Scarry!!!!!!

[litespeed]

Scary!!

Ok... .....



I had the ever lovin crap scared out of me the other day. I forgot to post... But now I think it may be important that I post so others are aware of the danger.



I was pulling in to the Flying J off of Kings Rd. and Orange Ave. in Ft. Pierce, FL. It was a 4 way intersection. The light was green in my direction and the other (heading N and S). As I crossed through the intersection and approached the Flying J... . Here comes a Dodge Dakota in my lane HEAD ON at 50 MPH!!! My first thought was Holy S!@#!! I managed to swerve into oncoming traffic (they moved thank god, no where to go on the other side due to a guard rail). I barely missed the truck, guard rail and several other cars to include a large motorhome (RV). As the truck went passing by... ... ... . Holy S@#$! AGAIN... ... No one was in the vehicle!!!!!! :--) At first I thought someone may have passed out, or had a heart attack or something... ..... But as it went by, I had a good look inside... . Nothing!! OMG... ... .



I was not sure what to think... ...



I finally swerved and headed towards a shallow ditch and stopped short of the guard rail on my side of the road. The Dakota kept going, barely missed a telephone pole and hit an aluminum crosswalk sign... ... . The cross walk sign stopped the truck and knocked the sign into a beatiful brand new Peterbuilt sitting at the red light... ... The driver got out in disgust, threw the sign off his truck and kept going!! He must have been in a big hurry or late for a very important date??



Anyway... ..... Long story short... ... The Dakota was being pulled (towed behind) a very large motorhome and broke loose leaving the Flying J!! :{ The truck proceeded to pass them on the Right hand side and cross over in front of them (barely missing the car in front of them). Then... . It came into oncoming traffic, and right at me!! Both of us (vehicles) were traveling approx. 50 MPH. The accident would have been bad if I had not been paying attention... ..... CRAZY STUFF!! :-laf



The size of the mounting plates that broke was astounding! They were at least 1/4" steel! It is hard to belive that they actually broke. It looked like a really well built setup. I cant imagine it being built any better?



Anyway... ..... Keep your eyes peeled for those things!! They are literally loose canons waiting to come loose!



I wish I would have had my digital camera with me!



AJ

 

[Diesel Nut]

Looks like your gonna need to invest in some good leather cleaner for your seat, eh?! :--)

 

[DIESELMAN]

My wife and I were headed to Alaska a few years back when we saw a Grand Jeep Cherokee break its tow bar and fly 150' up an embankment at 60MPH. Could have been a disaster if it had gone left instead of right.



For those who know the AK/HWY, the Motorhome lost his towed about 20 miles west of the 37 (Cassier) junction but didn't notice until Rancheria Falls when they pulled in to walk the boardwalk.



The jeep was a total loss.

 

[bmoeller]

A few weeks ago, I was in northern Iowa heading South with a load of cattle. There were 2 or 3 car toters with either a car or minivan on them, in the median of I-35. No signs of tracks from the vehicles that had been towing them. Looked like the couplers had unlocked on them or something.

 

[Champane Flight]

Several times

Drove truck for several years, seen this happen a few times. Once a Uhaul truck with a VW bug on the back, I was following on the freeway when it came loose. That thing cut left hard, started rolling, rolled itself off the right side of the highway and into a embankment. Another time a Uhaul trailer came off a jeep, it moved into the left lane of the freeway, almost passed the jeep, and the jeep started to brake and move off the highway. The trailer hit the center concrete, and swerved over to the right, finally stopping behind the jeep, just like it was still hooked, too lucky! Two lessons learned, CHECK all hitchs frequently, every 100 miles or two hours, even more in traffic situations. Do not trust Uhaul, or some other kid to do this for you! Seen results, not good. . Saw results of two showbikes in a Haulmark trailer going off an over pass at seventy, not show anymore!

 

[WDixon27]

i see goober drivers all of the time at the salvage yard/shop i work at, had a guy that wanted to pick up a parts car on a trailer that looked like it wouldn't handle a riding lawn mower in size of capacity, another time a guy comes in with a rented double axle car hauler to pick up a car and promptly looses the trailer before he goes 2 feet, turns out it was the first time he ever towed anything i already had to strap the car down as he didn't have a clue, the boss has a real dumb friend who made a car trailer out of a rotted airstream trailer, the best part he uses the trailer to haul his lamborghini diablo vt, a car that cost a quarter mil new on a trailer that i wouldn't pay a quarter for, i saw it on the trailer once and it was sagging so bad the bottom of the car was almost touching the center of the deck

 

[MTownsend]

Before I moved out here I had to sell most of my toys, one of them was a 72 plymouth satellite sebring plus. The idiots that picked it up had a tow bar with no way to atach it to the car. there solution was to used old seat belt straps to hold the tow bar in place. They wraped them around the core suport and the tow bar!!!! They said they have done this many times before, and proceded to tow the car from my house in maryland, down I95 through DC to there place in Va!!! Be alert at all times, there are too many idiots out there!!

 

[Champane Flight]

Some of them actually make it to there destination!

I have a stepson that has done things like this for years! He loads up his sons four bye on a old rickity car hauler which has only a couple of boards left on the floor, one burning light, onion skins for tires, no spare, no trailer brakes, no safety chains, a truck with very little brakes, one tailight, and a old overweight camper, which is falling apart and tyed down with balerwire! He then proceeds to Moab every year from eastern slope of Colo! What amazes me, he has made it for the last ten years without major mishape!

 

[DSteimle]

best i ever saw, a 16x80 mobile home unhooks on i-12 just out of lafayette,la. going about 60 mph it headed head first into a stand of sapling pines. after about 100 ft it stopped and all those 2" pines stood back up behind it. i would love to know how they got it out of there

 

[WDixon27]

probably cut out a driveway gave it a address and put forsale on it :-laf

best i ever saw, a 16x80 mobile home unhooks on i-12 just out of lafayette,la. going about 60 mph it headed head first into a stand of sapling pines. after about 100 ft it stopped and all those 2" pines stood back up behind it. i would love to know how they got it out of there

 

[MMotschman]

Having an engineering degree i think I may be able to offer some explanation as to how 1/4 steel can break. While nothing may have ever come close to the max breaking strength of the steel the cyclic loading (pulled and pushed over and over) of accelerating and stopping will fatigue the metal. This is the same concept as if you take a piece of wire and bend it it won't break. but if you bend it several times it will eventually break because you have exceeded the fatigue life of the wire. the problem with welds is that they develop cracks very quickly due to the natural of what has been done with the metal. Consequently it is very important to inspect your towing set up every time you tow. It only takes 5 min to give the hitch and connections a good once over to look for signs of fatigue (small cracks are the key) to prevent a disaster such as this. If you want more info you can PM me and I'll go into more detail.