Subsim Truckers

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Crikey!! I remember performing that method years ago whilst undertaking my lifeguard certificates

We all gotta start somewhere!! Ronald Reagan as a lifeguard in 1927.

I've still got all my Red Cross and W.S.I. (water safety instructor) cards in some old wallet. Now I just basically float real good; It is a violation of the Marine Mammal Act to approach me even if I need rescuing! Me in 'wet suit' mit Schnorkel und fins!

[Wolferz]

Encroaching on the Penguins is a reprehensible act in and of itself.

Weren't we talking about trucking?

[em2nought]

Fuel savings from super singles truck tires are not worth the downtime of actually finding a replacement tire, and getting service. Not too mention loss of ability to limp in, or change it yourself.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

Encroaching on the Penguins is a reprehensible act in and of itself.

To each their own I suppose

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Fuel savings from super singles truck tires are not worth the downtime of actually finding a replacement tire, and getting service. Not too mention loss of ability to limp in, or change it yourself.

This is why my company will not switch.

[Wolferz]

Our military ten ton dumps had those super singles. The only advantage was the ability to let the air out of them(for off road use) or add air to them(for hardball use) from the cab.
I can't see a logical reason to reduce an OTR 18 wheeler to a ten wheeler. uh uh.

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

Our military ten ton dumps had those super singles. The only advantage was the ability to let the air out of them(for off road use) or add air to them(for hardball use) from the cab.
I can't see a logical reason to reduce an OTR 18 wheeler to a ten wheeler. uh uh.

I had suggested them to the equipment manager at work last year and he laid a good example down for me to vote against them.
He said to me that since I am in Northwestern Ontario in the summer, (there is often 50 or so miles between one horse towns and no shoulders to speak of), where would I park the truck if it was on S Singles and got a flat? That was all the convincing I needed.

[Aktungbby]

^Precisely! I did a lot of carefully calculated(weight-load math) running "singled out' during hot summers through Arizona and Texas; Road temps on asphalt are horrific (120+). It actually raised the tire temperature worse to stop the rig at the pumps. One set of newer tires temp-spiked: blew out, through the treads! in front of me-two star fractures-right in the treads and steel belts-not the side walls...we chose to wait the heat-wave out to run in the cooler evening that day. On I-10, occasionally, we would run on the shoulder which was cooler concrete than the asphalt. The road way was littered with blow-out tread debris. No singles for me! I like tire 'redundancy' in case I have to move 'em around some...just to reach safe haven!

[Wolferz]

Don't forget the tire ruts from overheated asphalt in the western reaches.
Super singles would create a pair of ditches in the roadbed.

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

Don't forget the tire ruts from overheated asphalt in the western reaches.
Super singles would create a pair of ditches in the roadbed.

Not only in the west. You should see the ruts in the 401 east of Toronto.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by swamprat69er

Not only in the west. You should see the ruts in the 401 east of Toronto.

I've only run through there once, carrying a big roll of toilet paper into Quebec. The roads weren't too bad at that time.

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

I've only run through there once, carrying a big roll of toilet paper into Quebec. The roads weren't too bad at that time.

Three years ago I ran steady to Ottawa every other day. The days I didn't go to Ottawa I ran to Kingston. The ruts were brutal. Remember I got a trailer that you could legal 83,700 lbs in the tank and I only had 77,000 lbs at the most. Too much weight for just the three axles on the trailer and not enough weigh to really hold the extra axle on the road, but I had to have the extra one down to be legal axle weight wise. I got tossed around a bit, but i survived. Would I do that haul again? I don't know.

Coming back from Ottawa one day, and the 401 at Kingston is under construction. A New Jersey barrier is dividing the east bound from the west bound right at the Division St. curve. I am traveling West bound, empty and am about to roll across the bridge to the east of Division St. about 1/2 mile, all of a sudden there is a puff of dust in the East bound lanes at Division St. (there is also a rock cut on the south side of the road), and an enormous ball of flame, a passing truck had clipped the NJ barrier and his trailer went sideways and tapped the front of the truck he was passing and sent him into the rock cut.....One dead driver. He didn't have a chance. That closed the highway for 12 hours. Luckily I got past the scene before the cops and firefighters got there. (I had called them, but like I told the dispatcher, I was too far away to see any details other than the explosion.) The details I just gave were from going through there the next day and looking at the tracks and skid marks.
That was NOT a good day. Anybody (Red October) that wants to get into trucking needs to realise that they may see stuff like this as well as the 'fun' involved in trucking.

[Wolferz]

That sounded horrible, Swamprat.
How about a pair of star crossed lovers getting on the wrong side of an interstate and pulling a kamikaze into the front end of a tractor. I came upon the aftermath of that scenario in New Mexico. It was one of our company trucks now sitting cross ways in the median with the steering axle torn out from under it. The car was up against the right hand guard rail with the front bumper shoved into the front seat. My fellow driver was unhurt but his co-driver in the bunk was injured by the sudden impact.

There are crazy people everywhere out there on the roads!

[swamprat69er]

April fools day 1999, I left Ignace, ON on Hwy17 east bound with clear skies and a slight easterly wind. I had an empty 53' trailer. I had been running in good warm weather and had taken my winter front off. About a half hour out of Ignace it started to snow, within 15 minutes the road was covered and you couldn't see 50' in front of you (There are no shoulders on this highway so you are at the mercy of the elements and have to carry on.) My windshield was icing up huge time and even with the heat up full (the Detroit diesel wouldn't make enough heat to keep things all that warm in the heater core without the winter front). I pulled over at English River where I knew there was a spot big enough for me. I put my winter front on, two trucks passed me, a wood chip train (2 trailers) and a freight hauler. I got back on the road, by this time there was a good 6-8 inches of snow on the road and we still couldn't see any more than 50' in front.

Six miles east of English River there is a passing lane for the eastbound side. A fellow ran down the road waving his arms over his head, Oh-Oh something has happened....I stopped and the guy told me that 150' up ahead there was two tractor trailers in a head on accident and two dead drivers on the road..... I eased on up a little closer, and sure enough there was a 'Cabbage patch Freightliner' with the hood, steer axle and cab gone, the frame of the tractor was under the trailer.

One driver did a 'face plant' onto the pavement, his ears were flush with the asphalt, head caved in and very dead. The other driver had his legs cut off at the knees, he bled to death. I told the guy that stopped me that in the winter time it is very unlikely you will find a driver driving in his underwear. The one that did the face plant was in the bunk. He never knew what hit him. Somewhere there was a third driver.
I heard some rustling like branches scraping together and in that neck of the woods when you hear 'out of place' sounds you holler and hope to get a holler back. I did.
The third driver was pinned by his left foot under the clutch pedal in his Western Star day cab (he was hauling the chip train), with the lead trailer leaning over and resting on the right rear corner of the cab. I stayed with the only driver that was alive and kept him warm, (in winter I always carried a heavy winter coat with me), and talking.
From the time the OPP were called and the fellow doing the calling was the freight hauler that passed me at English River, he used his qualcom to call his dispatcher in Winnipeg, MB, (no cell service up there, then), the dispatcher called the OPP he confirmed with me via the CB that it was Upsala Detachment of the OPP that was needed. [The dividing line for Upsala/Ignace Opp is English River.] It took the cops 3 hours to get there. (35 miles) They had to get plowed into the scene. Needless to say that road was closed for about 10 hours. The cars and pickups were all turned around and rerouted another way, but the big trucks had to stay. (Something about a 5 ton bridge on the detour route.)
Another nightmare realized.

[Wolferz]

You ice road truckers have all the fun, Swamprat.