more than I have in the past several months. However, I make/have made money with it so I can write about it.
It is a 2005 Ford F-350 with a diesel engine. Its only 2 wheel drive, unfortunately.
It really needs to be 4 wheel drive, even though its only purpose in life is to pull a trailer. When you get on slippery roads in the winter time, 4 wheel drive can make the difference between keeping the truck on the road and sliding in to the ditch. With 10,000lbs of steel pushing you down the road from behind the front wheels don't like to steer to well sometimes.
The car on the back is a GS450 hybrid, one of the first ones in the country. This one was the boss's car, and it was my first haul working here. What a welcome to the position - I got to haul my BOSS'S car... If I screwed anything up I would have been toast. I hit construction traffic, narrow lanes, and thunderstorms right at dusk on the way back with the car. The car was picked up in Chicago, IL, and the crap I hit was on I-70 around I-75 (one of the larges intersections of major highways in the country). I guess you could say I passed my initiation.
This was a memorable trip. The car I hauled here is an SC430. It just so happened to be the only one like it in the country at the time that was that color and with the features the customer wanted. We had it here in Columbus. Originally, the guy that bought the car went through his regular dealership (I forget where it was) to get this car. The dealership called us up wanting to trade us something for it. However, since this was the only car in the country like it, the managers were not in any way going to get rid of it for someone else to get the sale on it. So, the customer had to come to us if he still wanted the car. So he did. The only issue is, he lives in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He wasn't in any way going to come to Columbus, Ohio to get his car. So we delivered it to him. Or, more specifically, I delivered it to him.
The guy that bought the car was trading in a Cadillac. So I had to bring that car back with me. That was pretty cool.
This was the first "delivery" I had ever done. I had to have him sign all the documents and everything. That took a while. There were LOTS of papers, so I tried to remember everything and not screw things up. The hard part was remembering everything. I forgot to have him give me one document, and it had something to do with registering the car, that's all I remember.
This is a trip I took to Mentor, Ohio. It is North East of Cleveland. Yep, NORTH EAST of Cleveland. What is Cleveland known for in the winter? LAKE EFFECT SNOW! Mentor is even further north and east. That sounds like a lot of fun to drive through, and hauling valuable cargo at that.
This is as far in to the snow as I dared to snap a picture. After this, the weather went to shit. I'm not kidding. I wouldn't have been very worried if I was driving my truck, but I was driving the work truck (2 wheel drive, remember?) and I had expensive, heavy merchandise on the back. Can you say "WHITE KNUCKLES"?
Have you ever been to a truck stop that was covered in ice? This was a trip. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. The other drivers there were having a heck of a time trying to get out of the fuel island as there was a little bit of an incline. It usually took a second truck behind them to get out. I got stuck a few times trying to maneuver myself. I got out of the fuel island fine, I spun the wheels a bit but I made it up. I got stuck about 200 feet in front of the fuel island in this picture:
I couldn't turn left to get out because of the other trucks having trouble. So I had to drive straight through and around the parking lot. On ice that's easier said than done.
It is a 2005 Ford F-350 with a diesel engine. Its only 2 wheel drive, unfortunately.
It really needs to be 4 wheel drive, even though its only purpose in life is to pull a trailer. When you get on slippery roads in the winter time, 4 wheel drive can make the difference between keeping the truck on the road and sliding in to the ditch. With 10,000lbs of steel pushing you down the road from behind the front wheels don't like to steer to well sometimes.
The car on the back is a GS450 hybrid, one of the first ones in the country. This one was the boss's car, and it was my first haul working here. What a welcome to the position - I got to haul my BOSS'S car... If I screwed anything up I would have been toast. I hit construction traffic, narrow lanes, and thunderstorms right at dusk on the way back with the car. The car was picked up in Chicago, IL, and the crap I hit was on I-70 around I-75 (one of the larges intersections of major highways in the country). I guess you could say I passed my initiation.
This was a memorable trip. The car I hauled here is an SC430. It just so happened to be the only one like it in the country at the time that was that color and with the features the customer wanted. We had it here in Columbus. Originally, the guy that bought the car went through his regular dealership (I forget where it was) to get this car. The dealership called us up wanting to trade us something for it. However, since this was the only car in the country like it, the managers were not in any way going to get rid of it for someone else to get the sale on it. So, the customer had to come to us if he still wanted the car. So he did. The only issue is, he lives in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He wasn't in any way going to come to Columbus, Ohio to get his car. So we delivered it to him. Or, more specifically, I delivered it to him.
The guy that bought the car was trading in a Cadillac. So I had to bring that car back with me. That was pretty cool.
This was the first "delivery" I had ever done. I had to have him sign all the documents and everything. That took a while. There were LOTS of papers, so I tried to remember everything and not screw things up. The hard part was remembering everything. I forgot to have him give me one document, and it had something to do with registering the car, that's all I remember.
This is a trip I took to Mentor, Ohio. It is North East of Cleveland. Yep, NORTH EAST of Cleveland. What is Cleveland known for in the winter? LAKE EFFECT SNOW! Mentor is even further north and east. That sounds like a lot of fun to drive through, and hauling valuable cargo at that.
This is as far in to the snow as I dared to snap a picture. After this, the weather went to shit. I'm not kidding. I wouldn't have been very worried if I was driving my truck, but I was driving the work truck (2 wheel drive, remember?) and I had expensive, heavy merchandise on the back. Can you say "WHITE KNUCKLES"?
Have you ever been to a truck stop that was covered in ice? This was a trip. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. The other drivers there were having a heck of a time trying to get out of the fuel island as there was a little bit of an incline. It usually took a second truck behind them to get out. I got stuck a few times trying to maneuver myself. I got out of the fuel island fine, I spun the wheels a bit but I made it up. I got stuck about 200 feet in front of the fuel island in this picture:
I couldn't turn left to get out because of the other trucks having trouble. So I had to drive straight through and around the parking lot. On ice that's easier said than done.
Labels: Driving
posted by Steve at
6:36 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, we do the same thing with a 2006 Ford F.350 4WD Diesel Dually Lariat but we added Rear airbags, a flat-bed, D.O.T. Certified sleeper and a 80 gallon Aux fuel cell. Good luck out there.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home