Considering car transporting, question regarding loading, looks a bit hair raising getting the first car on the top above cab. Especially when reversing it on. I assume you can’t run right over the top ? What stops you?
Should imagine nothing if you try to go to fast.Take it easy,and once you touch the “buffer” you know to stop.
UKtramp:
Considering car transporting, question regarding loading, looks a bit hair raising getting the first car on the top above cab. Especially when reversing it on. I assume you can’t run right over the top ? What stops you?
You hit the brake pedal . 
Just that standard cut out greedy extension that you see the usually rear wheels sitting in stops them overshooting.
Lots of cars have been driven off the front, much easier to drive or reverse 4x4’s (with proper tyres not elastic bands) and vans off than cars due to the big wheels and relatively soft balloon tyres, worse problem with autos than manuals as you would expect,
Never managed to drive one off meself but have known of quite a few, also know of a fair number who have had vehicles come off the front under heavy braking or light accident severe stops, but these were usually bodgit and scarper drivers who couldn’t maintain their straps and equipment and always running round with their arse alight so chances are the vehicles wasn’t tied down securely anyway 
Its not hair raising on a modern carrier as such, the body is full width all the way to the peak edge and the body is never higher than about 6" above a cut down cab for loading purposes, but some people can’t get their heads round loading, no bad reflection on them, its not a job for everyone.
What used to go higher were older semi trailer artics with peak over the cab, when you dropped the rear of the top deck for loading that peak on older designs used to go up about another 6ft at the extreme point, that point also narrowed off to just wide enough to get a large car’s tyres inside…this so its was as narrow as possible on turns when the peak would swing right out (and still job to get round buildings, double decker buses, trees, lamp posts, signs, other lorries etc…the problem with it being narrow was that especially if you reversed on with car (and you would need to to fit 4 long cars on top) you could be getting out onto a deck only about 2" wider than the car and possibly narrower than the car body, and then having to close the door and using your body weight and with your toes only under the car gripping the deck hoping to hang on enough with just your fingertips in the car gutter to inch your way along the car to safety…not especially funny in the wet or on a windy day and terrifying on an icy deck in winter, especially when they designed out roof gutters so you have literally nothing to grip and no safety rail behind you for perceived if not actual safety.
Imagine unloading that car when you’ve been parked overnight and the lorry and cars are covered in 4" of snow 
Luckily all those old peaked semi trailers are now mostly gone, haven’t seen a full size transporter without safety railings for years, and you won’t get issued with an artic with peak still in place, that’s pretty well certain, only a handful left.
bald bloke:
UKtramp:
Considering car transporting, question regarding loading, looks a bit hair raising getting the first car on the top above cab. Especially when reversing it on. I assume you can’t run right over the top ? What stops you?You hit the brake pedal .
That was too easy!
TiredAndEmotional:
bald bloke:
UKtramp:
Considering car transporting, question regarding loading, looks a bit hair raising getting the first car on the top above cab. Especially when reversing it on. I assume you can’t run right over the top ? What stops you?You hit the brake pedal .
That was too easy!
Well he asked the question and I gave him a bit of my vast experience!!
^^^^ Air Brakes?
Not many will go off the peak it’s like a giant rubix cube got to give it 6 months at least before you start fully getting to grips with it. But does pay well and is hard work for first year.
It’s hard work, but one of the best jobs I’ve had, like somebody said earlier it’s not for everybody driving the car over the peak is scary at first but unless you’re driving way to fast you should be ok.
Give it a go you never know.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
What is the money generally like on these?
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. eye opening stuff and still considering it but still in two minds if it is my kind of thing. The snow and rain sounds pretty hair raising as I fully suspected. They just don’t look right to me in good weather. It;s one thing I haven’t done before so it could be interesting.
i watched a guy loading one of these things…absolutely amazing, with the modern ones today, and all the hydraulic gadgetry…i was fascinated…but am so afraid of them since one nearly killed me, when the top deck collapsed, with me underneath…just a 6 car transporter…with a hand winch up the front of the lower deck ( thats what saved my life, and the floor of a vw beetle )…thats another story for another day.
Class2ldn:
What is the money generally like on these?
You should be very unlucky or on a poor outfit (learn the job and bugger off once experienced) below £35k, and the top line should be in the region of £42/5k and can be over £50k if you’re a grafter fully skilled and up to speed, oh and well in 
, not including night out pay.
Don’t even ask about Ford’s transporter pay, probably the deadest mans shoes job in the whole of europe, and bloody good luck to the lads long may it last.
But you have to put the graft and the hours in and deliver metal day in day out without damage, it can take months sometimes years before feeling absolutely at home with one.
What used to go higher were older semi trailer artics with peak over the cab, when you dropped the rear of the top deck for loading that peak on older designs used to go up about another 6ft at the extreme point, that point also narrowed off to just wide enough to get a large car’s tyres inside…this so its was as narrow as possible on turns when the peak would swing right out (and still job to get round buildings, double decker buses, trees, lamp posts, signs, other lorries etc…the problem with it being narrow was that especially if you reversed on with car (and you would need to to fit 4 long cars on top) you could be getting out onto a deck only about 2" wider than the car and possibly narrower than the car body, and then having to close the door and using your body weight and with your toes only under the car gripping the deck hoping to hang on enough with just your fingertips in the car gutter to inch your way along the car to safety…not especially funny in the wet or on a windy day and terrifying on an icy deck in winter, especially when they designed out roof gutters so you have literally nothing to grip and no safety rail behind you for perceived if not actual safety.
Imagine unloading that car when you’ve been parked overnight and the lorry and cars are covered in 4" of snow
[/quote]
Measured the greedy bars on a mk2 Hoyner at 17’.
Funny, I hate ladders but the transporters didn’t bother me.
Munchkin:
Measured the greedy bars on a mk2 Hoyner at 17’.
Funny, I hate ladders but the transporters didn’t bother me.
[/quote]
Up the top of a bloody Hoyner mincing about on me bloody tiptoes praying me finger nails didn’t slip off the soddin gutter worried me 
17’ , i thought it might have been 16 buggers, even worse 
Juddian:
Luckily all those old peaked semi trailers are now mostly gone, haven’t seen a full size transporter
without safety railings for years, and you won’t get issued with an artic with peak still in place, that’s
pretty well certain, only a handful left.
I remember them well Juddian… I was driving those artics for Inchcape Automotive in Corby around 2005.
Do you remember that firm? I left back in 2007 I think… before they sold out to Camden Motors and were then
swallowed up by Paragon!
I wish I’d stayed longer as I never got to driving and learning to load the 11 & 12 car outfits… although I’m sure you
know yourself, the artics were much easier to load, but they were bloody tricky to drive, especially around Central London!
I lost a lot of weight on the job!! Lol
By the way… they were just talking about removing the peaks on the trailers when I left, but do you know if it was made
compulsory? or was it just some companies choice to remove them… I’m sure I’ve still seen a few odd ones about these days!
Yes i remember Inchape well, as Eurofleet and JSM before that and then Inchape and Camden and ADT (who are now BCA, small world eh) at some point before Inchcape then Paragon and now finally BCA again.
Some right bonkers characters on there as i recall, good lads mostly.
Don’t quote me but i believe existing peak artic transporters could and as far as i know can still be operated by existing companies, but they can’t put new ones on the road and a new operator couldn’t buy a used one and operate it…at least thats how i interpreted the situation, though i’ve been out of it nearly 8 year meself now so that could all be bollox now, like most of my posts 
If you had an artic without safety rails you must have had one of the last ‘conversion’ Hoynors they ran, i never liked them much to be honest, cos so bloody long and tandem axle not only did you have a peak but with the axles a long way back they took some getting around corners.
I drove them now and again, and had some right dodgy bloody 8/9 car carrier artics, one with a ratchet extra deck in the middle, once finished with it you released the bodged artic parking brake ratchet (i kid you not) and that deck slid back down to the floor at the speed of a guillotine, how some bugger never ended up being sliced in two by the bloody things i shall never know
Modern H&S would faint if they saw anyone operating the thing.
My main artic was a 3 deck van carrier with peak, triaxle so followed a treat and unbelievably stable, fixed tiltable peak deck and two movable decks and one fixed bottom deck, place i worked for we got some right dodgy extensions made up for all three decks, and so long as you had about 6 A segment cars to play with you could get 12 cars on that 9 car carrier, OK might have been a tad overlength by about 10 feet but no one seemed bothered 
, and as you know the job was paid by metal delivered, kerching
Wonder if the other two lads involved might ever read this, couple went a for ride sat in a car driven onto the peak, two sat in the front seats of the peak car whilst a trusted bloke drove the lorry, that was quite hair raising, eerily quiet and smooth ride you’d be approaching a wall or tree or lamp post at what seemed too fast and you’d get within about 6 ft of the thing feeling like a crash was imminent and suddenly the car seemed to shift sideways, brown trouser job…so i’m told 
Down in Sussex one day on a deserted A road over the downs one particular driver with a loaded10 car wagon and drag came upon a troop of knackered squaddies, the NCO stopped him and asked for a poke nose in his atlas to compare with the OS type map they had, they worked out between them where they needed to be and it was several miles down the road, any chance of a lift mate? next thing he’d got about a dozen squaddies on the bottom deck of the motor and there they rode till the crossing point was reached, cheerios and thumbs up all round and a dozen squaddies and NCO vanished into the mist…dunno who the driver was
Good days mate, very little fun to be had in the job any more.
Juddian:
Yes i remember Inchape well, as Eurofleet and JSM before that and then Inchape and Camden and ADT (who are now BCA, small world eh) at some point before Inchcape then Paragon and now finally BCA again.
Some right bonkers characters on there as i recall, good lads mostly.Don’t quote me but i believe existing peak artic transporters could and as far as i know can still be operated by existing companies, but they can’t put new ones on the road and a new operator couldn’t buy a used one and operate it…at least thats how i interpreted the situation, though i’ve been out of it nearly 8 year meself now so that could all be bollox now, like most of my posts
If you had an artic without safety rails you must have had one of the last ‘conversion’ Hoynors they ran, i never liked them much to be honest, cos so bloody long and tandem axle not only did you have a peak but with the axles a long way back they took some getting around corners.
I drove them now and again, and had some right dodgy bloody 8/9 car carrier artics, one with a ratchet extra deck in the middle, once finished with it you released the bodged artic parking brake ratchet (i kid you not) and that deck slid back down to the floor at the speed of a guillotine, how some bugger never ended up being sliced in two by the bloody things i shall never know
Modern H&S would faint if they saw anyone operating the thing.My main artic was a 3 deck van carrier with peak, triaxle so followed a treat and unbelievably stable, fixed tiltable peak deck and two movable decks and one fixed bottom deck, place i worked for we got some right dodgy extensions made up for all three decks, and so long as you had about 6 A segment cars to play with you could get 12 cars on that 9 car carrier, OK might have been a tad overlength by about 10 feet but no one seemed bothered
Wonder if the other two lads involved might ever read this, couple went a for ride sat in a car driven onto the peak, two sat in the front seats of the peak car whilst a trusted bloke drove the lorry, that was quite hair raising, eerily quiet and smooth ride you’d be approaching a wall or tree or lamp post at what seemed too fast and you’d get within about 6 ft of the thing feeling like a crash was imminent and suddenly the car seemed to shift sideways, brown trouser job…so i’m told
Down in Sussex one day on a deserted A road over the downs one particular driver with a loaded10 car wagon and drag came upon a troop of knackered squaddies, the NCO stopped him and asked for a poke nose in his atlas to compare with the OS type map they had, they worked out between them where they needed to be and it was several miles down the road, any chance of a lift mate? next thing he’d got about a dozen squaddies on the bottom deck of the motor and there they rode till the crossing point was reached, cheerios and thumbs up all round and a dozen squaddies and NCO vanished into the mist…dunno who the driver was
Good days mate, very little fun to be had in the job any more.
Well, call me mad… but I do miss the job. I know from previous posts you’re glad to be out of it. I’d take another job on there if I could find
one… but these days I want Mon-Fri and home EVERY night and that isn’t really the case with transporters is it. Although I did see a job
advertised with Paddock Wood Auto Repairs who run transporters and it said NO nights out which rather surprised me! Do you know anything
about them Juddian?
Yes I had the same artic as yourself mate… 9 car tri-axle van carrier and quite enjoyed my short time there… funny thing is I always wanted
to get on transporters when I first had my HGV (1989) but some ‘Old Hand’ told me " you’ve no chance son, your too young and inexperienced,
and unless your father and grandfather are already on them there’s NO way in, so forget it" why did I listen to the old ■■■■! Lol
After 20+ years of general haulage, I stumbled into the job, when ironically, I took a job as a trade plater with Inchcape to have a break
from HGV’s and as soon as they found out I had a class one they persuaded me to do holiday cover on a single car transporter, then trained me
up on the 9 car artic with those peak decks! NOT for the faint hearted eh?
I’ve been driving a van for last 6 years and having done my CPC last April, I’m now looking to get back on the heavies… I must want my
head looked at I suppose!
Funny how life works out sometimes, innit?
‘‘Paddock Wood Auto Repairs’’
Nope, never heard of 'em mate, but if you want back in give them a call, chances of anyone who drove artics with peak knocking on their door is remote and i suspect they’ll welcome you with open arms.
I presume they’ll be running the industry standard TE +11/12’s, took me months of anguish to get me head round those when i first got one, so invest in a large case of headache tablets
I’d only had mine about 3 weeks when i had to pick a load up from B’ham Apt, there i was poncing about trying to work out where to put what and yes, one of your old oppos swanned in parked beside me, he’d got a +11 too, and he just started chucking the bloody things on will nilly, including a few Zafiras and other higher motors.
I was thoroughly disillusioned and watching him chucking the buggers on like clockwork despondently came to the conclusion that i was never going to crack this bloody lorry, brand new though it was, i hadn’t wanted it it cos i had a lovely mk4 Lohr cake stand 10 car wag n drag with an FL12 380 prime mover which pulled like hell and was the ideal tool for the multi drop jobs we did which they made me give up .
Anyway matey finished and when he’d lowered the decks it looked too high, it was, roughly 17ft cos he’d got people carriers over people carriers…bloody good job i hadn’t copied him 
I wasn’t exactly happy that he had to strip the whole lot off and start again, but confess did make me feel better about my own lack of pace in this tortoise and hare situation.
Dare say PWCA run at least a certain amount out of the auctions, though auction work coming out of Paddock Wood spells bloody London to me, but you won’t know till you apply so get on the blower if you fancy it.
Yes i am glad i’m out of it, mainly cos i got too old to be truthful and had worked so hard and so long that i’d reached breaking point, i hadn’t seen it but my lovely Mrs, a woman far too good for me, had, and told me one day she didn’t want to be the richest widow in the town, within three weeks i’d put me notice in…however all those years on the cars stood me in good stead and within 18 months i’d landed on the tankers where i am now, decent number and all being well will see me time out here.
The transporter job changed big time in the last couple of years, new not exactly brilliant senior management bolloxed the whole job up, but looking back i’d almost become part of the machine which i can see clearly now and why i often warn the lads on this forum about this happening to them, i couldn’t the situation as it had become and couldn’t see my way out until my Mrs literally said Stop
Now i couldn’t imagine driving another car carrier, if i had to i would of course but would have to be in desperate straits to get back on it.
But thats me, an old bugger with only 4 years left to do, and you’re you however old you and we’re all different, each to their own and all that, so if you want back in go for it…though as you say most transporter jobs require nights out.
If it is auction work does that bother you?, some of the lads used to hate auction stuff but in some ways i quite enjoyed it.
Best of luck whatever you decide mate.
Juddian:
Now i couldn’t imagine driving another car carrier, if i had to i would of course but would have to be in desperate straits to get back on it.But thats me, an old bugger with only 4 years left to do, and you’re you however old you and we’re all different, each to their own and all that, so if you want back in go for it…though as you say most transporter jobs require nights out.
If it is auction work does that bother you?, some of the lads used to hate auction stuff but in some ways i quite enjoyed it.Best of luck whatever you decide mate.
Yes we done the auctions, Manheim etc and all the car rental firms too and a place in Cold Meece too… can’t remember what it was called!
TBH I’d take ANY HGV job now if the money and hours were right Mon-Fri NO nights out… but Sussex isn’t noted for having a wide choice of
firms to choose from! Lol
Powder Tankers sounds like a good little number mate! Glad your happy there though, and I’ve always said that being happy in your job is
much more important than ANY amount of money!