Forgotten Posts.. Revisited

Since I seem to be somewhat on a roll, I will now attempt to recapture a few of those moments I mentioned were postworthy.....

BLOW JOB.....and yes, I still think it is a clever title

In the past, I have found it is so much simpler to just do your pre-trip inspection of tire pressure as opposed to sitting on the side of the interstate, waiting for a tire man to change your blown tire. That option can take several hours and the worst case scenario that I have experienced was a 7 hour delay..... So, with trusty air pressure gauge in hand, I check 18 tires every week... Several of the other drivers never check a tire, so it is inevitable that I end up with low tires on a weekly basis... In a Big Rig, the tire pressure should range from 100 psi up to 110 psi... 95 is not bad, but anything below 90 could potentially result in a blown tire....especially with a heavy load....

Last week, I could only check 17 tires, as the valve stem was impossible to reach on that last one. Grrrrrrrr....

I make it all the way to Long Island with no problems, and it looked and felt like it had enough air until.......... KABOOM! The cars scattered, but no one was hit with debris....

GREAT.... a blown tire on Long Island and it has been my experience that any maintenance needed will require lots of time, especially when we don't have terminals in the northeast to begin with. BUT, I was wrong.... From the time I placed the distress call, until the job was completed was less than one hour. You will notice the mudflap hanger is bent in towards the trailer, that thing is made of very stout metal, and nearly impossible to bend... So yeah, that explosion packs a pretty powerful punch!!

Because my trailer in enclosed with a tarp kit, and I was not the one changing the tire, the amount of damage was not evident to me until I arrived at the next customer and opened up the trailer....

That is when I noticed the nice hole in the flooring of the trailer...Look through it and you can see the rim of the tire....

But even more surprising was just how far the wood splinters and pieces of rubber made it into the load... I was picking out pieces of debris for the next three stops....

So, just a s a reminder (so i don't have to get on to you for being one of those idiotic drivers) PLEASE do not tail gate a big truck..... Just look at the damage to my trailer, and imagine how easily it would have been to shatter a windshield of knock a fender loose...

I AM JUST SAYING........