Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[Doofy]

Daily Machines
Do not know if this link will work without facebook account.

Link worked. How stupid was that?

 

[Reb954]

Daily Machines
Do not know if this link will work without facebook account.

Reminds me of when I was about 16 or 17. I worked for a oilfield trucking company. Someone called needing a truck so they sent me out. The only truck in the yard was a light duty Pete with a 262 Cummins and 4 and 4 boxes and winch. They wanted a lowboy trailer but none were available so I took a 3 axle 8' wide float.

I showed up at the job site, there was a D8 or 9 Cat (don't remember which) with a 12' blade and 3 bar ripper on it. I thought, holy crap, I hope this isn't what I am suppose to haul. The contractor came up, asked if I really intended to haul that Cat on this. I asked if he really intended me to haul that on this. I suggested we wait until a bigger truck with a lowboy was available but he wanted the Cat moved now.

I nosed the trailer down, they walked the Cat up the trailer to the back so I could pick up the front of the trailer to get reattached to it. There were only a few inches of track on each side of the trailer. We centered the Cat and chained it down.

I had gone maybe 10 miles on the gravel road when the road dropped into a wash, made a long sweeping bend in the wash and then a fairly steep climb to get back out of the wash. The sweeping bend was angled pretty steep to the inside so I knew I would have to ride the high side to keep from tipping over like the truck in the video. My only concern was if I had enough power to climb the hill out of the wash so I wanted as much speed as I dared before starting up the hill.

Off I go, down the hill, around the corner balancing the truck so I didn't roll over on the inside or centrifugal force didn't roll me over on the outside. I'm not sure what gears I was in when I hit the bottom of the hill but once on the hill I took both transmissions into low low. I was so proud of that shift, no scratching of gears, no bumps, grinds, just a smooth gentle shift.

I'm climbing the hill, drivers are just getting to the crest when, bang, the driveline twists off. I lock everything down as fast as possible but then realize I'm loosing air. The driveline punched a hole in the air tank. I set the engine throttle on high and start wedging rocks under all the tires. I know there is no way I can keep that truck upright going back down the hill and around the corner.

About that time the contractor shows up, sees what I am doing and helps chalk the tires. Afterwards he said he showed up about the time I was going around the corner and said he was amazed I was able to keep the truck upright. He had another Cat on a job about a mile away so he already had it being roaded over to finish pushing me up the hill.

It was an interesting time.

 

[civilian]

Reminds me of when I was about 16 or 17. I worked for a oilfield trucking company. Someone called needing a truck so they sent me out. The only truck in the yard was a light duty Pete with a 262 Cummins and 4 and 4 boxes and winch. They wanted a lowboy trailer but none were available so I took a 3 axle 8' wide float.

I showed up at the job site, there was a D8 or 9 Cat (don't remember which) with a 12' blade and 3 bar ripper on it. I thought, holy crap, I hope this isn't what I am suppose to haul. The contractor came up, asked if I really intended to haul that Cat on this. I asked if he really intended me to haul that on this. I suggested we wait until a bigger truck with a lowboy was available but he wanted the Cat moved now.

I nosed the trailer down, they walked the Cat up the trailer to the back so I could pick up the front of the trailer to get reattached to it. There were only a few inches of track on each side of the trailer. We centered the Cat and chained it down.

I had gone maybe 10 miles on the gravel road when the road dropped into a wash, made a long sweeping bend in the wash and then a fairly steep climb to get back out of the wash. The sweeping bend was angled pretty steep to the inside so I knew I would have to ride the high side to keep from tipping over like the truck in the video. My only concern was if I had enough power to climb the hill out of the wash so I wanted as much speed as I dared before starting up the hill.

Off I go, down the hill, around the corner balancing the truck so I didn't roll over on the inside or centrifugal force didn't roll me over on the outside. I'm not sure what gears I was in when I hit the bottom of the hill but once on the hill I took both transmissions into low low. I was so proud of that shift, no scratching of gears, no bumps, grinds, just a smooth gentle shift.

I'm climbing the hill, drivers are just getting to the crest when, bang, the driveline twists off. I lock everything down as fast as possible but then realize I'm loosing air. The driveline punched a hole in the air tank. I set the engine throttle on high and start wedging rocks under all the tires. I know there is no way I can keep that truck upright going back down the hill and around the corner.

About that time the contractor shows up, sees what I am doing and helps chalk the tires. Afterwards he said he showed up about the time I was going around the corner and said he was amazed I was able to keep the truck upright. He had another Cat on a job about a mile away so he already had it being roaded over to finish pushing me up the hill.

It was an interesting time.

talk about help and luck showing up at the same time. Jon

 

[BigBlue1]

I'm climbing the hill, drivers are just getting to the crest when, bang, the driveline twists off. I lock everything down as fast as possible but then realize I'm loosing air. The driveline punched a hole in the air tank. I set the engine throttle on high and start wedging rocks under all the tires. I know there is no way I can keep that truck upright going back down the hill and around the corner.

About that time the contractor shows up, sees what I am doing and helps chalk the tires. Afterwards he said he showed up about the time I was going around the corner and said he was amazed I was able to keep the truck upright. He had another Cat on a job about a mile away so he already had it being roaded over to finish pushing me up the hill.

It was an interesting time.

Interesting. I guess I assumed truck air brakes worked the opposite of that... that if the air supply failed they would 'fail safe' or engage. i.e. That air pressure was required in order to release the brakes. Seems dangerous to rely on pressure and catastrophically fail if pressure is lost.

Rob

 

[Reb954]

Interesting. I guess I assumed truck air brakes worked the opposite of that... that if the air supply failed they would 'fail safe' or engage. i.e. That air pressure was required in order to release the brakes. Seems dangerous to rely on pressure and catastrophically fail if pressure is lost.

Rob

Air pressure is used to apply the brakes but now days most every truck driving axle and a lot of trailers are equipped with maxi brakes which use springs to set the brakes if the air pressure drops to a certain level.

Back in the 70's you were lucky if you had maxi brakes on one of the drivers.

 

[npalen]

While at the SEMA convention - welcome to mrtrailer.com
Anyone tried one of these? Towing related at least.

 

[tjkubota93]

That seems like the wrong solution to having too small a truck.

 

[dragoneggs]

Daily Machines
Do not know if this link will work without facebook account.

Not to be racist or anything, but why do so many excavator/tractor fails seem to be in foreign countries? Do they just have better premonitions to video potential screw ups?

 

[California]

... welcome to mrtrailer.com
Anyone tried one of these? Towing related at least.

Lots of strange designs on that website.

The old 'Lucy and Desi giant trailer' helper wheel design with tiny road tires at the hitch is no longer legal in California. I wonder if this one evades that rule because it only bears weight on a bump.

 

[Fallon]

Not to be racist or anything, but why do so many excavator/tractor fails seem to be in foreign countries? Do they just have better premonitions to video potential screw ups?

Lax if any regulations. Say what you will about keeping government out of your business, but I like their business being keeping the idiot with an improperly secured machine off my vehicle.