I was on a job yesterday getting ready to prime. I tell the mixer driver " hold tight I will be rite back ." I come back to find my hopper filled with concrete with the ol slick willy floating on the top. I LMFAO, told the concrete contractor we were going to be a minuit. Popped my 45  off above the 6-5 and dumped my slick willy in the reducer. We primed and everything went great. I don't beleave the mixer driver evan new he did anything wrong. Sometimes you just have to work around it.

You are a good man. And a brave man. I would not have the courage to un-clamp that 45. I have seen times when 2 really good, seasoned operators fought for 30 mins to get that 45 back inplace and clamped up.

It is good that you didn't make an issue out of the IQ of the driver. ;~)

I have been in that situation before. Usually i take 3 strokes before the mixer backs up and then he can do whatever he wants. The thing that i dont understand is they get so mad if you splash there truck just a little bit. But we are @$$es if we say something about them overfilling the hopper and getting our truck dirty. Also my truck doesnt have a horn so i just yell "whoa or stop!!!!!!" but they stand back there and shoot the $hit and never listen so i stop and the concrete pilles up. But if i dont hear them spin there drum when they are done they have a fit!!!! The first few months i found it very hard to deal with redi-mix drivers, now i just realize that they arent very smart and no matter what you say or how many times you say it they arent going to change, so now i just smile and laugh it off.

I am a very easy going guy. But sometimes people just have to test your patience...like its a game to see how far they can get before you'll crack. I had a Sun Rock driver do that to me one time, (anyone who knows the company knows that their mixes suck balls, and their drivers are even worse), he just kept talking on the phone and walking away from the truck and running me dry. I literally gave it about 6 or 7 times, just honking the horn and saying could he please pay a little more attention. Well, at the 8th time I decidedto just unleash the fury. I started dry stroking, but let it just keep poofing for about 5 strokes, and as soon as he walked over within 2 feet of the hopper, I reversed...let me tell you, I've seen some hoppers blow before, but that wave of mud shot at least 15 feet high and just wrapped his truck up from ass to elbow. The funny thing was he wasted all his water on keeping the mud good and wet, so he had to drive all the way back to the shop to clean it up, hahaha. Thats how you deal with a dick head driver.

easy does it.

All our mixer drivers are good to go.  They pull forward about 20 feet immediately after we finish pumping so I can blow out the hopper into their trucks, they even stay and wash out my reducers, end hose, refill my sponge bucket, help with dunnage, etc, etc,,,,I guess its an advantage when the mixer company owns the pump and the owners says the pumper is the "Boss".

Hmm Well I have had this many times our own mixers and others. I generaly do the same but had many times reversed and added water then back into the mixer durring prime. Of course we know much more involved but it seemed to be a regular occurance.  never had to pull elbows in 20 years but then Boom parties are never our faults are they hehe.

Ive had the drivers around here do the a few times! I just lay the boom down,remove the hose and turn up the reducer. Then pour primer in and then stand the boom up and go to town!Don't forget to piss and moan so the driver remembers it!!

It never pays to think that you have this bizz "all figured out". Every day is a school day; today is no exception.

As long as I have been doing this (push rocks through pipes) deal it never once occurred to me to pour the slurry in the end of the boom. (what a dumbass).

That has to be easier than dropping the hopper and making a big mess to clean up. Thank You for the heads up, you made my day. ;~) 

Is there actually pumps being made without a prime port?

Good Question,

I have always run Putz and have never used the  prime port. Mine has never been off so I did not want to open that can of worms. My machine comes apart and goes back together with ease. So popping the 45 was no big deal.

Good pic, I like the prime port with the bolt to catch the sponge.

i know what you mean about mixer drivers unable to keep the hopper at the correct level to avoid the blowing out of concrete just missing killing some one on site.. but i`ve also found that my children can do as there told like don`t do that till i tell you too so why is it so hard for mixer drivers  to do the same??? i thought i`d seen a mixer driver just above the ape`s on the food chain the other day...if im right then that explain`s a hell of a lot..