I Made a Stupid Mistake - I Need Advice

It is good advice, problem is pride gets in the way. A fixable situation now has cost time. ( hometime) I beleive op called it R and R. Call the company have them pay for the wrecker I dout even Werner will fire you for getting stuck. I know I have been there myself, it is the oh sh-t what do I do know factor. Own up to the mistake get it resolved and try not to do it again is all you can do. Keep us posted and good luck.

 

You are a company driver. First you get your company to make the decisions. It's their truck. They won't give you an open comdata check. They are going to want to know who and how much before they even approve it. Then you will get a comdata code.

When I first started driving I got stuck in my own yard on hard flat ground. One little hump had the frame twisted a little where I couldn't get any traction. Luckily I have a friend with a dump truck and he pulled me out. Chock it up as a learning experience.

Some rules of home parking...

Stay on pavement or places of known truck traffic. Soft shoulders is not stable ground. Some can be hard one day and when it rains you can sink to the axles.

Never assume any parking lot is okay without the owners approval. Just because there are other trucks there is not approval. Monkey see, monkey do will get you in trouble quick in all aspects of trucking.

If you exhaust all local ideas, look around the interstate where you get off and on at. Drop your trailer there and bobtail home. Some local ideas is a storage yard, a small trucking company or a store with owner/manager approval. Trying to cramb in a small lot is not a good idea. Even ask the local police if they have any ideas. Then you know they won't have you towed.

Try not to go home loaded as it's a sitting target. If you have to, keep the tractor under it and try to back against a fixed object so they can't open the doors. Always use a kingpin lock when dropping a trailer. Locks are just a deterrent and will not stop a thief.

All trucks have tow hooks. It might be under the hood or mounted in the square hole backwards. Look for a square hole in the bumper area and that's where it goes if they aren't permanently mounted.

Unhooking was a bad idea as when you get in trouble the best way out is to follow your tracks out the way you come in.

 

Sh&t happens. I got stuck in St. Joe, MO a few months back. Thought I could turn around after unloading. Didn't realize the little bit of grass I'd drive over was a swamp. After messing with it, I thought if I dropped the trailer, I'd be able to get the truck out and rehook up from other side. Big mistake.

After about 30 minutes, I realized I was fubared. So I called a tow company. Figured it was gonna cost me out the rear. He should up and first thing he said was NEVER, EVER unhook trailer. He had to get me back under trailer and then pulled me right out. Charged me 100 bucks for recovery and 25 to get me back under trailer.

I was shocked it was so cheap. He said generally pulling out a truck is simple and quick. The dude showed up in a 1 ton Ford with the tow winch or whatever it's called in back. He knew what he was doing, that's for sure.

 

If you are in a hole stop digging. Just being in a bad situation like this is not an automatic termination BUT if you keep digging and something more serious happens, then you might. We all make mistakes in judgment, however it is what you do when you are in a mess that separates the real truck drivers from the want to be's.

 

I live just up the road in gainesville.welcome to florida

 

I'm trying to learn, couldn't/shouldn't he have tried to chain up?...

 

Back when I drove wreckers, one of the questions we used to ask when we were heading out to start a truck was whether the truck had it's own air in the tanks or not. If it had air in the tanks, we'd go in the F350. If it wouldn't jump, we'd try a pull-start. It really doesn't take much to pull a truck. Of course if they DIDN'T have air, we had to send the medium duty truck (with air brakes)...but it was more expensive for the customer to see that truck roll up.

I've been stuck a few times. When I first started driving, I was living in an area where I could drop the trailer a mile up the road and bobtail to the house I was renting. I got it stuck next to the carport one day. Got the neighbor to get in my '86 Ranger, ran a tow strap back to the tow hook, and that little Ranger pulled me out.

Hauling logs, getting stuck happened pretty regularly...but there was usually a loader or a skidder around to give you a push.

Running dumps, like hauling logs, you'll get stuck occasionally. I carry a 25' long 3/8" G70 chain in my side box....cuts down on time wasted because all I have to do is find someone to pull me out, not something to pull me out with. Most of the time, though, that chain is used by me to pull others out.

Of course, I can't leave out the several times I've been stuck here in my own yard. Pulling a frameless end dump, it's pretty easy. As you raise the bed, the trailer tandems are drawn closer to the drives....so you can either draw the trailer forward as you raise the bed, then push the truck forward as you lower it...or draw the truck back as you raise the bed and push the trailer back as you lower it. Either way, a few feet at a time, you'll work your way to better traction.

With the tank, though, I don't have that option. The first time, I wound up working a pair of timbers under my inside drive tires so that I could put my tire chains on the outside drive tires. A couple buckets of gravel from the pile out front for extra traction, and I had it out. The second time, I got it stuck as I was getting home Friday evening, so I went inside to grab a bite to eat before I got to work on getting it out. By the time I went back outside, the tornado sirens were going off...so I decided to just leave it there for the weekend. By Sunday afternoon, it had dried out enough that I was able to just get in and drive it out.

Trick is, when you get it stuck, you have to stop trying to drive it out BEFORE you dig yourself in too deep. Worse than digging in the drives, though, is settling in the steers. Look around to see what you have available....and think outside the box to decide if it will be any use to you. Sometimes, it's best to walk away for a while and come back to it when you've cleared your head. Even letting some air out of the tires might help in some situations....increases the surface area of the tire in contact with the ground, spreading the weight of the truck over a wider area, making it less likely to "sink" in soft ground...just make sure you have a way to air them back up before you hit the road again. And if you're stuck in sand, sometimes wet sand is easier to get out of than soft sand. Think about your last walk on the beach....the loose, dry sand requires more effort to walk in as it moves around under your feet (and you can dig in and bury your feet relatively easily)....whereas the sand closer to the water that is still wet is hard and firm beneath your feet.

One other trick, on an air ride truck, the way a typical air ride suspension works is there is a leveling valve on one of the axles, which determines the ride height. The valve adjust the air pressure so that it keeps that axle at that precise setting. Unfortunately, all of the bags are maintaining the same air pressure. There are also limits as to the extent of the axle articulation. What all that adds up to, is sometimes when one tire rolls up onto something, it picks other tires up off the ground completely. With open differentials, the tire with the least resistance will spin, and a tire not in contact with the ground has no traction, therefore no resistance...so it spins and you go nowhere. A typical road tractor will have a power divider, meaning the tire on each axle with the least resistance will spin. That might be the front right & rear left, or the front left & right rear, or both left sides, or both right sides...in any case, you might still remain stuck. HOWEVER, if you dump your suspension air, instead of the airbags lifting some tires off the ground, the bags will deflate and all tires might be in contact with the ground again...providing you haven't already dug yourself in too deep. Be gentle as you try to pull out, though, because they still might not have a lot of weight on them...but they are on the ground with SOME traction.

Worst thing you can do, though, is to tear stuff up. ALWAYS pay attention to what you are doing, and think about what could possibly go wrong as a result...and if it's going to tear up your truck, you probably ought to come up with another alternative.

 

The first problem is that if he cannot move at all he cant drive onto the chain. Now, if he could jack the axle up and get the chain on it may work. The second problem is that sometimes chains will make the problem worse by "Paddlewheeling" the dirt out, making the hole deeper and the situation worse. Tire chains are usually no help unless they have a surface they can "Grip" onto.

 

Trying to chain up stationary is almost impossible unless someone helps you try to spin them in place. The easy way is to drive on them which he can't do.

 

Disagree sir. You can chain up without moving. I will attempt to provide what driving tips I have learned. ALWAYS keep your drivers on solid ground. Walk your terrain before you drive on it. Test the ground with a prode and if your still unsure then only put your steer tires or trailer tires part way on the unknown ground to see if they sink. Gives you an idea of how soft the ground really is.