Seat Belt saves another life, pics.

Ryan03 · Sep 29, 2008

We got a bad call in our garage today, one of our drivers had rolled one of our dump trucks twice about a 1/4 mile away from our driveway entrance. He had just left our yard with 10 or so yards of wet topsoil on board. All that the Sheriffs office would tell us was that we needed to bring down our loader, broom truck and wrecker to help clean up the scene, as the road was comepletely shut down, and the driver was being taken to the hospitle. Upon arriving and seeing the truck, we feared for the worst. As it turned out, he was wearing his seatbelt and only had minor injuries. A careless motorist in a pickup had gone left of center on a corner, and the driver went off the right side of the road to miss him, and was unable to regain control and ended up barrel rolling the truck twice. The guy in the pickup slowed down afterward, then just kept going.

dogtired · Sep 29, 2008

Glad no fatalities occurred

Is the truck a total loss ?

DieselPower · Sep 29, 2008

I'm also glad to hear no one was seriously injured.

As far as the truck goes if a insurance company looks it over they will probably total it. Can it be fixed, sure it can. New hood, cab, doors and some bed work,etc... If the insurance company does total it you might see if they will sell it back to you. Lot's of good parts still there especially the drivetrain. It's a great way to get a bunch of spare parts like engine, trans, rear, tires, etc... very cheap.

Soundguy · Sep 29, 2008

I agree.. we had a dump truck.. an 84 mack that rolled over on it's side.. insurance totaled it and sold it back to us for 4000 or 5000$.. the engine alone was worth that.. not to mention the rear boxes.. wet kit...lift axle.. etc..

soundguy

schmism · Sep 29, 2008

looks like you just just order a new cab and drop it on.

Ryan03 · Sep 29, 2008

schmism said:
looks like you just just order a new cab and drop it on.

No, it is damaged far worse than the pics show. The hood did come through remarkably well, as the only damage to it was the right plow light being ripped out, an easy fix. The cab, obviously is toast. What is not shown clearly in the pic is the right bedside layed in 8 or so inches in the back. The bed is an AirFlo with a mild steel conveyor floor, and the rest is all polished stainless steel, not aluminum as many think when they see it from a distance. This bed was around 45k 2 years ago, I don`t know what they go for this year, as our two new trucks aren`t due in for another month or so, but I doubt the price went down any. The rear axle is also shifted over to the right about 3 or 4 inches due to a bent housing , broken spring center pins, and bent U bolts. The rear cab mount crossmember is also beyond repair. The fuel tank, brackets, steps on both sides, and air tanks and brackets are also damaged. The Frame looks to be salvageable, it is a double, and is not kinked or cracked, might be a little twisted, but that is repairable. The engine, trans, cooling system, and electrical are all fine, The truck will actualy lot drive. Hated to see this one wrecked, it was one of my favorites. Most Gov trucks are bare bones, and ours for the mostpart are no exception. This one however came through with the DT570 instead of the 466, our standard issue Allison MD3060 auto, a 6:86 ratio rockwell rear with a air activated cross lock, AM FM with CD player, power windows and locks, power mirrors with heat, an electric tarp, an air gate, but oddly enough no air conditioning. I would guess it is totaled as far as the insurance company is concerned, but that is just a guess. I agree that it would be a good idea to keep the truck for the spare parts, but I doubt we will. There is a lot of red tape and liability involed in a government agency doing that. New Replacement cost is around $130k including plow and liqued deicer systems.

davitk · Sep 29, 2008

Wow. When I was 17 I rolled my dad's pickup (with him in it), virtually identical circumstances except neither of us wore seat belts: drunk driver entered my lane, I hit the shoulder (the tailgate was down and loaded with bags of cement), lost control and started to roll. Dad went through the windshield, I woke up flat on the seat, the roof caved in to dash height. We both walked away - we would not have had we worn seat belts. Go figure. Don't get me wrong, I won't leave the driveway without buckling up (my kids taught me well

) Glad your driver was OK.

Ryan03 · Oct 4, 2008

I try to wear mine all the time, but am guilty of forgeting to put it on from time to time. Luckily for the driver, he is verticaly challenged {short}, maybe 5ft 5, and I doubt his head was higher than the head rest. The thought of my 6ft, 220lb frame strapped in that air seat getting rocketed into the colapsing roof every time the truck flipped gives me the chills. For those of you not familiar with a big rig air seat, your weight is supported by an air bag under the seat that can be adjusted by raising or lowering the air pressure in the bag to adapt to your body weight. The seat can travel up to a foot or so up or down, depending on how you have it set. The seat belt buckle mounts to the moving part of seat so the tension remains consistent, and the belt has no control of the seats up and down movement.

thump186 · Oct 10, 2008

Most important glad the driver is ok. With all the time I spent driving truck I've seen to many fatal crashes involving pmv's and trucks. I think most of it is people just don't realize.