cement truck or semi?

done both will never drive mixer again! period no question my opinion only

 

There is much more to being a good mixer driver than driving, and it is much easier to learn to back up a T/T than it is to be a good mixer hand.

 

YA! cause OTR doesn't have ANY of that bad stuff!!

 

Concrete trucks are not bad. You can be home everynite with your family or if your single...take advantage of the OTR .
If you do go with concrete trucks...here are some pointers to keep in mind.
1. Make sure you wash the fins real good in the drum when you empty out.
2. Dont put your cell phone in your top pocket while washing the inside of the drum.
3. Make sure you lock the chutes when backing up unless someone on the job site has control of the chutes.
4. If someone is controlling the chutes, ONLY take hand directions from that person. **** everyone else.
Main thing is...keep the drum and your chutes clean. Dont get in a rush. Take your time and do it right.

 

good advice glimmer.ive been in a mixer for 34 years retired 4 yrs. ago lost my pension but thats another story .now im back in a mixer but also haul bulk cement and drive end dump.love it am home every nite steady pay check plus ins.pay is not bad considering the condition of our country(another story) make sure the drum is in full charge when going up hill i drive in the high sierrias so always in full charge good luck

 

drive a mixer, it will pay better than most otr jobs. in the winter you will have unemployment, and if you put a plow on your pickup, you can make side money with snowfall....

 

I make more money running regional than I ever did running ready-mix.

It sucks to crawl inside a drum to chip out concrete.

It sucks to use acid to wash your truck to get the concrete off.

Chutes take some technigue to load, unload and set up. Not really hard or heavy, just cumbersome.

You WILL drive into and on some of the damndest terrain you can think and when you think you can't get into it, the contractor will put you in it anyway.

Hours are either going to be long and hard or you will get rained out and nothing.

Winter concrete sucks dealing with water and below freezing temps. But it can be done.


And for crying out load. You haul ready mix CONCRETE.....not cement.

Cement is an ingredient of concrete generally hauled in a pneumatic trailer to the plant.


I'd go regional long before I go back to concrete. Oh wait,...I did go regional.

 

The guy can go with the mixer job and if he doesn't like it the regional otr jobs aren't going anywhere.

 

a LOT is to be said about being home every night. like the previous poster said, regional jobs are not going anywhere, or hard to get. but getting in on a mixer job, could be a career. teamster mixer drivers make a decent buck, and usually have a decent retirement plan as well.

 

And for crying out load. You haul ready mix CONCRETE.....not cement.

Cement is an ingredient of concrete generally hauled in a pneumatic trailer to the plant.


lol, that drives me crazy too
mixer taught me alot about driving truck

in-town driving with a truck is alot more hectic(depending on where) than OTR, it's very good exp for new drivers
i drove for a small company for 4 years

if you go mixer, yea winter is gonna be sketchy, summer gonna be 10-12 hr days 5-6 days a week...for me anyways

but in the 10 months i would be hammerin out the mud, i made 55-60k

otr is good because, i didnt own or rent a home/apt, didnt own a car, and that right there is usually 2/3 of ur income

so the question u gota ask yourself is this

whats my financial obligations(home, family,car, etc)
and do u want to "live" on the road, or be home everyday if u have little ones

if u do go mixer, my advice is this. learn ur slumps by the mix, one inch minus, 50/50, or pea-gravel mix
understand that the higher the sack per yard the more water is needed, faster its gonna set to ur fins, harder to washout
sometimes at the end of a warm day doin dry slumps(for stormdrain underground or footings for home/business foundations) ask ur batch guy to put like 3-4 yards of rock in ur barrel after you washout real good

spit out a half yard, full charge it, rinse/repeat till all the rock is out, then washout again. helps with the buildup