a couple of months ago i was getting my mack painted (normally pulls low loader ) so i was using my MAN (which is usually pulling a tanker.a mate of mine was building a gravel driveway and wanted to borrow my water cart, i arrrived home with an excavator on the float, pulled up and went to start the water cart to build up air, battery was flat so i went to get the jumper pack, started it and then took jumper pack back to shed, as i was walking back to unload excavator and load water cart on float the water cart (full of water ) was cruising down the paddock (doing about 20 MPH ) heading for the MAN, i watched helplessly as it crashed in to the MAN, had just filled MAN with fuel,water cart got a direct hit on fuel tank, fuel running out of tank, i jumped in to water cart, could not get reverse as water tank had moved forward in crash and was jammed against gear lever, finally got reverse, took a few goes to go back as front bumper bar of water cart neatly wedged in to fuel tank, finally managed to back out. panicking now, diesel pouring out, drove MAN around to concrete area, pumped fuel in to pallecon,had a good look at damage, very lucky, only fuel tank was damaged, bit of damage to front of water cart however not worried about that, not registered, only use it for watering driveway to keep dust down and protection from bush fires. was able to buy a scania tank that fitted the brackets for $250, new one was $1800 and had to come from interstate taking 2 days, slightly shorter, but fits nice, tank slightly lower, shorten fuel guage sender and it's fixed. fuel lines/fittings same on scania tank as MAN tank, i can laugh about it now but i can tell you it was not funny on the day. i wish i had been calm enough to take a pic of the 2 trucks together, you can clearly see the imprint of the bumper bar of the water cart in the tank. why did the water cart run away?? when i release the maxi brake on the float it takes about 5 seconds before the brakes on the float release so i have got in to the habit of releasing the brake as soon as i get in the truck, that way by the time i start it and put on my seat belt it's ready to go,im guessing when i started the water cart i released the brake without thinking and by the time i was walking back it had built up enough air to release the brakes and take off.
Well I'm glad I'm not the only one then.... Post No 3
You were lucky, Pete, the tank probably cushioned the impact when it hit, but if you think of the "what if's" like the cab or a chassis rail, it might have been a bit more disastrous. The hazards of living on a hill. Rn'R.
i feel better after reading some of those squizzy.
i was lucky, had the MAN going the next day, if the water cart hit the cab it would have been an insurance claim and a month or so off the road, im not on a hill, just a slope, however the water cart was parked about 100 metres from the float and was full of water so it had plenty of time to pick up speed.or if i had taken a bit longer to build up air and i had been taking the chains off the excavator to unload and it hit me i would not be typing away now, i would have been 6 feet under.
Don't worry pete Be for I was a float driver I worked in the towing game doing light and Hervey work I can remember seeing this 3 times in the last year I was there one truck ran into a dam about 50 meters from the drive way and had the hole cab under the water, The 2nd one ran down a hill and into a power pole driver was in side his house wonder what the bang was and why the lights went out. Last just rolled into a garden and a back yard Did not have a good out come for the driver, What every you do don't run after them let them go easy to fix a truck,
It is pretty unnerving to see your truck or equipment leaving without you. Reminds me of a day a few years back on a scraper spread. We had about 16 Terex TS-24B's on site. That way we could run 12 pretty consistent, with some as back up, and some broken at any given time. The morning proceedure was for a mechanic or 2 to go down the lineup and have them all started and running by the start of the shift. I pulled in and looked at the 2 rows of scrapers, nose to tail, and counted 11. I looked down from the parking area and seen one in the middle of the fill. I assumed that it had broken down there on the previous day and was awaiting attention. This is not that uncommon. I caught the lead mechanic, and made the comment that it looked like he only had 11 ready to run. He looked at me and swore he had just started 12 of them. I said "no, I counted 2 times, and there is only 11" I then asked him about the dead one in the fill from the day before, and he says there was no scrapers left in the fill. We went to look, and the one in the fill had been at the front of the line. When he started it, he got off and went to the next one. The TS-24B has a suspension axle that drops down when the engine is off. When the engine is started, the accumulator charges, and then the ride struts raise up to ride height. This one was on a slight hill, and the can was apparently not down hard, just resting on the ground. When the ride struts raised up, it took enough pressure off of the can that it rolled off down the hill unattended. Good thing it did not decide to roll away while the mechanic was crawled up on the rear to start the rear engine. Needless to say, the morning safety topic was about proper parking as well as checking that the can is down at start up.
Oh look another scraper with out a park brake fix the bloody brakes please us float drivers hate when you have to load one on your own with out a park brake
I agree. They are not much fun, especially trying to load on a jeep and basket. There was an estimated 2500 Cat 631 and larger scrapers in southern California, and I bet you would be hard pressed to find more than 100 or so of thos with park brakes, and only a few more with any kind of brakes other than the cutting edge. You get real used to idling down and changing to reverse quickly when loading.
lol...years ago when i used to set chokers....watched the CAT skinner jump off the rig (D7G)...i hadn't rigged the choke's to the cat yet as me and the skinner were takin a sec to smoke. As we stood there smokin a cig we watched all of a sudden the Cat go right by us. The cat skinner took another drag as he watched it fly down the hill.....only word out of his mouth was "bye"
as for scraper brakes.....yrs ago when i was in my teens...worked for a outfit in the bay area....they cut the brake lines and blocked out reverse on our 631's....was told "you have the biggest brake you'll ever need...the can"...if you stoped for any reason other than lunch, pixx, or mechanical breakdown...they would walk out..on to the job...hand you your final paycheck...an then escorte you off the job......at my young age i lasted longer than some.....but not long enough lol.....4 months i believe....