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Ever had a wheel come off?

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Here's a good article on how to avoid it.


There’s no mystery to why wheels come off trucks. The National Transportation Safety Board in 1992, and Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation in the late 1990s, both concluded after exhaustive studies that inadequate maintenance was the root cause of a series of fatal wheel separation incidents.

Whether it was loosened wheel fasteners or failed bearings due to improper installation or loss of lubricant, better maintenance could have prevented all but a few of the incidents. One report that emerged from Ontario revealed that between 2000 and 2003, 83% of the incident reports noted that repairs or maintenance had been performed on the suspect wheels just a short time prior to the separation.
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Keeping Your Wheels On - Articles - Aftermarket - Articles - TruckingInfo.com
 
very good article, but sadly, since i drive a Penske lease truck, i am at the mercy of the alleged mechanics they have, that work on my truck.

right now in fact, tonight, i go and pick up my 3rd rental truck from them. (my lease truck is in the shop, due to a deer strike).

so i have been "blessed" with 2 other trucks in as many days, that have had "issues", like improper operation of the seat belt, exhaust leaks, engine warning lights staying on, hard starting, long crank times, a bad starter, and other things that SHOULD HAVE BEEN taken care of BEFORE they rented them out to me...

what i find ironic, is that with each rental truck, i get a "check list" of things that ARE SUPPOSED to have been checked..!!!

i sent off my email to the boss, telling him of my problem rentals...

he sent that off to his boss...(the other boss had to edit my emails to Penske, as i get VERY verbal in my descriptions, before he relayed them to the gal at Penske)

the gal at Penske is very apologetic for this disaster of customer service....

so if only a wheel falling off were my only concern.....

but good article all the way still
 
We always check the torque on all of the lugs while we have our air pressure gauge for the tires out prior to every trip
 
I once had drive axle start to come off with the dual attached. It was sticking out quite a bit. When I tried to get to the shoulder the axle with duals would not follow the truck. If I drifted to the left the duals would go back to where they were supposed to be. more on this later
 
so just by stupid luck it turned out that if i applied the brakes I could hold the drum in place and get to the shoulder
 
Smoov said:
I once had drive axle start to come off with the dual attached. It was sticking out quite a bit. When I tried to get to the shoulder the axle with duals would not follow the truck. If I drifted to the left the duals would go back to where they were supposed to be. more on this later
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I had a drive axle break on me once, on a single axle truck. That was not a fun ride.
 
Ok, I'll go ya'll one better, I had the frame break, sleeper went one way and cab the other, somehow the trailer detached from the 5th wheel and spun around perfectly into the dock, God was looking out for me, otherwise I woulda had to grease the spotter to put it in there for me, saved me a few bucks!

Long story short, I ditched the cab and crawled into the sleeper, next to the dumpster now, and went to bed, then I got up and with some duct tape and a pocket knife I put it all back together and ran on out to shaky.
 
grocerythrower said:
Ok, I'll go ya'll one better, I had the frame break, sleeper went one way and cab the other, somehow the trailer detached from the 5th wheel and spun around perfectly into the dock, God was looking out for me, otherwise I woulda had to grease the spotter to put it in there for me, saved me a few bucks!

Long story short, I ditched the cab and crawled into the sleeper, next to the dumpster now, and went to bed, then I got up and with some duct tape and a pocket knife I put it all back together and ran on out to shaky.
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E3kU7.jpg
 
grocerythrower said:
Ok, I'll go ya'll one better, I had the frame break, sleeper went one way and cab the other, somehow the trailer detached from the 5th wheel and spun around perfectly into the dock, God was looking out for me, otherwise I woulda had to grease the spotter to put it in there for me, saved me a few bucks!

Long story short, I ditched the cab and crawled into the sleeper, next to the dumpster now, and went to bed, then I got up and with some duct tape and a pocket knife I put it all back together and ran on out to shaky.
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AAaaa that was you I saw in Scranton on Wednesday, eh? You outta wash that thing.
 
Some days there is nothing you, personally can do.

I actually check all my hubs for oil, and one particular morning I noticed one hub was in need of oil, put some in it and down the road I went. 5 minutes from the yard a set of duels from my tanker trailer goes on vacation. I just finished passing a car, they shot off my passenger side..I could have creamed someone. Apparently someone had ran it bone dry, and had already done the damage. Got to love slipseating. Threw a chain around the hanging axle and limped back to the yard.
Brian lost a set, nearly killed people standing at a gas station, did thousands in damage to the convenience store. Found out the shop that had just replaced the tires had cracked all the studs, idiot had his tools turned up way to far and didn't torque the wheel down properly..
All preventable if everyone had done their jobs correctly in the first place.
 
as of my posting here of being on my 3rd truck, i am now on my 4th....

either the batteries are shot, or the charging system is shot, or the starter is shot..

my boss emailed me telling me that they are looking into the problems with this rental, and are going to fix it.

"i shall see", said the blind man...
 
pro1driver said:
as of my posting here of being on my 3rd truck, i am now on my 4th....

either the batteries are shot, or the charging system is shot, or the starter is shot..

my boss emailed me telling me that they are looking into the problems with this rental, and are going to fix it.

"i shall see", said the blind man...
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I have gone through 2 rentals and a yard dog...don't feel so bad ;)
 
Wild@Heart said:
I have gone through 2 rentals and a yard dog...don't feel so bad ;)
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i do not know of your situation, but in mine, they rented out the trucks in need of repairs....

i think that it was the typical situation where the guy that was using the trucks before me, did not do any write ups on them, since they were rentals, those drivers couldn't give a flip what happened to them after they got turned in.
 
I had a treadle valve go out in the yard dog, on Eisenhower, on the snow and ice.. nearly locked up the brakes and swapped ends.. with doubles on.. kept it under control and got down with my brakes smoking because they were nearly locked up.

Got a rental the next night, something major was bent or broken in the steering/driveshafts/axles.. never could find out what but I had to limp it to Denver @ 45 mph so they could put me in another truck..
Next one was in such general disrepair I refused to run it.. broken windshield, sprayers didn't work, neither window rolled down, several steer tires on the drives, radiator leak.. ect ect ect.. now my third one isn't pretty but it's getting me by. I have a feeling I will be doing this sort of thing all winter long.
 
Wild@Heart said:
I had a treadle valve go out in the yard dog, on Eisenhower, on the snow and ice.. nearly locked up the brakes and swapped ends.. with doubles on.. kept it under control and got down with my brakes smoking because they were nearly locked up.

Got a rental the next night, something major was bent or broken in the steering/driveshafts/axles.. never could find out what but I had to limp it to Denver @ 45 mph so they could put me in another truck..
Next one was in such general disrepair I refused to run it.. broken windshield, sprayers didn't work, neither window rolled down, several steer tires on the drives, radiator leak.. ect ect ect.. now my third one isn't pretty but it's getting me by. I have a feeling I will be doing this sort of thing all winter long.
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Whatever you have now has to be better than a T-800, that truck is nothing more than a cabover turned conventional...beat your dang brains out :)
 
grocerythrower said:
Whatever you have now has to be better than a T-800, that truck is nothing more than a cabover turned conventional...beat your dang brains out :)
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I have driven trucks with a Chalmers suspension, you can't fathom what that kind of ride is like. It's no better than sitting directly on the frame.

Between the short nosed Pete's, Internationals, Freightliners, Macks and Sterling's ...the best truck was my 07 Kenworth, it was bar none, the best darned truck I have ever driven, the most comfortable, well set up and strongest. I will take that any day over another rig. I don't know how the paccar motors are, as mine had a 475 cat, but it will be the tar out of this rental freightliner I am driving that has seen its better days..panels and doors keep popping off into my lap, the dash is nearly caved in..I can't shim enough stuff to stop the horrible rattling this thing creates. The windshield is so pitted and etched from the wipers that I see stars and streaks all night...trust me, I NEED that Whopper ;)
 
ok.

let's try this whopper thing again....

2Q==



i give up....

have a hot dog instead....
 
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