Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[4570Man]

Is that this one? Looks pretty harry.

Runaway trailer truck being escorted by the police to an emergency runaway lane - YouTube

There appeared to be no smoke coming off the truck brakes. Does anyone know what happened to them? I thought air brakes were closed with a spring and held open by air making total failure aside from melting nearly impossible. Even on the unlikely chance one failed all the rest should work. It did appear the trailer brakes melted.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Lost my brakes coming down Raton Pass in NM back in the 80's. Stayed on the blacktop, there were no truck ramps by the time I needed one, stayed (mostly) in my lane, and thankfully, everyone got out of my way on the way down. Something about a semi coming up behind you at over 120 mph in the fast lane, blaring the air horn, and flashing highbeams. Folks actually paid attention and got out of my way.

One of the few times in my life I was "certain" I was going to die. Looked over at the rookie riding shotgun with me, and said this was probably it. He asked if we should jump, to which I said, we'd die for sure then, just tighten your seatbelt all the way tight and hang on.

Once we came out of the pass, it took MANY MILES before the truck slowed down enough I could put it back in top gear (8th) and throw the engine brake back on. Then it took MILES of Jake brake and downshifting before I got it slowed down enough to take a side exit that followed parallel to the interstate. Jaked it down to a crawl in 1st, but rolled right through the parking brake, even popping the safety valves wouldn't stop us. Finally got the rookie to come out of his terror-coma and throw the wheel chocks out in front of us, and rolling over those actually stopped us.

Took the rest of our convoy (military) 20 minutes to catch up to us.

Good times.

Great story now but that would have been absolutely terrifying. A long time to think about your impending doom. I think the truck in the video must have been going nearly that fast. Seems like he did a good job handling the truck.

 

[tjkubota93]

There appeared to be no smoke coming off the truck brakes. Does anyone know what happened to them? I thought air brakes were closed with a spring and held open by air making total failure aside from melting nearly impossible. Even on the unlikely chance one failed all the rest should work. It did appear the trailer brakes melted.

Your right about the function on the axle that has emergency brakes. The others are air applied, no spring. Probably no shoes left for the spring to apply. Got too hot going down a hill.

When I worked on big trucks I pulled the emergency going about 30 to see what would happen. I had bruises on my chest....... but the truck needed new brakes afterward. It bent some hardware parts and glazed the shoes pretty bad. Yeah I know it was dumb.

 

[aczlan]

Your right about the function on the axle that has emergency brakes. The others are air applied, no spring. Probably no shoes left for the spring to apply. Got too hot going down a hill.

IIRC, ALL axles now have spring applied, air released brake cans, not just some of them. No idea what that truck was equipped with, but that is the standard these days.

Aaron Z

 

[4570Man]

IIRC, ALL axles now have spring applied, air released brake cans, not just some of them. No idea what that truck was equipped with, but that is the standard these days.

Aaron Z

I’ve never seen air applied air brakes. I’ve never seen a truck that didn’t lock down with a loss of air pressure. Admittedly I don’t deal with big trucks very often.

 

[Morning Wood]

Todo bien? Ahhh, no.

 

[Raspy]

There appeared to be no smoke coming off the truck brakes. Does anyone know what happened to them?

For the first two minutes of the video there is smoke boiling out from under the truck. No smoke?

 

[4570Man]

For the first two minutes of the video there is smoke boiling out from under the truck. No smoke?

Here’s what I saw.

 

[California]

The Youtube comments clarify a lot of issues.

One issue I noticed: comments said there should be more runaway truck escapes on this principal, steep freeway. And there was criticism that this escape wasn't designed well. It should simply bog the truck down in deep gravel for a gradual stop so that cargo doesn't crash forward as happened here. This truck overran the end of the escape into a ridge of gravel that caused the load - huge newsprint rolls weighing a ton or more - to burst through the side of the trailer. They could have easily crushed the cab.

I come down I-80 from Donner Summit (7k ft) occasionally but I've never seen a truck in one of the escapes there.

Long ago on my job I visited a highway construction field office in Southern California to review payment paperwork and found that overnight they had just had their first customer in the escape they just finished. A Bekins van at maximum weight came to a gentle stop, likely didn't hurt the cargo. But it revealed an oversight in Caltrans planning: the wrecker who winched the truck back out had pulled down the only overhead light pole, for lack of any other anchor to winch from. Back to the drawing board!

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

StreetArtGlobe - 1974 Volkswagen Beetle & Camper - road...