Front tire blowout! Old hands critique please!!

Never had one blow on me...but had one lose air pressure really fast...took a large bolt in the tread depression areas and when the air started letting go...brother that thing was like someone was pulling the axle with a cable...pulling hard right just did the best i could to keep it straight...off the throttle immediately, no foot brake just jolly arm letting the trailer be the brakes...everything worked out in the end...after the 5 hour wait for the tire monkeys to get it changed out.

 

I've lost the right front steer twice, both times were non-events. Although the instinctive reaction is to let off the throttle, I just did pretty much as described in the video.

The first one was an overweight three-axle oilfield pump truck with super-singles on the front on a high-crown gravel road. The second was a Super-B hauling gas on the highway.

Driving that same pump truck for two weeks with chains holding one side of the steer axle in place was far more "interesting".

 

Can't find any criticism of this. It's what you do. They used to instruct you about blowouts in schools. Guess they don't anymore. Haven't had a steer blow in years but the video is correct. Press the accelerator and stay off the brakes. Keep it straight.

 

problem is you cant accelerate when your truck is cut back to 62 mph and your flat out

 

This is a great source of information and should be passed on to your friends! It's accurate in all aspects of a low pressure loss!Even if the truck is cut back cut back just put the foot in it until you KNOW you are in control! STAY OFF ALL BRAKES until you have control! You even do this on your motorcycle if you blow the front out! Keep the gas until you have it under control and then slowly drop your speed.

This film did not go into what braking does in a steering wheel loss of AP. They did show a little but to clairfy what happens:

The flat tire is causing a lot of pull towards that corner of the truck. When you hit the brakes (even the trailer brakes) it causes the tire to pull in that direction. No the trailer brakes is NOT pulling you away from or up from the tire. The more pressure you put on the brakes the more pressure you are putting into the pull from the flat. This is why you see trucks in a ditch after a steering tire blow out and is the ONLY reason he's in the ditch!

I had a cabover that I was passing one day on I85 in GA think I was going to hit him when I blew the RF tire and HE ran off the road because he ALWAYS thought that's what happens! Even though he had to walk 1/2 mile to come up to where I got my Pete stopped He couldn't believe I didn't run off the road! BUT he did try to get me to pay his tow bill! That was a good one and he was serious as could be! He even tried to get the state patrol officer who came out to write him a ticket to make it my fault and when we all walked the "line" (black marks left from a flat tire) from where the tire blew and where I stopped I never left my lane until I started over to the shoulder. The cop actually didn't believe me either until I explained "how to do it" They both leaned a lesson!

This film is about the same as the one I saw years ago. And it's true that even in a curve and going down hill you will NOT loose control if you keep the gas to it. Now they did state with trucks governed to certain speeds you don't get to "gas it up" as we all run them at the top speed but if you keep the gas going the truck will start to strain against the drag caused by the tire being flat and then keep the speed going were you at.

Now I know some of you out there will call BS about loosing it on a curve or going down hill and I'll call BS back!

My point being not only has it happened to me but Swift does show this film and I saw a Swift truck on a DOWNHILL Curve with a drivers side flat sitting nice and pretty on the RIGHT shoulder! If he had hit his brakes he would have been in the MEDIAN and not the right shoulder! And we make fun of Swift drivers!

In any condition you can think of when that steer goes flat, stay off the brakes! The rubber is still on it and will more than likely still be thee when you get it stopped on the shoulder.

NOW. Staying off the brakes until you have control and you let your foot off the gas slowly KEEPING control and when the speed is down to about 40 then use your brakes GENTLY!

If you're worried about ruining the rim, well if the rubber came off the rim when it lost pressure then it's already ruined so that is not in the equation! Because steering tires are NEVER recaps that rubber will still be there when you get safely stopped. The ditch is not a safe stopping area, neither is the side of the car or truck next to you! Don't worry about the rim! If it's aluminum and it gets road rash it can be filed and polished out which I had to explain to an O/O when we had this argument a few years ago! Aluminum is easy to work with! But after all 7 of my steer tire blowouts (I did a lot of construction zones) I've never had a tire come off the rim even at 85 MPH!

Watch this film again and let your buddies know about it ESPECIALLY if you know one who went into a ditch!

Good Luck
Rollover!

 

I'm sorry Rollover, I just can't resist a clear one like this!

Not the picture I wanted of you, rolling down the highway waving your steering wheel out the window screaming like a little scared girl!


Far to easy to resist....my sides are hurting laughing so much....I needed that one.....

 

Howdy!

When I was in J.B. Hunt Truck Driving School (1992) we were shown several films (not videos) all of which were produced by Goodyear. One of those was about "rapid air loss" on the steers. The formula was simple just like what you have read here...

• Boom!!
• Accelerate and hold the steering. This will not be difficult because the acceleration will actually straighten the truck. It's just plain physics and it works! I know!
• Once control is established, SLOWLY ease off the accelerator until about 40 mph.
• Gently EASE (don't turn) on to the shoulder and gracefully come to a stop.
• Check for traffic and get out with your fire extinguisher and SAFELY check the tire for flames. If it still smoking a lot spray it down anyway, just in case. It is far less expensive to replace a fire extinguisher that a tractor.

One thing I will categorically disagree with is this idea that ALL truckers run as fast as they can (against the governor). I have never run against the governor and never will... NEVER! I don't do it because it is not worth the risk. It is safer and since 1988 I have never been late for any load for going 3 mph slower. If you run just 3 mph slower than the "stop" you will not be late and it may save your life. I know because that 3 mph saved mine and many others. Read on!

One late Friday summer evening on Texas 105 east of Conroe, I was heading east about 57 mph. 105 was a two-lane blacktop and NO shoulder. Traffic was typically heavy shortly after "quittin' time" in both directions. While it was not a "blowout" I lost my LEFT steer within a second and my rig started to veer into oncoming traffic! Although I was still a "rookie," the "rapid air loss" film made such an impression on me that I almost instinctively responded according to the steps above. Those "3 mph" allowed me the ability to use the acceleration to "straighten out" my truck and trailer. I regained control and went to the dirt off the road and lived to tell about it.

I know that if I had been against the governor, I would have slammed into the oncoming column of cars and trucks. Let your imagination create a vividly graphic picture of what it would have looked like in those cars if I had not had those 3 mph to straighten my truck?

I hope that no one ever has to go through that scenario, but if you are against the governor when (if) it happens... someone is going to die! Keep this in mind the next time you are driving on a busy two-lane.

3 mph is all it takes to save your life and your life is worth it!

Be safe!

- CT

 

To tell the truth I can tell that joke on me too! It is a wake up call when the thing comes off in your hands!

Did it to me in an old Road Commode! Scared the holy craploa out of me!

My "friends"thought it was funny too as they were the ones that took the nut off and used Elmers glue on it so it would make it out of the yard at least. I'm just glad I was in the N GA mountains and not flat ground as I might not have gotten the thing back on fast enough! That is just one of the "road feelings" I NEVER want to experience again as long as I live!

I'll tell you about the pull up in front of him and blow the horn some other time when I can stop laughing too! Gosh I miss the old days...NOT!..... ROFLMAO!

What a band of brothers we all used to be!