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SPUCK · 01-06-2016, 03:09 AM

I can tell you from personal experience dealing with a cement truck full of hardened cement is NOT fun.

As a high school auto shop guy I got a summer job with the local cement company. I typically changed oil, replaced transmissions and did electrical troubleshooting. Once a week I'd have to tighten every single drive-line U-bolt nut in the 16 truck fleet.

I'd even find myself laying on the narrow top of the 10 story batch-plant conveyor welding holes closed in the pan that would otherwise cause gravel to rain 10 stories down on trucks and people with the inevitable complaining.

I thought it was all pretty entertaining until one day there was a problem. Seems a guy was delivering a full load of concrete to a site that included a driveway that went down a hill and back up steeply. At the bottom of the hill the enormous weight of the concrete caused the trucks frame to flex. It flexed so far that the truck's clutch disengaged causing it to dribble to a stop and sit bridging the little valley. A monster tow truck was summoned and eventually showed up and dragged the truck back half it's length so it could then motivate again. Unfortunately in all the excitement the truck's engine had been off for a while so the drum hadn't been turning... Once pulled back everything was set the engine was restarted and the drum started rotating again. Enough concrete had hardened that when the solid mass got up on one side the entire truck flipped over rolling to the bottom of the little valley.

The driver had been carrying a 100 lb wooden case of anchor bolts to the site on the floor where the passenger seat would normally be. That box of bolts roamed in a big circle around the cab cleaning off the steering wheel, steering column, and all the windows. The driver said he spent the entire time rolling down the canyon trying to stay away from that crate. LOL

Anyway I digress, this truck was again fished out of the canyon by the conveniently present tow truck and hauled back to our yard. My boss after relating most of this to me said, "I've got a special job for you".

"What's that Mr. Raines?"

Cripes. I had to remove the small access port seen as the black oval on the drum in the above picture. Then crawl in off a ladder as it happed to be oriented up at about 2 o'clock. I was handed a 20 pound jackhammer earplugs, safety glasses, and a mask and instructed to break it all up, and once I had a loose pile, to use this shovel to shovel it all out the hole above my head.

Did I mention it was summer? Or that the drum contained 8-1/2 yards of 5-sack concrete? Or that the inside of a cement truck drum has five huge curved steel blades that are to help hoist the concrete up the walls? And that the space at the center of the blades is only about four feet?

Took me four days - all day.

Just about one month later they filled another truck up, always overloading them, and as it drove away from the batch-plant the output shaft of the enormous hydraulic drum-drive gearbox snapped clean off. About a two day repair if all parts were in hand. In full panic-mode they parked an identical truck next to the distressed one and tried to run the distressed drum chain from the good truck. The forces involved were just too great causing to two trucks to try to suck up to each other.

I had to do it all over again the next day. This time the access was pointed down at about4 o'clock so that while it was a lot harder to work my way in it was way easier to shovel it out.

What a summer.

01-06-2016, 03:09 AM	#6
SPUCK Professor Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 1,911	I can tell you from personal experience dealing with a cement truck full of hardened cement is NOT fun. As a high school auto shop guy I got a summer job with the local cement company. I typically changed oil, replaced transmissions and did electrical troubleshooting. Once a week I'd have to tighten every single drive-line U-bolt nut in the 16 truck fleet. I'd even find myself laying on the narrow top of the 10 story batch-plant conveyor welding holes closed in the pan that would otherwise cause gravel to rain 10 stories down on trucks and people with the inevitable complaining. I thought it was all pretty entertaining until one day there was a problem. Seems a guy was delivering a full load of concrete to a site that included a driveway that went down a hill and back up steeply. At the bottom of the hill the enormous weight of the concrete caused the trucks frame to flex. It flexed so far that the truck's clutch disengaged causing it to dribble to a stop and sit bridging the little valley. A monster tow truck was summoned and eventually showed up and dragged the truck back half it's length so it could then motivate again. Unfortunately in all the excitement the truck's engine had been off for a while so the drum hadn't been turning... Once pulled back everything was set the engine was restarted and the drum started rotating again. Enough concrete had hardened that when the solid mass got up on one side the entire truck flipped over rolling to the bottom of the little valley. The driver had been carrying a 100 lb wooden case of anchor bolts to the site on the floor where the passenger seat would normally be. That box of bolts roamed in a big circle around the cab cleaning off the steering wheel, steering column, and all the windows. The driver said he spent the entire time rolling down the canyon trying to stay away from that crate. LOL Anyway I digress, this truck was again fished out of the canyon by the conveniently present tow truck and hauled back to our yard. My boss after relating most of this to me said, "I've got a special job for you". "What's that Mr. Raines?" Cripes. I had to remove the small access port seen as the black oval on the drum in the above picture. Then crawl in off a ladder as it happed to be oriented up at about 2 o'clock. I was handed a 20 pound jackhammer earplugs, safety glasses, and a mask and instructed to break it all up, and once I had a loose pile, to use this shovel to shovel it all out the hole above my head. Did I mention it was summer? Or that the drum contained 8-1/2 yards of 5-sack concrete? Or that the inside of a cement truck drum has five huge curved steel blades that are to help hoist the concrete up the walls? And that the space at the center of the blades is only about four feet? Took me four days - all day. Just about one month later they filled another truck up, always overloading them, and as it drove away from the batch-plant the output shaft of the enormous hydraulic drum-drive gearbox snapped clean off. About a two day repair if all parts were in hand. In full panic-mode they parked an identical truck next to the distressed one and tried to run the distressed drum chain from the good truck. The forces involved were just too great causing to two trucks to try to suck up to each other. I had to do it all over again the next day. This time the access was pointed down at about4 o'clock so that while it was a lot harder to work my way in it was way easier to shovel it out. What a summer.