"How much ya got left...Driver"

[Mechanic_slash_Driver]

Hi ya all...
I was wondering how must of you can tell how much ya have left in your drum or barrell?
Ive always could sometimes look in mouth of drum and tell or roll it back and judge or guage off the head of the drum. My old truck would "grind" or "crunch" at about 2 yards left. The one I drive now does it about 1/2 yard left. Ive heard of some drivers rolling it back and "sounding" or "knocking the drum with a rubber mallet or their hand. I talked with a driver who uses his drum counter to determine whats left ,so many revs in discharge per yard ?
Ive always hated that question! I would always ask back "How much did Ya take Off"
Anyhow was just curious how some of ya go about it?
Thank You and Take Care................

[Matt]

I roll the concrete to the back of the drum, and leave the drum at full charge idle. I determine the amount I have left on by the height of the concrete at the back of the drum, and the numbers of fins it rolls over at the front of the load while charging.

"How much ya got left driver?" Ummmm "How much did Ya take off?"

[intruder473]

We have a scale I guess thats the easy way

[Mechanic_slash_Driver]

Hey all thanks for the replys....

[concretejoe]

Depends on if I wanted to leave or not. ;D Seriously though, this has always been a guessing game for me. I've never been that good at it. I use both the visual and pounding on the sides of the drum techniques.

[chilihed]

I always have quarter yard left...no matter what....

[batchmaster]

I can recall a job like that, foreman told the driver's to always tell the tester they had a 1/2 yard or less, even if they had 7-8 yards. It was ridiculous. We were pouring out like 12-15 yards a day, we made so many blocks it was ridiculous. We'd pour all of our blocks in the morning, strip them and pour them again in the afternoon. I'm talking like 6 yards worth of blocks, twice a day!

[concretejoe]

We have problems with left over concrete too. We try to resell a lot of it but that doesn't always work.

[batchmaster]

If you have something going out right away, footing or wall, whatever, flatwork or floor forget about it. just asking for problems.

[cleave70]

Thats why I liked it when i had a 12yd drum and only hauled 9yd loads. Made it very easy!!

[wheelman]

when i started out i'd just take a peek down the hopper with the truck at idle and the drum at full charge. then i'd look at the height of the concrete to the first fin, and the amount of time it took to go over the fin and of course i'd note the slump as well. then i'd grab my magic 8 ball and ask it "do you think that's about a half-yard?" and the d**ned thing always came up "ask again later". so i'd just make a stab in the dark. and when i got back to the plant i'd ask one of the senior drivers or batch guys to take a look and compare their analysis to what i thought i saw. after some trial and error i can get 'er pretty close nowadays.

[budman]

you have to know your truck! if you take a 1 yrd load out you should be able to remember were it sits on barrel tranny ring after wash down! that is if you wash down!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and same with each load. just have to get a visual rite out of plant after wash down. then it just becomes a guess but at least youll be close. good luck just pay attention driver

[gant]

i never get called driver lol.. its always "how much you got left drive" but mine starts to rattle around 2 yards or so.. and ill climb up to the top and look at how many fins it is taking up.. and then usually tell them half a yard or so.. but we are working on the new Holcim Plant and we are having to get rid of atleast 40 yards a day due to them over ordering down there..

[slumpy]

I just tell them i dont know and what ever i got left we pour erosion blocks or form up slabs at our plant and pour what ever we got left in the slab until we get about 4'' below are form then pour a cap over it

[gant]

I'm glad we dont have to pour blocks.. we just pour our extras off the side of a hill at a local company.. we've been doing that since the 70's

[bj3976]

I painted a few lines on my frame rails, 1 yard made a mark as to where it was when I washed down, using the old rubber mallet, then next time when I got 2 yards and so on! seems to help. Now I just know by the sound.

[vaupell]

we teach the new guys by simply saying next time we get a order
with 1 Kbm (1.3yard) go up and look how much room it takes.

same with other ammounts 2,3,4,.....
After a few days they are somewhat confident or think they are
about the ammount.

But im strongly opposed that option of judgeing by sight.
cause our law restrictions says 1% overload if wayed out goods
and concrete is, then its a "hole in the licence"

Here is a max of 3 "cuts/holes" then your licence is revoked.
and i seriously doubt the company is gonna help financially to
aquire a new licence.

So im trying hard to get the company to get some sort of scaleing
system on the trucks, well atleast new trucks.

[Mort]

I usually just take a wild stab at it. Mine also rattles at about 2 yards. Whenever I'm in an Oshkosh, I just say, "I don't know, I'm not used to this truck yet." Then I take a wild stab at it.

We've got to do a bunch of ecology blocks, too, but I've figured out a way around that. If its relatively close, I just punch in that I have 1/4 yard left, because they can't put rebar in something that low, so they make me recycle it.

[lkconcrete]

our drum starts to rattle with about 2 yards left. Though i always calcualte how much we need and make .2 extra. Depending on the moisture content of the aggregates loads come out pretty close, every now and then a perfect pour...gotta love that, specialy on fridays....

[Cover Driver]

When my drum is still and I have been discharging into a pump and someone asks me that.

I bang on the drum with my hand to see if there is a hollow sound.

If I have 2 meters or less on I can tell fairly accurately.

I'm to lazy to climb the top of the ladder and look and after sunset you can't see inside anyway. So I just learned over the years by banging on the drum.

[hicups]

Ssssshhh dont tell, but I just guess...Im waiting for the day they add concrete to my left overs and it over flows at the plant....LMAO so far I've been pretty lucky guessing....

[gant]

if they are going to load on top of a leftover and someone isnt sure whats in there we always just weigh the truck and go from there

[Mort]

We never load on top of leftovers. Makes it easier. We also never resell a load unless the customer knows its resold. Sounds like our company is honest to a fault.

[gant]

we resell the hell out of our loads..

[Mort]

Oh, don't get me wrong, we try to. But our tickets have all the exact batch weights, mix numbers, specs, etc. so a lot of guys won't take anything that isn't exactly what they ordered. I've had guys get pissed at me if I bring them a load with 1/2 percent calcium and they said they ordered 3/4 percent. Just guys that are kings of their particular hills, I guess.

[gant]

our tickets are printed off of their own seperate printer.. they only have our generic ticket and the mix on it.. we have another printer that prints out all the specs, agg, cem,ash, water admixtures, etc on it and we keep that.. it stays at the plant

[blacksheep99]

"How much ya got left...Driver" ....."Well sir, how much did you put down"? "Then take off yer shoes & socks and do the math"!..."Sir". .....Or...."How much ya got left...Driver" "Sir, I forgot my xray glasses today, I haven't a clue".

[LEAD DOG]

I LIKE THAT DRIVER! YOU MUST BE AN UP STANDING YOUNG MAN. GOOD LOOKING AND KNOWLEDGEABLE IN YOUR FIELD . HECK...YOU REMIND ME OF......me !

[Mort]

I heard a story about what my trainer tells some guys.

"How much you got left?"

"Well, you see that (pointing to the access port on the front of the drum)? The last time they painted this truck, the guy painted over the window. I guess it doesn't matter, because the light bulb inside was burned out anyway."

I've used that several times since then.

[kcee135]

I'VE BEEN DOING CONCRETE FOR ONLY 1 YEAR AND IT'S NOT HARD TO TELL HOW MUCH IS LEFT IN THE DRUM. AFTER SOME TRIAL AND ERROR I "ALWAYS " HAVE TWO WHEEL BARRELS FULL LEFT IN THE DRUM (SMILE).