Wow....this is crazy.

[slowmover]

Lengthy post on RV.net in tow vehicle section. They speculate a Tope(speed bump) caused it.

That thread not a lot of help. But owner-provided scale tickets would have been the only correct point of departure.

First thing I do a vehicle is acquired (any vehicle) is to hit the truck stop, max the fuel, and with driver only hit the Cat Scale.

A TARE Weight is useful throughout one’s ownership. From knowing correct tire pressures while empty to setting trailer hitch rigging later. (Mommas minivan can tow a trailer with more weight than any DRW can carry).

I’m dumbfounded I learn a T/C owner (prospective buyer) doesn’t make this his first step. Yet it’s a regular thing to make guesstimates.

TT owners ain’t got enough clues about what matters with hitch rigging in setting WDH, but with a T/C it’s really straightforward.

That picture makes me wish for the sake of the owner that someone could prove it a fake. A con job practical joke on his friends.

“Help!! Send whiskey money!”


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[slowmover]

Read an article about this, it said that overloading and with airbags is biggest cause! Airbags cause illusion of it "can't" be overloaded! Then take into account of the roads traveled. This article was from Australia and with off road trails - non-paved roads. When you think of how easy it is to overload a trailer, now think about all the gear you take camping! Everything adds up quickly, including all the fluids that you're carrying! Weigh your rig empty, add camper and weigh. Now look up payload capacities for both axles, unload camper and load with everything you'd take, add in weight for water tanks if not full when weighed with camper in. Now you know where you are! Just remember that if involved in an accident, it might not be your fault until they find that you're overweight! Ask any over the road carrier about load management! Just be safe with the load you're carrying or towing.

“Overweight” can’t and won’t be proven.
An RV’er myth propagated by trolls.

Axle/wheel/tire limits are what matter. Not advertising gimmicks like “payload” or “tow rating”.

It’s up to the operator to get the data (scales) and to then modify or adjust as required.

And what Americans really don’t want to hear: operate at a safe speed for braking distance.

That last is now universally ignored.

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[seafish]

How do these things still happen ??

https://news.yahoo.com/train-derails-crashing-truck-carrying-220213463.html

 

[BigPapa]

Because people, professional drivers, too, think they can do anything they want.

 

[Topzide]

That's where the driver and company the was needing that precast should be sued for all the damages! It's bad enough in our trucks when people don't yield to us! People underestimate speed with size! They think that something that is big is going slower and also think they can stop just like them in their 2500lb car! I'm all for requiring that to get a drivers license, they need to drive at least a 26K loaded truck to understand stopping and maneuvering! JM2C.

 

[NIsaacs]

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More info on this rig. Ram says no warranty, way overloaded...

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...ehqqhlGcH8Qs7WcQaj9SpHpWsoc8ZXA3H0xlXqToGEZkk

 

[bcbender]

Figures...

I have a friend that claims its the trucks fault also...( I think he's just still trying to justify that the new trucks are not worth buying as he tells me(LOL)) I think the owner (and my buddy) are totally ignoring the likelihood of aggravated cyclic loading due to having way too much payload aft of the rear axle and unloading / loading the frame as it takes weight off the front. I have to agree here with RAM that in the absence of numbers and evidence (dated scale receipts prior to this trip or any trip) that prove the camper wasn't packed with "stuff" and way overloaded, it is not covered. My parents made a trip to Baja and took more stuff than normal due when they went....

I have scale tags and load evidence for all my trailers, I have no concern with what and how I pull or use my truck but these big campers IMHO are just too much for the std trucks and are more suited to a 4500 or 5500 where the axle is set back and the frame is heavier. ( the AISIN and Cummins give the illusion that its jsut fine, no mention if it had air ride that also will mask the condition) That being said, I'm sure those Mexican roads did not help the situation.

 

[petersonj]

I find this interesting (from the link provided by @NIsaacs ):

"Of course, Mexican roads—I don't know if you're familiar with Baja—they are very bumpy," Pavel told me. "They're definitely kind of back and forth, and there's dips and stuff. We averaged 55-60 mph on the two-lane roads, which are very narrow, and there's no shoulders at all on the Baja roads, for the most part. So we were very cautious."

I am not sure how "So we were very cautious" fits here.

- John

 

[AH64ID]

Other forums indicate the frame was welded by the crack for the fwd camper mounts, but I haven’t seen any proof.

I have seen a similar failure where the frame was welded, on a SRW so lighter GVW and RAW.

 

[Cummins12V98]

""Of course, Mexican roads—I don't know if you're familiar with Baja—they are very bumpy," Pavel told me. "They're definitely kind of back and forth, and there's dips and stuff."

I guarantee they hit a BIG Mexican speed bump. I sure would like to know what his front and rear axle weights were. THAT is all that should have mattered for the warranty.

 

[seafish]

""
I sure would like to know what his front and rear axle weights were. THAT is all that should have mattered for the warranty.

Actually welding on to the truck frame would ALSO effect a warranty claim ....just sayin'.

 

[Gearclash]

Other forums indicate the frame was welded by the crack for the fwd camper mounts, but I haven’t seen any proof.

I have seen a similar failure where the frame was welded, on a SRW so lighter GVW and RAW.

Welding on the frame seems to me to be the best explanation of what happened there, absent more details. That’s a pretty big slide in, but any dual wheel truck ought to handle that for a normal lifetime just fine. But if the frame is heat treated steel, then has a bracket welded to it, that rig becomes a break-on-the-dotted-line event waiting for a place to happen. Unless it’s done really carefully, welding a heat treated or heat treatable steel doesn’t end well.

 

[NIsaacs]

Huge wind farm going up here locally. Two phases of 72 and 104 windmills. It takes 11 truck loads per unit, some as long as 267' and some 254k in weight. They claim they can build one per day.

What is kinda strange, is, the blades are brought in by train, switch in Holbrook, then they backtrack south of the main rail to Snowflake. The main rail goes right past the final delivery location west of Holbrook to Winslow. Now they are loaded on trucks and pass right through down town Holbrook, across the railroad tracks to I-40 and westbound. The blades are 225' long.

I am assuming the reasoning has to do with reloading them but I would think it would be cheaper and way easier to build a landing in Winslow. 27 blades on this load. About a 70 mile haul on surface streets, highways and freeway.

 

[BigPapa]

I’ve got to ask, why do the tracks wind around so much? Tracks here are as straight as they can make them. Those look like some kid put it together on the living room floor.

 

[SnoKing]

The molds for large blades like that were made in La Conner, Wa where I lived to 13 years. They brought the molds on dolls out of the fab building and down a side street onto a main street and then loaded them on the truck and trailer setup to head out of this little town.

 

[GAmes]

I’ve got to ask, why do the tracks wind around so much? Tracks here are as straight as they can make them. Those look like some kid put it together on the living room floor.

It's hard to tell from the picture but that is a hillside.

 

[NIsaacs]

It's hard to tell from the picture but that is a hillside.

Good call. I wondered too so I went to Google maps satellite view and yes, the only s-curve in the line is right in some high country. Right before it gets to the Smithfield hog farm.

 

[Topzide]

Better take the scenic photos now! Once they're up, no more beautiful landscape pictures again. I'm still in the camp of figure out how to recycle the windmill before you go throwing them up everywhere! As of right now, the carbon fiber blades will sit i a landfill for who nows how long! Alternative fuels are being worked on as we speak, which I'm all for! Solve the recycle issue then move forward. Same problem we had when we started nuclear!
You'd think that if they were putting up that many towers, I think a spur would've been a better way. That way you wouldn't have to haul over the roads and disrupt traffic with those loads! Hope they work out without causing any issues. JM2C

 

[BarryG]

Building train track is not cheap or fast. Most if not all wind farms use leased land kind of like many cell towers and perhaps the landowner didn't want a spur on his property for a one time use. The wind farms are generally not owned by the power company but a wind farm developer who has a contract to sell the power to the power company. The developer rarely if ever owns the land the farm is on, they lease it from the landowner. Also they would still have to load equipment on trucks to get them to the individual windmill sites. They could care less if it impedes traffic for a while, it is all in the name of progress they would say.

 

[NIsaacs]

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Another one broke.