Husband Killed in Bizarre 18 Wheeler accident

I'm sorry for your loss. It's always a tragedy whenever someone loses their life, and you have the full sympathies of myself and all of our other members here.

As for the bed climbing uncontrolled, I have never heard of that happening. The mechanism that dumps the bed operates off of a hydraulic system in the truck. This system is not charged or pressurized in transit, and provides no lifting pressure at thise times. When the driver reaches a point where he is ready to unload the rtrailer and lift the body, he has to stop the truck, disengage the clutch, and engage the hydraulic system. There is a steel add on component known as the PTO gearbox that drives the hydraulic system attached to the bottom of the trucks transmission. A small air cylinder in the PTO unit pushes upwards and make a gear in the PTO gearbox mesh with the one of the gears in the transmission. Then the driver releases the clutch, and the power is supplied to the hydraluic pump. After that, a lever is moved to direct fluid to the lift cylinder, raising the dump box.

It is nearly impossible fo the PTO to be engaged in motion, since the stationary gear would have mesh with the moving gears of the transmission, and would make a horrible racket in doing so, aleartig the driver. If by chance he had driven off with the PTO engaged, the transmission would be extremely hard to shift, and would quickly draw the drivers attention.

While not impossible to have it happen, it would take an extraordinary chain of events for this to happen unnoticed by the driver. I am sure the accident investigators have looked at the truck and there should be some kind of info available to you that would indicate the position and condition of the truck and it's systems after the accident.

There are some trucks that have the capability to have the PTO operate while in transit, but these are usually trucks like highway department dumps and others that are straight trucks, not tractor trailers.

Again, you have our sympathies, and please feel free to make full use of the site and we will provide you any support that we can.

 

I am so sorry to hear of your loss. It is never a right time to lose your husband and father, but this is an especially hard time of year to do so. Know that you and your boys will be in the thoughts and prayers of all of us here on the forum.

 

Hi energy, sry for your loss, my condolences to you.

several years ago i was coming across the hump of a local bridge and i witnessed this tri-axle dump truck's bed start rising and it too caught the framework of the overage, and swung across the lanes too the oncoming traffic and nailed the passenger side of a car.

so yes it can happen.



Bigray

 

I don't know enough about those trucks to answer any questions.

I am so sorry for your loss.. Know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Prayers Sent! My condolences as well.

 

Sorry for your loss, I send my deepest condolences to you and your family.

 

I am sorry to hear about your loss. I don't know enough about dump trucks or anything with hydrolic lifts for that matter, to answer your question.

 

Actually, not true. Every dump I have driven, from semi-dump trailers back in 1980 to the semi-dumps and four-axle dumps I drove in MS and LA after the hurricanes, have had controls inside the cabs. One "pull" to engage the PTO, and another one to engage the pump. The control cable for the PTO CAN get so far out of adjustment that when it is pushed all the way in, a bump in the road can engage it and if the pump is even partially open, fluid can fill the cylinder.
Having a dump go up "uncontrolled" isn't as rare as one would think, and actually happens too often. It is just the inattentive drivers who don't notice it that "get in trouble".