Starting a new job on monday hauling logs from forests to the mills.
Not got any experience except for collecting one load of xmas trees from a forest last year.
So any tips? 
Look for posts by Dingo. He puts a nice diary with good pics on here. Posted one recently.
Edit to add: Youâre not on for â â â â â â â Stobarts are you?
44 Tonne Ton:
Look for posts by Dingo. He puts a nice diary with good pics on here. Posted one recently.Edit to add: Youâre not on for [zb] Stobarts are you?
NO 
Dingo aint been online since thursday, I was gonna PM him but thought I might get a quicker answer here
I did a bit of round wood work last year, but Iâm defiently no expert.
I enjoyed the work quite challenging at times, but the forest workers and other drivers were a good bunch always willing to help and I soon realised that loading wasnât going to be a rush job as the guys on the loader liked a chat and a laugh.
We didnât get an address, just a phone number of the bloke on the loader and he then gave us directions to where they were loading. Although it sometimes felt a bit of a leap of faith to leave the road and turn down some truck into a forest. The only sign you were on the right track might be warning sign saying that the area was being worked,
If youâve got it right eventually youâll find the loading point.
but if it was place where somebody else had been theyâd always give you directions or in one case another driver saw me come past as he was taking his break so phoned us and siad if I waited for him I could follow him, which was handy as I donât think Iâd ever found the place on my own.
The lads who loaded you were normally pretty good at getting the weight right and if you found you were over when you got to the weight bridge they wanted to know so they could adjust the ammount theyâd put on the truck.
Looks interesting work - not many car drivers gonna get in your way
Cheers for that Muckles, thats what happened when I collected the xmas trees, just got a phone number and he gave me directions.
The Sarge:
Looks interesting work - not many car drivers gonna get in your way
But plenty of Horse riders, dog walkers, hikers and mountain bikers though that for some reason donât really expect to see a naffing great artic driving through what they consider thier recreational area.
bubsy06:
Cheers for that Muckles, thats what happened when I collected the xmas trees, just got a phone number and he gave me directions.
So you probably as much of an expert at it as me then.
The Sarge:
Looks interesting work - not many car drivers gonna get in your way
It will be quiet once your in the forest but im guessing on the narrow roads leading to the forest im gonna meet all the numpties that cant reverse back to a passing place without sticking there car into the hedge 20 times first
Fair comments 
bubsy06:
The Sarge:
Looks interesting work - not many car drivers gonna get in your wayIt will be quiet once your in the forest but im guessing on the narrow roads leading to the forest im gonna meet all the numpties that cant reverse back to a passing place without sticking there car into the hedge 20 times first
Yep youâll get that, patience and a smile makes the job easier.
On some jobs we used to phone the loader when we got close to make sure the another truck wasnât just leaving the area.
But plenty of Horse riders, dog walkers, hikers and mountain bikers though that for some reason donât really expect to see a naffing great artic driving through what they consider thier recreational area.
Take it steady in the forest though as they can suddenly appear from nowhere and they really donât expect to see you. The loaders banned one guy from the area as heâd come through the forest at a rate of knots on his air horns. The bloke was a real [zb].
Same as muckles. I did a bit during the storms of 87. We were pulling fallen timber out of Tilmanstone and Box Hill . I also did a couple of loads out of Robert Maxwells estate near Oxford and met the posh daughter.
We knew where we were loading and had a map because the buyer employed the fallers and the Timberjack driver. She would go round girthing the timber and arranging her own transport. It was a bloody good job and everyone made lots of money.
One thing is, the Timberjack can get to you wherever you park, donât try to get to him 
Hi busby , gad to see you are joining the ranks of us âoff roadersâ .
You have said you are starting hauling timber , but you didnât say what you were actually doing ?.
Are you going to be a flat bed driver like me , or are you going to operate a loader crane ?
Advice where would you start ?
First thing would be simply , Ask the guys that are doing the job (better to look stupid than be stupid ).
when driving in the wood , give your motor as much headroom on the corners as you can get.
Putting the unit in the ditch can be bad , but putting the trailer off the road can result in you tipping the whole lot upside down.
Oh and you will go in the ditch at some point 
even the experienced drivers do this
It will take a while to get used to the sizes of timber (even now i sometimes get mixed up when its laying in a ditch.If you are going on a flat then you may have a skeli trailer ( no floor) most of these have fixed pins and sliding timber bolsters (the crane operator will move these with the grab).
If like me you have a flat bed trailer you will have to move the pins yourself
Getting loadedâŚif you are going on a crane then you will be loading yourself (take your time it will be a slow learning curve lol)
If you are on a flat then you may be loaded by a large independent loader (our,s will load the full load from the back )
You might be working with a smaller loader , this might mean squeezing alongside to get loaded
Most job,s are not too bad ,but sometimes you get the weird ones
Loaded in a quarry on friday , the timber was stacked and then it rained .
Swamp loggers â â ?
like all job,s take your time and watch what you are doing. i,m happy to answer any questions you have , so give me a shout
sent you a PM, I am pretty sure someone else will be loading the trailer for me.
Itâs been done before, they donât need lorries
Wheel Nut:
Itâs been done before, they donât need lorries
Thought that would be a good idea myself 
Was more worried about falling in a hole when i was wandering about in my wellies