carrying steel 20 footers on top of my Explorer

Then there is the fact that the front of the pile is going to fall down. Count 1001 and steel is on the pavement.

Wes S

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clutch
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I once visited the location where the driver of a heavily loaded semi fell to sleep and failed to follow the highway around a gentle left curve. The rig was stopped by an Elm tree about three feet in diameter, but the load of flat plate continued for several feet beyond the remains of the tree stump. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

Gerald Miller wrote:

On a similar note; I was in Kamloops BC for minor surgery (ran a finger through a valve grinder - long story) a few years back. Upon leaving the hospital I returned to my motel and called a cab. Taking me to the airport he spotted some congestion at an intersection ahead (in front of the hospital) and elected to take an alternate route to avoid said intersection. Seconds later a truck loaded with steel bridge parts entered the intersection. The problem was that this truck had lost it's brakes some distance uphill, had an incredible turn of speed on , and wasn't about to stop! If I remember correctly there were six fatilaties including the truck driver. The stairway (concrete steps on rock fill) that I had used minutes before to descend from the hospital to the street level was simply erased! My surgeon was the first medical person to arrive on the scene. At that point there wasn't much she could do. The victims were busy being dead and the survivors were trying to figure out what had just happened. Lots of shit hit the fan over that one and a (long overdue) overhaul of trucking regulations swiftly followed. Short overview - Rookie driver. Prarie experience only. Mountain road. BAD maintenance of brake system. No escape runout on steep hill into town. No one in the path stood a chance. Can youy say 30,000 pounds of bannanas (Harry Chapan)? An astute taxi driver saved my ass. Shit happens.

Ken.

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Ken Davey

On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 02:59:32 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Leo Lichtman" quickly quoth:

Perhaps she wore Theiss dresses. See Wiki for more info.

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-- Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. --e e cummings

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Except for the occasional homemade variety, headache racks are two aluminum Ibeams, aluminum diamond plate, and an aluminum tube around the edges as a border. I've popped a hole in one with a small hammer. Those racks are just so you have a place to hang chains and mount extra lights. No way would one stop a load that managed to break free from its tiedowns. Same goes for the cab. Whatever slams though the cab and happens to hit the engine would stop, but the rest would sail right though and out the front. Those tiedowns are all that's intended to hold stuff to the trailer.

Reply to
B.B.

Which works most of the time. The failures are horrific. I once enounterd a truck that had hit a concrete barrier, while carrying a load of pump sucker rods, where the barrier had failed. Upon arriving at the scene..there were sucker rods sticking out of the entire front of the cab-over. It looked like a pin cusion.

I didnt want to look in the cab..but had to. To this day..I wish I hadnt. Driver had a dog in there too......

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Reply to
Gunner

You guys have got me to thinking. I think I'll take a steel 5 gallon bucket and punch holes around its rim, and next time I have a load like this one where I have to tie them down as a bundle rather than my (much more normal) load which I clamp tightly to the crossbars, I'll wire the bucket like a muzzle on the front of the bundle. It wouldn't have saved Gunner's dog, but it sure seems like it would help in an intermediate case, like if I had to jam on the brakes unexpectedly.

GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Not a bad idea. Though Id use something a bit stouter. Put some 3/4" ply in the bottom of the bucket. Ive seen what long bits of steel moving forwards at high speeds does.

Btw..that was Driver AND Dog.

Picture a very large Ronco Vegimatic combined with a giant sized tenderizing mallet with all those spikes on the end.....

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Reply to
Gunner

nice thought, but the steel 5gal buckets I've seen lately can be opened up with a pen knife.

Any precaution is better than no precaution, but you need to consider the forces involved when developing your solution.

The most effective example of this that I have ever been given, someone explaining the necessity for seat belts.

The guy told the audience to try running into a brick wall as fast as you possibly can, and stop yourself by holding your arms in front of you. Of course, nobody would dare try it. Then consider running speed to be , what,

12 mph? Imaging what your body's mass is like at only 35.

Same concept, what would decelerate your 20 foot steel tube from 35mph? You don't really need to STOP it, but decelerate the mass enough to minimize a catastrophe.

Degrees of destruction... , see how much fun creative thinking can be?

Reply to
Jon

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