Blown tire simulator....

This is where I think the speed limiters are a bad idea. When we're governed at 62, 64, etc, most of us, and I'm guilty of it as well, will run right up on the limited speed to keep up as best we can with the flow of traffic. Of course we know that we need to actually accelerate slightly when we blow a steer tire, but if there's no throttle left, acceleration is impossible. All we can do at that point is hold the throttle for a bit and hope for the best. Then slowly bring the truck to a stop.

As for driving a fully loaded dump truck, one of my co-workers had that happen in a tri-axle on the PA Turnpike. We used the big, fat, float tires on the steers, so the force of the blowout was much more severe than a conventional sized steer tire. He controlled it well and got to the shoulder, but when he got out, he was literally shaking.

Steer tire blowouts are MY biggest fear in trucking.

 

I did a little research. Skid pad training is available at some community colleges. If you live in Michigan it is cheap, course from University of Michigan. Some companies provide this in their own advanced driving schools, like Schlumberger.

http://cdllife.com/2015/top-trucking-news/featured/skid-pad-training-course/

https://somanymiles.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/skid-training-in-a-semi-truck/

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...-from-accident-during-skidpad-training.65500/

By the way, anyone else heard of "chop steering" aka "saw steering" as referred to by some of the schools? Basically when going through a turn in slick conditions you are constantly shaking the steering wheel back and forth slightly.

 

A friend of mine lost both tandem tires on a single axle dump while negotiating a flyover above a beltway near Baltimore. By all rights it should have killed him and the load mashed 10 nearest people. But to this day he does not know how he got it settled there in that particular situation. I wonder sometimes.

Some of you talk about air tools in a truck. Im worried that you cannot drive some of the bigger ones with just system air. How are you doing it? A storage tank off system maybe?

 

A glad hand coupled onto a 3/4 hose.
A good 3/4 impact wrench with large fittings, G or H fittings.

 

Have you added additional air tanks? How long does it take to take off 10 lugs?

 

I think the intent is to keep the driver from locking the steering wheel in a fixed position. If you do that on a rough dirt road, rutted ice, or intermittent puddles you are toast.

I know when I am in slick conditions I REALLY relax my grip and let my arms hang loose like suspension bridges. In big broadside winds or slick, choppy conditions the steering gets pretty dynamic. I am never forcing the steering wheel right and left, I am reacting to the steering wheel input as I "see the line, ski the line". Perhaps the schools are teaching a more aggressive steer input without first getting the students to relax their hands and arms.

 

About 1 minuet to remove all 10, maybe 2 minuets. Turn on the cruise control and bump your rpm's up a little for more air pressure. I'll take a picture when I get to the truck this afternoon.

 

No need. I understand the mechanics of it. I just didn't think the trucks air compressor even at high idle would be able to do it.