# Check Your Conduit Carrier



## niteshift (Nov 21, 2007)

Check all your doors,
Didn't happen with a conduit carrier, 
but when I had a utility body truck, a passenger side compartment door (a horizontal one) opened while driving, another motorist got my attention. Didn't lose anything.


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## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

niteshift said:


> Check all your doors,
> Didn't happen with a conduit carrier,
> but when I had a utility body truck, a passenger side compartment door (a horizontal one) opened while driving, another motorist got my attention. Didn't lose anything.


I had all my meters in the right side fall out one time never to be found..


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## MHElectric (Oct 14, 2011)

Couple of landscapers got my attention a few days ago, my trailer door was wide open and I'd been driving all over town like that.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

Lost a brand new roll of #4 bare copper when I forgot to shut the tailgate of my pickup once.......

I realized what had happened, and turned around, not even down the road but a few blocks. The roll was nowhere to be found!


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

I left my conduit box open one time and then drove up a steep hill and then about 10 miles up the highway to my house. When I got there I found three pieces of 3/4" PVC hanging out like 8 feet


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## zac (May 11, 2009)

I was driving one day and at every stop heard a twangy sound followed by a snap. After a few blocks driving in downtown (luckily in an area not crowded with traffic) I got out of my van and saw with great horror 7 sticks of 1/4 " all thread hanging about 8 feet out. 
Apparently every time I stopped or probably went forward the all thread would hit the street and spring back foward and hit the box. Very lucky I didn't hit someone or something!


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

My first conduit carrier was PVC pipe. The front was a solid plastic cap, and the back was a screw on cap. Typical, I suppose. There was just enough lengthwise play in it that after a year or so when I hit the brakes hard one time, a couple pieces broke out of the solid front cap and plopped across the hood. They did't make it far, but it was a 'holy crap' moment. Save a couple bucks to maybe torpedo someone one day.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> My first conduit carrier was PVC pipe. The front was a solid plastic cap, and the back was a screw on cap. Typical, I suppose. There was just enough lengthwise play in it that after a year or so when I hit the brakes hard one time, a couple pieces broke out of the solid front cap and plopped across the hood. They did't make it far, but it was a 'holy crap' moment. Save a couple bucks to maybe torpedo someone one day.


Had a similar problem but with my ladders. My helper forgot to tie them down properly and the extension ladder almost went into the car in front of me. I got lucky


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## MTW (Aug 28, 2013)

I've driven multiple times with my conduit tube wide open, but miraculously nothing fell out. I'm guessing there was enough dirt and grit on the pipe to prevent it from sliding.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Dennis Alwon said:


> Had a similar problem but with my ladders. My helper forgot to tie them down properly and the extension ladder almost went into the car in front of me. I got lucky


Saw a Comcast guy do that. Came off the highway, looking over his left shoulder to merge onto the road, and rear-ended a lady's car who had stopped in the merge area for some stupid reason. Ripped his ladders, ladder racks and all, off the Comcast van and into the back window of her car.


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

20 years ago when I was working service a buddy of mine who had a dully service truck all his ladders went flying off on the freeway.
:no::no::no:


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

I was stopped at a light a few months ago, and the guy behind me got out and came up to my window. On the way, he stopped to get my coffee on the back bumper. Whew ! nice guy. that coffee was almost a goner. good thing I drive like an old lady (not the kind in the deuce coup)


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## niteshift (Nov 21, 2007)

Seen something similar, 
a van lost the whole ladder rack with ladders still attached after hitting and bouncing over a curb. 
Somehow he managed to miss the gas pumps in the filling station after swerving off the hwy. 
Ladder rack was the kind that fastens to the drip rail moulding.


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## Batfink (Jul 9, 2014)

I had an apprentice that forgot to strap down the extension ladder with my old company. The owner of the company went to take the van home to do some work that night and it shot off the top at a red light and slid across the ice into the middle of the intersection causing one car to swerve around it hitting a light pole. Never saw that kid again :no:


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## Chris1971 (Dec 27, 2010)

Years ago I had 6' of an 8' ground rod hanging out of a conduit carrier when I got to a job site. It scared the crap out of me.


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## Shock-Therapy (Oct 4, 2013)

I know a plumbing co. on all their vans the pipe carriers are capped on the front but all open on the rear. Every one


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## aftershockews (Dec 22, 2012)

And never assume a co worker tied off a ladder on the ladder rack after they borrowed and returned it.
I am sure glad no cars crossed that intersection when I had to brake hard and watch my 10' ladder become a projectile.


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## Ink&Brass (Nov 6, 2013)

Not something I've ever dealt with with any work vehicle I've been on, but I knew I had valid reason to feel uneasy driving behind those jerry-rigged contraptions.


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## Podagrower (Mar 16, 2008)

I've had an 8' ladder swing off the roof rack and hit the side of the van. It was tied on top of a 12' ladder, and a gust of wind hit just right, no coffee needed. Drove about 20 miles with a stick of 3/4 PVC resting on the roof rack, no attachment of any kind other than gravity. Had an 8' ladder leave the back of a 6' pickup bed, wedged under the truck box leaning on the tailgate like always, and it didn't make it to the job site.


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## cad99 (Feb 19, 2012)

Podagrower said:


> I've had an 8' ladder swing off the roof rack and hit the side of the van. It was tied on top of a 12' ladder, and a gust of wind hit just right, no coffee needed. Drove about 20 miles with a stick of 3/4 PVC resting on the roof rack, no attachment of any kind other than gravity. Had an 8' ladder leave the back of a 6' pickup bed, wedged under the truck box leaning on the tailgate like always, and it didn't make it to the job site.



Left a extension ladder on I-29 once after a ratchet strap decided it was done on a windy day doing 80 the semi behind me took care of it though.


Living the dream one nightmare at a time.


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## carlschuerman (Jul 10, 2014)

Reading through this thread, I have come to the conclusion that for my best interest, if I ever spot an electrician or a plumber on the road, get off the road.


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## Sparky J (May 17, 2011)

Seen it happen a few times when I worked new construction especially on large jobs with a trailer across the job. I was not the Forman and it was not my company van. 
I am not perfect but I know myself and I try to walk around and check the van before I move anywhere. When I had a utility body I had manual locks on the boxes and tried to make it a habit to walk around and lock them before moving it helped me make sure to check things. Why do you think Comcast and Verizon put cones in the front and back? They are the last things they put in their vehicles and it makes them remember to look around.


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## deverson (Feb 15, 2012)

I lost a 10' fiberglass ladder on the interstate a few years ago. I was a lot more concerned about someone hitting it than actually losing the ladder. Never did find it. Hope it safe in someone's garage.
My move was just stupid, like most guys! Put it in the back of the pickup and didn't tie it in. Never saw it again.


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## Shock-Therapy (Oct 4, 2013)

carlschuerman said:


> Reading through this thread, I have come to the conclusion that for my best interest, if I ever spot an electrician or a plumber on the road, get off the road.


Wouldnt wanna be on the road with the guys I work with regardless. :laughing:


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## mdnitedrftr (Aug 21, 2013)

I too had an apprentice forget to tie down a ladder. He threw the straps on the ladder, just never tied them to the rack. Drove 3 towns over before I came to a stop light and saw the thing slide forward. Almost fell off the rack. I now use a cable lock that only I have the key to. So if anyone needs one of the tall ladders, I know about it, and I lock it down myself.


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