Buddy clinically dead

[High Compression]

Today I was informed that a buddy of mine was involved in an accident. His employer asked him to pull a Case 580 backhoe with a 1 ton truck. After protest, he reluctantly had to give in because of how hard it is to get a good job these days, and he has a baby boy to think of. Shame on him for giving in and shame on his employer for telling he to do it. My buddy is an experienced CDL driver and knew better.

He lost control of the over sized load on the highway. Thank God no one else was injured or killed. Unlike another story I have shared on this forum in the same situation. He was in the mangled truck with his head pinned against his chest. When fire/rescue cut him free, he seized and his heart stopped. He was clinically dead.

Fortunately he was revived in the air to the hospital. When he awoke from his coma, he was blind for three weeks. He has since recovered 90%.

Point is... I have said it before, but I'll say it again.
DON'T PULL MORE THAN 10,000 LBS WITH A 1 TON. EVER!!! Not once, cuz, "well it's just once and the truck will pull it". Not occasionally. I don't care what the tag in the door says. When you pull a machine that weighs more than the truck, it better be a class 7+ truck with air brakes on the truck and trailer.

You can find other threads of people being killed by this same mistake. I have been pulling equipment for over 17 years. I started with F-Superdutys in the early 90's. I quickly learned the right and wrong way to tow equipment.

Please, put your agenda and your pride in check. It is no big deal to get a CDL. A "big" truck is actually cheaper to maintain and operate than a pick-up. Rent, hire, beg, borrow, steal, a truck to pull your 580 etc. Please don't take my wife, family, friends with you in your mistake.

 

[creekbend]

Sincerely sorry from the bottom of my heart.

 

[davygp38]

I assume you are talking about a 1 ton srw pick up truck? I haul bumper pull camper trailers that weigh over 10000# with my 3500 dually. I also pull a dual tandem goose neck that ranges between 10000# and 22000#. I have no issues, with the truck, or trailer. Hope you're friend gets better, but I will continue to do what the law allows. I also have a class A cdl.

 

[aczlan]

Sorry to hear about your friend, do you have a link to a news story and/or the accident report?

Thanks

Aaron Z

 

[High Compression]

Sorry to hear about your friend, do you have a link to a news story and/or the accident report?

Thanks

Aaron Z

Here you go. I-380 accident sends man to the hospital, causes traffic delays | Eastern Iowa News Now

 

[High Compression]

I assume you are talking about a 1 ton srw pick up truck? I haul bumper pull camper trailers that weigh over 10000# with my 3500 dually. I also pull a dual tandem goose neck that ranges between 10000# and 22000#. I have no issues, with the truck, or trailer. Hope you're friend gets better, but I will continue to do what the law allows. I also have a class A cdl.

DRW F-350. I too have pulled like that in the past. I don't care if it is legal. Plain and simple it's stupid. The point is, in an emergency situation, (evasive driving, tire blow-out, emergency braking, etc) when the machine and trailer weighs 22,000 lbs and the truck weights 8,800 lbs., you don't have enough mass to control your load in those circumstances. Go ahead and bury your head in the sand. Say it won't happen to you. I just hope that you can live with yourself when you make it, but the family in the minivan that you hit did not.

 

[Bird]

Here you go. I-380 accident sends man to the hospital, causes traffic delays | Eastern Iowa News Now

That news story says the trailer fishtailed. Fishtailing is not caused by not having a big enough truck. Of course having a bigger, heavier truck might have controlled the fishtailing, but proper loading would properly have prevented it to start with.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Point is... I have said it before, but I'll say it again.
DON'T PULL MORE THAN 10,000 LBS WITH A 1 TON. EVER!!! Not once, cuz, "well it's just once and the truck will pull it". Not occasionally. I don't care what the tag in the door says. When you pull a machine that weighs more than the truck, it better be a class 7+ truck with air brakes on the truck and trailer.

I am so sorry to hear about your buddy. Hope him and his family make it though this tough time ok.

With that said, saying not to pull over 10K with a F-350 is absurd. Things happen. Yes, he was overweight and he knew better. But to say a F-350 oar any other 1 ton diesel for that matter can not handle 10K is crazy. I am sure there is much more to this story. It was a accident and it was also one that could be prevented but thats it. Saying a F-350 should not be pulling a 10K trailer means every 5th wheel should be parked. Every GN should be parked. Every boat I have sold or delt with for the last dozen years should be parked. :confused2:

The Case 580's I have been around are all about 14K. With the right trailer and a properly equipped newer F-350 rated at about 18K towing its perfectly fine and safe to tow it with.

Just my $.02. We all have our opinions and I respect yours for you but for me and my circle we tow right upto the limit SET BY THE MANUFACTURE.

Chris

 

[High Compression]

That news story says the trailer fishtailed. Fishtailing is not caused by not having a big enough truck. Of course having a bigger, heavier truck might have controlled the fishtailing, but proper loading would properly have prevented it to start with.

This is true. If you look close in the pictures, it is a tandem dual 20k gooseneck trailer. It would be difficult to position a backhoe on that trailer so that it didn't have enough tongue weight. He did do a good job chaining it on the trailer though. It sure didn't go anywhere.

 

[Diamondpilot]

DRW F-350. I too have pulled like that in the past. I don't care if it is legal. Plain and simple it's stupid. The point is, in an emergency situation, (evasive driving, tire blow-out, emergency braking, etc) when the machine and trailer weighs 22,000 lbs and the truck weights 8,800 lbs., you don't have enough mass to control your load in those circumstances. Go ahead and bury your head in the sand. Say it won't happen to you. I just hope that you can live with yourself when you make it, but the family in the minivan that you hit did not.

Again, I respect your opinion for YOU but what you say makes no sense.

Lets take your example. The truck weighs 8,800# and the trailer 22,000#. This means the trailer is 2.5 times the weight of the truck.

The average semi rolling down the road is about 80,000#. The tractor is only 15,000# so using your math anything over 37,500# is STUPID. These guys would starve only pulling 1/3 of the available GCWR

I will leave it at that. It was a accident. Like I said before, there is more to this story. I am sure he got cut off or something. More than likely the balance was not right on the trailer, ect. No way to say if more truck would have helped or not.

I hope he gets better soon, I really do. Its his, yours, or my choice to get into a rig and go.

Chris