I'm not saying this driver didn't do a proper pre-trip but.....

UH.......yeah..

 

Soo... those mirrors don't give a view to the rear? Interesting.

I had a case once, about 16 years ago, where the anchor pins on my spread sheared off as I was pulling into a truck stop in Missoula, MT. I'll see if I can dig up the pics. I had just picked the trailer up after the boss had the airbags replaced. You could see around the circumference of the pin where it had been cracked for quite some time. No way to see it on a pre-trip.

 

Don't forget to look for a small shiny area around the lugs as well...

 

I know hard to tell when a trailer has necessarily been serviced last, but when truck or tlr gets serviced...........LOOK OUT........

Took my truck in for srvice last month for a violation DOT found under the truck........made a copy of the violation, gave it to the shop foreman
(and of course mt fault) rushing out for load when I left and did not look.
Shop did everything else but that. Thye pu on new tires/brakes/mud flaps/ filters and crap but not a VIOLATION REPAIR.

I looked the next day to find it hadn't been done.

Called maint. to get authorization to have repair made at a shop on the road and told me I should have had it done when it was in the day before!

It took alot of restraint to inform him his people failed tnd dropped the ball. Conversation drastically changed from that point.

MORAL.................ALEAYS CHECK BEHIND THE SHOP GUYS

 

Never found a mirror that gave me a view of the rear of the trailer, I have seen the camera systems.

Mark

 

I agree...not sure if I posted this or not before. A while back, the transfer case on my truck broke. I had it fixed and it went down to my local HQ for a head to toe overhaul / looky loo. I got it back and I think 2 days later, I noticed a shiney area around a lug nut. I grabbed it and was able to easily unscrew it. I could have died right there from shock. I tried all the rest on the tractor and found 1 or 2 others that needed to be tightened.

Lol...then I had a heckuva time trying to figure out what to do. Felt stupid bringing the truck in somewhere to have the lugnuts tightened but I found a shop that had a national account with us and thats what I did. I dont think they charged....but jeesh.

 

That's not what you said in your original post. Nevermind. Trivialities.

 

Looks like the fastening studs were over torqued. Throw some service time and rust on that, and pulling the nuts off and putting them back on over torquing them again, and this is what you get.The wheel studs just break. Seen it at my past employer multiple times. Either techs dont pay attn. or shop manager said "Let It Ride". Either way, this could have been prevented the last time the trailer had it's wheels off if by the person who last had it tore down.

 

I had taken my 2002 Caravan to a Sams club for tires once, when they had the front tires off, I noticed that the brake pads were getting low. I figured, no problem, I will do that on the weekend, and glad I did, they tightened the lug nuts down so tight that all the studs broke off when I removed the tires. I was a little mad but glad it happened in my driveway and not going down the highway.

PS: going to be in Winter Haven on Friday, looking to move to Florida next year, and I want to end up in that area, going to scout places to live....

 

Almost everything I've seen on Mainternance says lugs need to be re-torqued within 500 - 1000 miles. In over 40 years, I've only seen a few places that actually tried to do this...

I also remember watching new CDL grads doing their NJ road test. It is a three step process, Pre-trip, closed course driving and a road trip. You have to pass each section to move on. Every student that didn't reach out and touch the lug nuts never got the chance to do step 2...