Check your kingpin.
- Thread starter Guardrail
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pro1driver
I don't wanna go fishing, even though i got stuff
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ever so lucky no one got hurt.
Double Nickle
Living from direct deposit to direct deposit.
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Wow. Now thats spooky.
Cerberus_Kelpie
TB Veteran
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Another Russian video??
They have different parts there, so no worries mate.
They have different parts there, so no worries mate.
Parts is parts and they all can fail. I dropped a trailer THANK GOODNESS in the pipe yard with a whole load of pipe on it (rookie mistake).
I have always been so vigilant after that incident. As a matter of fact, recently while doing my temp stint with UPS after a recent mammoth snow storm I cleared my fifth wheel plate of all the snow and ice I could, I tug tested but there was so much ice in the yard the trailer slid easily, I inspected it and the jaws weren't set so I repeatedly bumped backwards to loosen the ice and finally heard the click I was looking for, then double checked the jaws and it had finally latched. It would have been easy to assume it was locked when the trailer moved, but double checking can save your behind!!
Woe be it for me to speak poorly about the Russian drivers.
But I was running West on 80 through Iowa today, minding my own, playing leapfrog around the slower trucks in the right lane. Just as my front bumper was about even with the tandems of a trailer in the right lane suddenly the driver swerved right onto the shoulder, the left signal came on and the jerk started coming over.
Now it was snowing, I was running about 15 miles an our faster than this dope, and it took all I could do to get my rig slowed down to keep him from spankin' me into the median, and keep from losing what control I had of my truck.
About 5 miles later the idiot moved back over and I started to resume my run.
I notice that the guy is driving erratically, drifting to the shoulder, coming into my lane, speeding up, slowing down. I hug the left shoulder and try to get back after it. I haven't got time for screwing around.
So as I am almost even with the guy and I see a salt shaker in the right lane scrapin' and saltin'.
Again the idiot swerves right, his signal comes on and he starts coming over, but sees me and so the he tries to outrun me to the salt shaker. well he doesn't make it this time.
I give him the stink eye as I roll by, he flips me off (like it is my fault he is an idiot?) and I keep on cruisin', leaving him in the dust.
About 15 miles down the road I see the guy coming. Cutting in and out of traffic, doing his best to take someone out, and driving way too crazy for the weather.
I get to Iowa City and take the 380 towards Cedar Rapids just as he blows by on my left, showing me his IQ once more.
They gotta stop letting those dopes come over here.
But I was running West on 80 through Iowa today, minding my own, playing leapfrog around the slower trucks in the right lane. Just as my front bumper was about even with the tandems of a trailer in the right lane suddenly the driver swerved right onto the shoulder, the left signal came on and the jerk started coming over.
Now it was snowing, I was running about 15 miles an our faster than this dope, and it took all I could do to get my rig slowed down to keep him from spankin' me into the median, and keep from losing what control I had of my truck.
About 5 miles later the idiot moved back over and I started to resume my run.
I notice that the guy is driving erratically, drifting to the shoulder, coming into my lane, speeding up, slowing down. I hug the left shoulder and try to get back after it. I haven't got time for screwing around.
So as I am almost even with the guy and I see a salt shaker in the right lane scrapin' and saltin'.
Again the idiot swerves right, his signal comes on and he starts coming over, but sees me and so the he tries to outrun me to the salt shaker. well he doesn't make it this time.
I give him the stink eye as I roll by, he flips me off (like it is my fault he is an idiot?) and I keep on cruisin', leaving him in the dust.
About 15 miles down the road I see the guy coming. Cutting in and out of traffic, doing his best to take someone out, and driving way too crazy for the weather.
I get to Iowa City and take the 380 towards Cedar Rapids just as he blows by on my left, showing me his IQ once more.
They gotta stop letting those dopes come over here.
D
Deleted member 5115
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That in the windshield would most likely have been a death. I have to wonder how far that truck went before that happened and what cause that incident. High hook? Ice?
The guy clearly did not inspect his equipment before hooking up and rolling out. And he did not do a tug test before leaving.
I watch drivers every day that hook and go, never checking the lights and tires, never having a good look at the truck and trailer, they just hop in the seat and go.
As for why he obviously went a long distance before it fell off, well he was lucky, or maybe not so lucky.
I've seen a dozen or so trailers come off (none of them mine!), and most of them have happened within the first mile or so after hooking up.
I found a FedEx Freight trailer in the middle lane of three on I 70 in Kansas City one night. I waited for the troopers to show up before trying to retrieve it out of the middle of the road. The driver that lost it finally realized he had lost it and showed up about 30 minutes later. Last I heard, he still works there. And I'll bet he checks his fifth wheels religiously.
Guardrail
Guardrail
How can a trailer come off and the driver not know it? Sounds to me like the guy was not paying attention.
sharpshooter
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That's because everybody tells new wiggle wagon guys, not to look in their mirrors, so they won't get scared. Apparently, some actually follow that advice..lol
I agree that it could have easily resulted in a fatality if it had struck, or been struck, by another vehicle....This highlights another good reason NOT to tailgate Tractor/trailer rigs on the highway....
As far as a possible cause......It could have been a failure on the part of the driver....Everyone usually points to a failure of some sort or another on the part of the driver....However, there are other factors to consider......such as the age of the equipment....Everything is subject to stress....including the kingpins and the points of attachment to the trailers or the fifth wheel.... Fatigue resulting from being subjected to cyclic loadings over many years of operation....Such fatigue is progressive and can cause localized structural damage.....Considering the stresses involved when starting and stopping... going from zero stress when stopped, to a state of Maximum stress, when starting....and the continuous stress while in motion... it is actually quite remarkable that such accidents are not more common place.....
It would be impossible to detect fatigue of that sort from just a cursory visual "inspection" as a driver walks around the Unit during a pre-trip.....But incidents such as this underscores the importance of a thorough inspection to find as many defects as possible that might affect the safe operation of the vehicle...
D
Deleted member 5115
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I don't know, I have been around a while and had my head banged against the rear window a few times waling a dock or being in a poor traction situation where I had to hit the trailer at ramming speed to get 'er hooked. When I had my own truck I even rebuilt my Holland Fifth wheel and have a pretty good understanding of how theirs works. The fifth wheel seems to be one of the most reliable things on the truck and I have never heard a first hand story of one failing. Not saying it never happened just saying that I'm getting old, been trucking all my life and never had anyone tell me that they experienced a fifth wheel failure. Have heard stories of miracles on how they have held trucks up hanging off a bridge, but never a failure. So...if anyone told me that their failed I'd wait to see the NTSB report before I believed it.
Double Nickle
Living from direct deposit to direct deposit.
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But when you do the tug check, and G.O.A.L..(get out and look), and the trailer still comes off, that in itself, does not produce enough room in the fruit of the looms for that one large brick.
I've rebuilt a few 5th wheels. Yes they are built Hell for stout, and rarely fail.
But when you scrape all the grease off and find cracks and broken parts it will give you a moment to pause and consider the seriousness of what can happen if one should break under load.
sharpshooter
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Had a guy where I use to work, roll a set of dbl 48's on the NY state thruway years ago.The dolly/bogey/tandem gear fifth wheel, whatever you wanna call it in your part of the woods, stayed locked and tore the entire plate off the rear trailer....that's some grip there!!
D
Deleted member 5115
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Aaaa never mind....
grocerythrower
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We got a few guys that bang it together and go, never even checking a light, we have these swing door pups from Cali I think, the pin is set farther back and we have had several tip over at the warehouse, this one guy has a truck that the 5th wheel can be tricky to lock, he has had it since new, everyone knows of its problems, nothing major, ya just have to back into the pin and pull up a fraction and then back up again and it locks, I watched him fiddle with it for a minute then he gets out hooks the lines and cranks it up, puts it in gear and mashes on it, trailer came off right beside me! That thing hit the nose and the rear wheels came off the ground and it sat and rocked back and forth a couple of times, I was parked right beside it, all that could have been prevented by getting under the truck with a flashlight, some guys never learn, I have preached it to them, mgmt has preached it, still yet that 3 seconds turned in to a half hour of cranking a loaded trailer up, 3 seconds to bend over and look at the jaws, the next day he did the same thing, never looked, this time things latched properly.
Some guys just refuse to take that extra step, I will never understand why!
Some guys just refuse to take that extra step, I will never understand why!