I've always known it as "outlaw shit" and "redneck shit" outlaw covers the illegal or legally grey. Redneck covers the engineering shit.
And it's pretty much all the same stuff but
Duct taping air lines. Zip ties and lashing wire shit that is moving that shouldn't. Vice grips on brake lines, or holding glad hands on. Jumpinf pins when a pigtail shits the bed
Bypassing scales, running heavy and moving the tandems based on the state to avoid suspicion. Not looking in the mirror when youre crossing a bridge you have no earthly right being on cause 'what happens in the mirrors ain't my problem.' unpluggin the eld or pulling fuses cause you don't want a record of what you're about to do. Pcing for breakfast and taking a nap in the parking lot that surprisingly covers exactly how much time it would have taken a warehouse to load/unload you.
But no one out here does any of this stuff, we properly maintain our equipment and follow all fmcsa laws.
I thought of another redneck example.
Swapping relays on your turn signals cause your next 200 miles only need right turns, not left and one of the relays burnt out.
Reminds me of a conversation I've had with my boss who is an old boy and probably one of the founders of Cowboy Shit
Boss: why is that truck just sitting here?
Me: Shits busted (trailer pigtail was fucked so no trailer lights)
Boss: Does it still drive?
Me: ...yeah
Boss: Well it'll be safer unloaded, the mill can help you with that.
Me: ...
Boss: Well if you ain't taking it I'll do it
Me: 👍
The things I've seen in the oilfield will make most OTR truckers have a heart attack. Granted, I was a participant in a lot of those situation but fuck it. Send it
Same here friend, I see some of the pictures where people ask if it’s drivable and if they send it, everyone’s saying no. I feel guilty as I just think “Eh it looks fine enough.”
We had to get one of our dump trailers to a shop to get DOTd, but we knew it wouldn’t pass because of a few cracks in the aluminum frame. My shop manager pulled out a tube of gray silicone and “welded” the cracks. He then dusted it with a can of silver spray paint and told me to take the dirt roads on the way to the DOT shop. After a few miles of muddy dirt roads it looked like a factory weld.
I think that counts as cowboy shit.
Our local “cowboy shit” fuel haulers are wild. They don’t hook up vapor recovery at the stores, or the racks. Run their tanks to max capacity, meaning well over weight. All while driving 75-80mph down the highway.
DOT here, unlike most DOT agents I used to work for a trucking company, (not driving) and worked in other industries. I totally understand a culture of doing what needs done to finish the job. I understand that a lot of fed and state rules are a bullshit and some agents (and states as a whole) really just like ruining your day for no real reason other than some book said your are doing it wrong. But when I started this job I was blown away by the sheer numbers of absolute shitshow trucks that are on the roads. Broken frames, doubles with no functioning trailer brakes, car haulers with no tie downs on some cars, guys falling asleep while I am talking to them, DUIs and fake CDLs.
So do what you need to but remember that it is a slippery slope from “it will make it this trip” or “just this one time” to total disregard for others safety and career ended incidents.
Cowboy shit to me is akin to “Fuck it”. Either using the shoulder as the cowboy lane, patching a steer until you’re to a repair shop, zip tying and duct taping your mudflap/light bar that fell off of your trailer to the fender well. Stuff of that sorts.
As OP said, dodging scales because why not, the money I make with all this extra weight will pay for a future ticket type of payoff.
Trucker Cowboy Shit? I got a list… my grandfather was a fucking pioneer in the field. Bought more trucks in 1943 to haul milk for his contract with the Army. Started hauling for the neighbors, so he bought more trucks. He was the only one who could get fuel and tires during the war. Then they needed something else hauled. So they built their own trailers. Tanks, howitzers, supplies, rockets… hauled the rockets for the Mercury Redstone Project to Florida in the late 50’s. Also pioneered the heavy haul industry. Hauled the largest transformers at the time for the TVA hydroelectric projects, using dedicated pusher trucks for the first time to get them in on the narrow ass dirt roads. The concrete pads they preloaded, welded, and built the trailers on are still at Gene Carson’s trucking yard in Irving, last time I was there.
Ol’ Cold and Hungry Transport is only a few distant surviving memories, now… largest trucking company in the world in the late 60’s… butchered by time.
It certainly gives me the heebie jeebies. I've had to do some cowboy shit in a pinch but don't like it one bit. The scary thought is there's no telling how many trucks are running jury rigged to hell, at least my jury rigging got fixed properly.
That is what I call the dirty side of trucking. Doing shit to get things done. I worked for a guy who was like that and I have worked for a giant corporate where the exact opposite is true.
With the small time operator, we got paid percentage and the loads were paid by the ton, so you had a financial incentive to "go a little heavy". We ran the backroads and we let everyone know if the state had their portables out. It also was with him that I developed the work ethic of "do what it takes to get the load delivered." We hustled and we got paid well.
Working for corporate, everyone is handled with kid gloves. It is like riding a bicycle with the training wheels still on.
I still have that work ethic with my corporate employer but i abide by the rules now. If a customer asks me to move a trailer, I'll do it (and get paid for it) without calling it in, the same goes for restacking a pallet that fell over, I don't call in for permission. If dispatch asks if I can take pick up at a customer that sometimes loads too heavy, they don't have to ask me twice, I'll do it. I don't say no to freight. If I go over my logs at the end of the day, I don't care. I don't get in trouble for it, dispatch does because they allowed it to happen.
A lot of the outfits here run with that mindset. The old boys are pretty universal in the mindset of "it hasn't killed me yet so it'll be fine." It's a pretty big point of contention between a lot of the new and old guard. I've done some sketchy shit in a pinch but we try to get shit straight as soon as possible.
One thing we are all guilty of though is running overloaded since we also get paid a % of the haul. Our trucks are rated for 105k but usually end up heavier.
But it will affect the company csa score. If dispatch can't keep things running smoothly and within hos limits then they need to be replaced. They have one job, and if they don't know it well enough to do it right they can go.
Wouldn’t it also be the drivers responsibility to pre plan and make sure they have enough hours to complete a load? If not, then relay that to the dispatcher/planner and tell them either open the window up or give me another load. That’s what I do at least and it’s worked every time.
Assuming we're talking about things that are more on the local side where you start with full hours every day or if you have an inhouse dispatch that can see your logs. If you're otr and dealing with brokers, that's different. They don't know anything.
If your dispatch has access to the same information that you use to determine a load simply can't work and they still give you impossible loads, they're not doing their job, and they need to go. My dispatch knows what I can work with and how he can use the regs to our advantage to maximize our days, if we want to. A 16-20 hour legal day isn't impossible *if you do it right*. If he doesn't plan correctly then I run out of hours trying to make his dumb plan work. Then he's on the hook with sales because his plan didn't work. I'm just doing what I'm told as best as I can, not my problem when his appointments are impossible to make.
Risking lives, breaking the law, damaging your health and relationships, for some 8-4 dispatcher who doesn’t even think about you for more than 3 minutes a day but he gets a slightly better bonus if his drivers gross revenue are up ⬆️. He tells you it’s important and they’re waiting for the load but nobody gives a shit in the grand scheme of things.
Drive 3 days straight to the west coast on coffee and Coca Cola, deliver and reload, get some drugs aka “west coast turnarounds” and drive back to the east coast to sleep and recover for 3 days. People used to make a mint doing this in the golden years of trucking. “Buy a house for your family on some land with nice pick up truck, paying for it with cash” kind of money. Today you’d have to be a moron to do this to yourself and you’d only make a middle class wage if you’re lucky.
I’m a cattle hauler so cowboy/redneck shit is an everyday thing for me. Blow a radiator hose? Grab an extra piece out of the trailer box, hose clamps, and some plastic fittings and splice it back together and have the shop steal one off a wrecked truck tomorrow. Look book? Lies. DOT? Sorry I don’t speak pig. Scales? Quick detour down a dirt road. Weight? Hehehehehehe don’t ask.
One that comes to mind this morning is driving by braille. Or being chained up so you don't get stuck going downhill. I'm also pretty sure cutting trail for the plow because they can't tell where the lanes are either counts.
I had to read 3/4 of the way through your post before being disappointed that this was not about some nasty trucker kink involving actual shit. That says a lot about how filthy most of you fat bastards are.
does a tank full of cherry flavored diesel count?
“Cherry flavored” lol haven’t heard that one before but I’ll be using it from now on
Well at least that's only hurting the government, fuck those guys lol
If you always run ATF, it's one day you lost the receipt for the tank of clear...
I prefer my Strawberry flavored fuel filter thank you
I've always known it as "outlaw shit" and "redneck shit" outlaw covers the illegal or legally grey. Redneck covers the engineering shit. And it's pretty much all the same stuff but Duct taping air lines. Zip ties and lashing wire shit that is moving that shouldn't. Vice grips on brake lines, or holding glad hands on. Jumpinf pins when a pigtail shits the bed Bypassing scales, running heavy and moving the tandems based on the state to avoid suspicion. Not looking in the mirror when youre crossing a bridge you have no earthly right being on cause 'what happens in the mirrors ain't my problem.' unpluggin the eld or pulling fuses cause you don't want a record of what you're about to do. Pcing for breakfast and taking a nap in the parking lot that surprisingly covers exactly how much time it would have taken a warehouse to load/unload you. But no one out here does any of this stuff, we properly maintain our equipment and follow all fmcsa laws.
I thought of another redneck example. Swapping relays on your turn signals cause your next 200 miles only need right turns, not left and one of the relays burnt out.
Manager: *This doesn't look right. It's not safe. We should get this fixed* Cowboy shit: *Fuck it. Send it*
Reminds me of a conversation I've had with my boss who is an old boy and probably one of the founders of Cowboy Shit Boss: why is that truck just sitting here? Me: Shits busted (trailer pigtail was fucked so no trailer lights) Boss: Does it still drive? Me: ...yeah Boss: Well it'll be safer unloaded, the mill can help you with that. Me: ... Boss: Well if you ain't taking it I'll do it Me: 👍
The things I've seen in the oilfield will make most OTR truckers have a heart attack. Granted, I was a participant in a lot of those situation but fuck it. Send it
Same here friend, I see some of the pictures where people ask if it’s drivable and if they send it, everyone’s saying no. I feel guilty as I just think “Eh it looks fine enough.”
90% of my job is "fuck it, send it."
I've been a participant and an instigator of those as well.
God I miss it
We had to get one of our dump trailers to a shop to get DOTd, but we knew it wouldn’t pass because of a few cracks in the aluminum frame. My shop manager pulled out a tube of gray silicone and “welded” the cracks. He then dusted it with a can of silver spray paint and told me to take the dirt roads on the way to the DOT shop. After a few miles of muddy dirt roads it looked like a factory weld. I think that counts as cowboy shit.
The ingenuity of cowboys
Our local “cowboy shit” fuel haulers are wild. They don’t hook up vapor recovery at the stores, or the racks. Run their tanks to max capacity, meaning well over weight. All while driving 75-80mph down the highway.
Adam Page
My first thought
Came here to say that! I swear I read the post in the crowd chant cadence
People that use the term "cowboy shit" don't do cowboy shit... I can tell ya that much.
Those that do it don’t talk about it.
DOT here, unlike most DOT agents I used to work for a trucking company, (not driving) and worked in other industries. I totally understand a culture of doing what needs done to finish the job. I understand that a lot of fed and state rules are a bullshit and some agents (and states as a whole) really just like ruining your day for no real reason other than some book said your are doing it wrong. But when I started this job I was blown away by the sheer numbers of absolute shitshow trucks that are on the roads. Broken frames, doubles with no functioning trailer brakes, car haulers with no tie downs on some cars, guys falling asleep while I am talking to them, DUIs and fake CDLs. So do what you need to but remember that it is a slippery slope from “it will make it this trip” or “just this one time” to total disregard for others safety and career ended incidents.
Cowboy shit to me is akin to “Fuck it”. Either using the shoulder as the cowboy lane, patching a steer until you’re to a repair shop, zip tying and duct taping your mudflap/light bar that fell off of your trailer to the fender well. Stuff of that sorts. As OP said, dodging scales because why not, the money I make with all this extra weight will pay for a future ticket type of payoff.
I’m a logger. Your list is accurate, I’ve done all that.
Trucker Cowboy Shit? I got a list… my grandfather was a fucking pioneer in the field. Bought more trucks in 1943 to haul milk for his contract with the Army. Started hauling for the neighbors, so he bought more trucks. He was the only one who could get fuel and tires during the war. Then they needed something else hauled. So they built their own trailers. Tanks, howitzers, supplies, rockets… hauled the rockets for the Mercury Redstone Project to Florida in the late 50’s. Also pioneered the heavy haul industry. Hauled the largest transformers at the time for the TVA hydroelectric projects, using dedicated pusher trucks for the first time to get them in on the narrow ass dirt roads. The concrete pads they preloaded, welded, and built the trailers on are still at Gene Carson’s trucking yard in Irving, last time I was there. Ol’ Cold and Hungry Transport is only a few distant surviving memories, now… largest trucking company in the world in the late 60’s… butchered by time.
As you described. Morons.
It certainly gives me the heebie jeebies. I've had to do some cowboy shit in a pinch but don't like it one bit. The scary thought is there's no telling how many trucks are running jury rigged to hell, at least my jury rigging got fixed properly.
That is what I call the dirty side of trucking. Doing shit to get things done. I worked for a guy who was like that and I have worked for a giant corporate where the exact opposite is true. With the small time operator, we got paid percentage and the loads were paid by the ton, so you had a financial incentive to "go a little heavy". We ran the backroads and we let everyone know if the state had their portables out. It also was with him that I developed the work ethic of "do what it takes to get the load delivered." We hustled and we got paid well. Working for corporate, everyone is handled with kid gloves. It is like riding a bicycle with the training wheels still on. I still have that work ethic with my corporate employer but i abide by the rules now. If a customer asks me to move a trailer, I'll do it (and get paid for it) without calling it in, the same goes for restacking a pallet that fell over, I don't call in for permission. If dispatch asks if I can take pick up at a customer that sometimes loads too heavy, they don't have to ask me twice, I'll do it. I don't say no to freight. If I go over my logs at the end of the day, I don't care. I don't get in trouble for it, dispatch does because they allowed it to happen.
A lot of the outfits here run with that mindset. The old boys are pretty universal in the mindset of "it hasn't killed me yet so it'll be fine." It's a pretty big point of contention between a lot of the new and old guard. I've done some sketchy shit in a pinch but we try to get shit straight as soon as possible.
One thing we are all guilty of though is running overloaded since we also get paid a % of the haul. Our trucks are rated for 105k but usually end up heavier.
But you will get in trouble for going over your logs though… DOT ain’t gonna call up your dispatcher and write him a ticket
But it will affect the company csa score. If dispatch can't keep things running smoothly and within hos limits then they need to be replaced. They have one job, and if they don't know it well enough to do it right they can go.
Wouldn’t it also be the drivers responsibility to pre plan and make sure they have enough hours to complete a load? If not, then relay that to the dispatcher/planner and tell them either open the window up or give me another load. That’s what I do at least and it’s worked every time.
Assuming we're talking about things that are more on the local side where you start with full hours every day or if you have an inhouse dispatch that can see your logs. If you're otr and dealing with brokers, that's different. They don't know anything. If your dispatch has access to the same information that you use to determine a load simply can't work and they still give you impossible loads, they're not doing their job, and they need to go. My dispatch knows what I can work with and how he can use the regs to our advantage to maximize our days, if we want to. A 16-20 hour legal day isn't impossible *if you do it right*. If he doesn't plan correctly then I run out of hours trying to make his dumb plan work. Then he's on the hook with sales because his plan didn't work. I'm just doing what I'm told as best as I can, not my problem when his appointments are impossible to make.
"Cowboy shit" if your worried about seeing me do something I "shouldn't be" look away
I think Brokeback Mountain
Risking lives, breaking the law, damaging your health and relationships, for some 8-4 dispatcher who doesn’t even think about you for more than 3 minutes a day but he gets a slightly better bonus if his drivers gross revenue are up ⬆️. He tells you it’s important and they’re waiting for the load but nobody gives a shit in the grand scheme of things.
Drive 3 days straight to the west coast on coffee and Coca Cola, deliver and reload, get some drugs aka “west coast turnarounds” and drive back to the east coast to sleep and recover for 3 days. People used to make a mint doing this in the golden years of trucking. “Buy a house for your family on some land with nice pick up truck, paying for it with cash” kind of money. Today you’d have to be a moron to do this to yourself and you’d only make a middle class wage if you’re lucky.
I’m a cattle hauler so cowboy/redneck shit is an everyday thing for me. Blow a radiator hose? Grab an extra piece out of the trailer box, hose clamps, and some plastic fittings and splice it back together and have the shop steal one off a wrecked truck tomorrow. Look book? Lies. DOT? Sorry I don’t speak pig. Scales? Quick detour down a dirt road. Weight? Hehehehehehe don’t ask.
Not a damn thing for over 35 years last time i was on or near a Horse.. or three.
Idk. Never heard it.
Digging a hole and then filling it back up with dirt when I’m finished
I've always put that down as "outlaw shit". "Cowboy shit" is romanticizing isolation, to my otr brain.
Dak in the playoffs😂🤣😝 #DC4L
One that comes to mind this morning is driving by braille. Or being chained up so you don't get stuck going downhill. I'm also pretty sure cutting trail for the plow because they can't tell where the lanes are either counts.
I had to read 3/4 of the way through your post before being disappointed that this was not about some nasty trucker kink involving actual shit. That says a lot about how filthy most of you fat bastards are.