Cut the trailer in half...

ouch

 

###### man.
By the looks of that cab, whatever he was hauling came thru the back to visit him....That skateboard is somethin' else as well....
RIP driver.

 

Look like he may have had a single coil loaded suicide style if I had to guess. The rig hit a low spot and the coil weight crushed the trailer, the chains were no longer valid, then the coil proceeded forward as the vehicle "slowed"

 

Yeah, I was thinking that exact thing. I guess the stress of some of the chains contributed to that trailer "ripping" like that, no?

 

Structural aluminum main-beams is quite rigid, it flexes well up to a point, but once it reaches that point, it snaps. A 40k pound coil at the mid point and a significant bounce-flex will make the 40k become 100k in an instant. Add in the trailer may have had years of stress applied to any microscopic internal flaws in the beams ... but no flatbed floor is going to survive a 40k+ coil loaded in the center as it is effectively "dropped" from several feet up.

 

First time I ever went to get loaded with a coil was in Ky,.. guy ahead of me had a 48ft flat like mine. I wanted to watch how he did his. He was standing on the head of the bed over the drives, guiding the gantry crane operator to center the coil. I was standing in the door way. I had just turned my head when I heard a loud crash. I looked back and I saw the guy flying 30 feet in the air and he was ejected off the deck and sent flying off to the side loading platform. The grabber thingy that held the coil let go and it dropped from about 10 - 15ft up. Was about a 40k coil,.. smashed the bed flat to the ground.

I was getting a 43k coil,.. load ended up getting canceled. Then came back 3 weeks later for probably that same coil. I used 7 chains and binders on that coil. Looked like a rats nest of chains going through it. I was so nervous hauling that thing.

Now after seeing a few coil load accidents,.. this poor guy in particular. RIP,.. I'm of the opinion that the chains just ripped that trailer apart. Like said,.. that coil produced some horrific loads when it reached its stress points.

I dont think there is anything you can do in a situation like that. No amount of chains is going to hold a 40k coil down on an aluminum trailer with tie down points rated 5500 - 6600lbs. Either the chains will fail,.. or the trailer will fail. Either way,.. something is going to give.

Hurst

 

Hate to see a brother go out like that.

Thoughts and prayers are with the family.

 

The FMCSA determined years ago that head ache racks and headboards are no longer required. They did a test at 15mph head on and nothing would stop the freight from going through it. Making a headboard out of 4x4's is a real joke too. I pull a flatbed and drive like my load is not chained down at all.