Big_Dave
July 18th, 2008, 06:26
First, the pic (NO!, this is NOT one of our trucks. It belongs to the general contractor of the job).
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j236/Big_Dave_2006/Iowa005.jpg
Now the story:
We've been hauling rock down in Iowa on I-80 from exit 106, west to exit 76, then to various points south of there.
I had loaded and headed down to exit 76 and had already turned south when my phone rang. It was Evan (company VP/bossman's son). He asked me if I had seen those 3 broken studs with lugnuts laying at the top of the 'get-off ramp'. I replied that I hadn't, so he said, "When you get to 120th St., pull over and check your lugnuts."
I did. Before I had finished checking them, Evan pulled up behind me to check his.
Ours were all 'present and accounted for'.
So, we started making phone calls to our other drivers, telling them to check their lugnuts.
After completing calls to our drivers, Evan called the scalehouse at the quarry we were loading out of and told the scalemaster to stop EVERY truck leaving the quarry and have them check their lugnuts.
They 'found' the truck that had 'lost them'. A KW T-800 daycab pulling a side dump.......and of course, it was already loaded.
The above pic shows just 4 of 10 lug nuts and studs holding the pair of tires on the truck (left rear drive axle). Here's the scary part.......from that exit (exit 76 where Evan had seen the 3 broken ones laying on the road), it's roughly 50 miles back to the quarry. :yikes:
That driver was damn lucky that the remaining studs didn't break and send the 2 tires careening across the Interstate.............possibly killing a few people and causing the highway to be shut down for many hours.
CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT OFTEN!!!
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j236/Big_Dave_2006/Iowa005.jpg
Now the story:
We've been hauling rock down in Iowa on I-80 from exit 106, west to exit 76, then to various points south of there.
I had loaded and headed down to exit 76 and had already turned south when my phone rang. It was Evan (company VP/bossman's son). He asked me if I had seen those 3 broken studs with lugnuts laying at the top of the 'get-off ramp'. I replied that I hadn't, so he said, "When you get to 120th St., pull over and check your lugnuts."
I did. Before I had finished checking them, Evan pulled up behind me to check his.
Ours were all 'present and accounted for'.
So, we started making phone calls to our other drivers, telling them to check their lugnuts.
After completing calls to our drivers, Evan called the scalehouse at the quarry we were loading out of and told the scalemaster to stop EVERY truck leaving the quarry and have them check their lugnuts.
They 'found' the truck that had 'lost them'. A KW T-800 daycab pulling a side dump.......and of course, it was already loaded.
The above pic shows just 4 of 10 lug nuts and studs holding the pair of tires on the truck (left rear drive axle). Here's the scary part.......from that exit (exit 76 where Evan had seen the 3 broken ones laying on the road), it's roughly 50 miles back to the quarry. :yikes:
That driver was damn lucky that the remaining studs didn't break and send the 2 tires careening across the Interstate.............possibly killing a few people and causing the highway to be shut down for many hours.
CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT OFTEN!!!