How to handle a steer tire blowout

I was taught a long time ago to always have a out, if you have to go off the road do it in a straight line so you do not tip over, you go off the pavement you going to be sinking unevenly so hold on, it is going to be a rough ride, but with power steering you do not feel the road as good anymore, still get both hands on that steering wheel, keep it straight as possible, might have to hit throttle a bit to do, which hitting throttle will take some of the pressure off the front wheel, but in little movements find a landing spot, then go wipe.

 

I almost forgot this one but get a pair of silk gloves and on your pretrip go over the whole front tires, inside and out side, a broken chord will snag that silk and let you know before it becomes big trouble.

 

Every time I hop out of the truck I take a quick look at the steers. Doing pre trips I spend more time checking steers than anything else.

Slip seating and in the oilfield I just wouldn't feel right leaving the yard without a proper look see.

 

I have actually run off in the rain a time or two. That big truck fell into someone's lawn and dropped like a foot plus into that mud and grass. Threw it all sky high when I slammed the power down to the floor and held the wheel steady forward. The left hand drives stayed on the pavement and thankfully it was enough to maintain the rig as the embankment came up rather fast. (That was a potentially lethal problem that needed solving as the last few grains of sand runs out of the hourglass awful fast...) I horsed it back onto the pavement with a really quick movement of the wheel that lasted just a little bit. The trailer shook and then followed me over back to the left.

It worked out that time. But that man when he wakes up in the morning and see he has no front yard probably hopped up and down for weeks. Still is and I wont blame him one bit. That is one reason I don't buy houses that close to a roadway. heh.

To end the story, the most important thing is to hold on to that steering and make very small inputs slowly one at a time giving her time to follow through. She'll do it for you if at all possible. You can deal with the damage later if any.

 

Excellent advice. I NEVER heard of this. Thank you.

 

usually if a tire is so bad you got metal coming out, it's OOS. And even better if you examine your tires several times a day and night you will see a problem developing long before it gets that bad. When I started it was necessary to make tire stops every 80 miles or so if I remember right. Right about that much. Then again, they were pretty easy to change back then.

 

Thanks for the extra info, heavy. Experienced professionals like you and many others in this forum provide young bucks like me with much needed schooling.

 

Didn't watch the vid *disclaimer* - but I can tell you what happens simply by understanding basic physics.

Steer blows.
Slam brakes.
You're already off balance.
Lock up.
Truck dives, awkwardly.
Load is pitched.
Falls on top of you.
Game over.

Be cool. There's a 40k lb (ish) gun pointed at the back of your head all the time, fellas. More than that for some of us.

 

Erm I appreciate it but keep in mind, I am only one me and I do tend to get... "Lunch countery" sometimes to use a bad term. with stories that have a grain of truth somewhere. And a little bit of ... drama I suppose.

I do remind you that the life I had starting off, with trainers punching, shoving and so forth is probably not a acceptable life to you young ones today. So.. er.. I guess Im history. But its what I had. Not what you, you and you in the back had necessarily.