Two huge trucks carrying almost two million pounds of cargo went off the road in Texas on Monday. Due to their weight and enormous size, the trucks have been blocking all traffic on the highway for the entire week.
Two trucks are required to haul a load of that size. The oversized trucks are connected by an enormous trailer which was reportedly carrying a generator bound for San Antonio.
It was on Highway 185 near Victoria, Texas that the incident occurred. According to John Clegg, the owner of the trucking company, the steering mechanism on the rear carrier failed and the truck “basically drove itself into the ditch.”
All of the northbound lanes were blocked by the oversized load.
Initially, the Victoria County Sheriff’s Office claimed that the road would be cleared the next day, but that turned out to be more difficult than they expected. Getting 1.8 million pounds of truck back onto a road is not easy.
On Wednesday, a large industrial crane showed up to try and get the carrier back onto the road, but even that wasn’t enough. The Victoria County Sheriff’s Office now says that the road will remain blocked through at least Thursday.
Source: victoriaadvocate, victoriaadvocate, victoriaadvocate, facebook
When IRH haueld a load the same size they required 7 trucks the first time and 9 the second. Of course that was the four corners area.
In fact the red beams may be from IRHs inventory – the malfunctioning goldhoffer base, is for sure not.
I’ve seen them haul several multi-million pound loads out here in Nevada (Savage & Sons) and there was always 4-5 tractors in front and 3-4 in the rear. Unless the writer got the story wrong, I don’t see how anyone could pull that load with two tractors.
On the other hand, out here they were going over several mountain passes, which probably made the difference.
Now the DOT can have fun inspecting every square inch of that thing.
Lol! Can you imagine the length of time it would take to check ALL the brakes????
It would be interesting to hear if the drivers assigned to this project felt it was feasible.
Not much room for error in the major leagues…..
Lol finally a intelligent comment on here.
How about the steering wheel holder failed…
Nope, nice try, but not what happened.
The rear trailer modules have hydraulic steering capabilities for maneuvering around tight corners and such, but they get locked out when they are going straight.
The lockout failed causing the rear end of the trailer to veer off the road before they could get it stopped.
Thank you for supplying an answer on the gear I was pretty sure it wasn’t as simple as hands on a steering wheel
Good job super trucker. You make us all look bad. Gear Jammers are so 90’s. Wake up to the 21st century. We are all steering wheel holders once we get in top gear on the highway. Besides, you gotta know somebody to get into heavy haul. Not the average Joe can do that. My understanding is it requires lots of experience too.
how in god’s name do you pull 1.8 million pounds out of the ditch???
Very Carefully…..Well that was the response my father gave to most things I would ask him about trucking. He has driven everything with wheels and some things that don’t have wheels. You name it he drove it.
Hey Alex, not to be contentious, but wouldn’t that come under the pre trip rule? As a bad lands oil field driver I wouldn’t of thunk to leave the yard without checking that. I’m sure he did at least show the 15 min. for it.
Wonder how much that trailers worth? Must be some pretty fancy hydraulics under there.
It is a special purpose trailer and probably specifically built for this job. You don’t keep that kind of equipment around when it is not being used regularly. Too expensive.
There are some things you can’t see in a pre- trip. Inside mechanism on the 5th wheel; bushings, etc. The lockout could have performed fine during pre-trip. Just like lights.