This is why you chain trailer tires on Donner

I did not take any problems from you. There is no arguing, I have to sit and think carefully about the overall air system on trailers, how they work off the blue and red sides and how best to kick air into that second trailer to get it going again. Release brakes maybe, but not have service braking. It's a puzzle. Like a ball of yarn to a cat. something interesting for me to think about today.

Your thoughts are valued along with everyone else. Ive always said if you took 500 drivers in a truckstop and presented them to Congress, half of our troubles will go away because everyone contributes something good. And bad ideas are usually laughed out.

 

So the entire modern world knows he jackknifed and is about to be fired.

 

The red line is for parking. It basically "cages" the brake springs. The blue line is for the service brakes...the stop in your brake pedal.
If he ripped the red line, but still had the blues, you cage the springs with the bolts. If he ripped the blue lines, you go far as you can with the service brakes and at the last junction of good hose, you install a dime in the air line and screw the air line back on. This will allow you to get to safety without losing air pressure too quickly and or having extremely mushy brakes.

 

Forgot to add that if you cage the parking brakes you should still have service brakes.

 

While there are a lot of good suggestions about caging the brakes and tricky air line manipulation, they miss one point in this story... Time.

The truck was blocking I-80, and that is a pretty big deal, especially to the CHP that were there.

If one of us mechanics was that driver, had the insulated coveralls, and the right tools on hand, with experience in caging brakes, how long would it have taken to get dressed to be lying on ice, crawl under one of those doubles (which it seems to me have much less free space under them then an average van, what with the rear hitch and related gear), access the caging bolts, free them up, install them, and then pick your tools up and drive.

Or, while you are still standing staring at your broken air fitting, the CHP runs over to you and asks if you can drive it. You tell them the rear trailer brakes are locked up. They look at the road conditions, and the fact it is downhill with center divides and snow banks to contain it, and ask you if you can drag it off down the road, and they will give you the entire road to do it.

What do you say?? Lol

We don't know how much at fault he was for the initial jackknife, whether someone else lost it and he had to avoid them, or if the brakes were bad because the shop had messed something up, or if the CHP should not have lifted chain controls, or if he was just driving too fast for the conditions, but I think he did a good job from the point just after the jackknife, until the end of the video.

 

Yes. They want that cursed road open NOOOW. The actual time required to cage brakes, wait on tow vehicle arrival etc. none of that matters to CHP. They want that mountain OPEN RIGHT NOW. Mechanics or drivers etc do not get a chance to take a few minutes needed to properly cage brakes etc.

It is not a nice process to be roaring get off my highway NOW. Now. now. It's bad enough already and certain things need time to get resolved correctly. Give the driver or the mechanic or wrecker the time to do it in peace without the yelling. And a freaking chance to do it correctly without all the stress and yelling. This is not boot camp.

Fine.

What gets me is Donner has been closed going on 36 hours or so and not a word about it from blessed CHP. It's open now as of a few hours ago today but maximum chain is mandatory.

 

I think I saw a video from these same CHP guys on FB showing Caltrans hard at work clearing deep snow and a mud slide, but they can't yell at Caltrans, since they are already working as fast as they can lol

 

All I can tell you is that I came over Donner on Sunday (15 minutes after the mudslide!) and Monday in a 4-wheeler, and we were driving through some pretty nasty white-out conditions over the top on Monday. I was surprised they left it open - and I'm from Idaho. It was definitely 20mph max driving, using the zipper to find the lane.

 

Thou shalt keepeth the road open.