Wheel-off incident (non LS)

[RigsLS]

Fn blew it Boys !!!

Round trip 7700KM, Ontario to Calgary AB to Edmonton AB to Moose Jaw SK and back home to Ontario.

Both Tractor & Trailer were in for service and the Trailer wheels were worked on prior to my departure.

Made it 550Kms out from home terminal and the trailer late at night got into a terrible wobble and fishtail.

Held onto it, straightened it out and put it on the side of the road,
got out with flash light and found the right side most rear axle set of wheels missing in action.

Bottom line: Very lucky no-one died, my fault, forgot retorq requirement after 100Kms.

End result: Being summoned to court, $1000 fine pending, Company is in even bigger sh*t, currently suspended without pay until after court case.

Very end result: Loss of Employment & mark on my CVOR rating.


~ On the way home stopped by my house and removed all personal affects from Truck, handed in Credit & Fuel cards plus cell phone next day.

~ Always the Driver's responsibilities ... Perfect driving record for years, F*cked up LARGE !!!

~ Stunned and Confused, being hung out to dry after years of excellent service. (one of their top drivers)

~ Game over, Done !!! :Bang

 

[Ben's LS]

Wow that sucks big time. Most of all glad you are ok. Live to see another day.

It's a shame they aren't more leniant since you have never had an issue before.

 

[Andrizzle]

Damn. So you were supposed to have it retorqued in the middle of your haul? Do you have the tools on hand or are you supposed to find another service station?

 

[pektel]

Looks like your service guy missed "lug nut day" at his local tire university 3 day education course. I've been pretty strict about checking torque on lug nuts after having any wheel/tire work done by any shop, but pretty sure I've forgotten a few times as well.

Good to hear you and everyone else is okay. Hope you're able to get back on the road soon.

 

[Robot]

Sorry to hear that man. Are you certain they can pin that on you? It looks to me like someone may have gone a little crazy with the impact wrench. I would do some further investigating on this. The studs are sheared off too cleanly like there was a failure before it was taken on the road. There could be others out there.

 

[Shredicus]

Holy crap man, glad you were able to pull over safely.

 

[2002_lincolnLS]

while it sucks, yes, if it was your responsibility to verify the torque at 100kms, then I don't feel bad... Sorry

I am pissed enough at retreads flying at my car let alone a whole wheel...

 

[RigsLS]

Damn. So you were supposed to have it retorqued in the middle of your haul? Do you have the tools on hand or are you supposed to find another service station?

Retorq in Canada is an after 100Km requirement, from home terminal this put me in the middle of rocks & bush with no service around, next possible stop was 220Kms away, was late evening already, there was a Peterbilt dealership there, they could have very well still been open. With all that was going on that day and running a later then expected departure, I plain and simply forgot and drove right past the place, disappeared further into the Canadian wilderness and night and only realized after the flash light lite up my eyes of the disaster that just happened.

MTO officer stated it's a sign of over-torqing when studs shear clean off like that but does me no good, if I didn't have a Certified Licensed Mechanic perform a retorq. AKA a receipt in my pocket would have saved me.

Company is using the no retorq performed to save it's own behind.

Company is being hauled to court as well, if it was over-torqed and that stands, I may still have a chance but only to get a reduced fine of my own.

Getting the job back is not the point, who wants to work for someone that's this quick to lay blame and use it's drivers as scapegoats ? (although this is normal in this industry)

Totally 100% my fault regardless of over-torqed at time of service or not.

 

[RigsLS]

Sorry to hear that man. Are you certain they can pin that on you? It looks to me like someone may have gone a little crazy with the impact wrench. I would do some further investigating on this. The studs are sheared off too cleanly like there was a failure before it was taken on the road. There could be others out there.

Working on it but don't plan on spending many dollars on finding them at fault with a lawyer.

There is definitely something up with the 7 out of 10 studs shearing clean off like that. Courts will tell them who, when and why they f*cked up.

I could have saved my own behind by not having forgotten to get the retorq done.

 

[RigsLS]

while it sucks, yes, if it was your responsibility to verify the torque at 100kms, then I don't feel bad... Sorry

I am pissed enough at retreads flying at my car let alone a whole wheel...

Wasn't asking for you to feel sorry for me ... and I've already been pissing on myself enough the past two days. Trust me, I'm not to happy with it all, wasn't done on purpose, my days are usually filled with to-do lists. I'm not making excesses, I forgot, I wish I had not ... as it would then have fallen more on the shop over-torquing issue.

This isn't over yet ... I'm just not running with these guys anymore regardless of outcome.

 

[2002_lincolnLS]

Wasn't asking for you to feel sorry for me ... and I've already been pissing on myself enough the past two days. Trust me, I'm not to happy with it all, wasn't done on purpose, my days are usually filled with to-do lists. I'm not making excesses, I forgot, I wish I had not ... as it would then have fallen more on the shop over-torquing issue.

This isn't over yet ... I'm just not running with these guys anymore regardless of outcome.

What I mean by that, is to take responsibility, hence why you was italicized. If it was due to poor service, and that person will not take responsibility, then yes that sucks, I would feel bad, that has happened to myself.

But if it was your duty to retorque the wheels, then take the consequence with smile on, but learn from it for the future.

I agree with the company, my company should in no way take responsibility for my or any other employees actions. However I feel as though they should protect the employee if they are in the right, other wise termination is required.

 

[Robot]

Working on it but don't plan on spending many dollars on finding them at fault with a lawyer.

There is definitely something up with the 7 out of 10 studs shearing clean off like that. Courts will tell them who, when and why they f*cked up.

I could have saved my own behind by not having forgotten to get the retorq done.

The clean ones were broken before you got on the road. Since they threw you under the bus, I would get your version of our DOT on this.

Remember during the trip when you stopped to go to the restroom and you walked around the truck for your en-route safety check? You didn't notice anything amiss.

 

[RigsLS]

... Remember during the trip when you stopped to go to the restroom and you walked around the truck for your en-route safety check? You didn't notice anything amiss.

550 Kms into the trip the wheels came off. Not sure what you mean by the above. I had a small drop-off in Cottage country on the way out and there wasn't an issue at that time.

 

[ATrom]

Glad everyone made it out ok
Sad to see that the result is a loss of job. Hate to see someone outta work.
Good luck on the job hunt, hopefully you can get back on the road soon

 

[RigsLS]

Glad everyone made it out ok
Sad to see that the result is a loss of job. Hate to see someone outta work.
Good luck on the job hunt, hopefully you can get back on the road soon

You have no idea how glad I am no-one got hurt including myself, one of the wheels got caught up under the chassis and is what caused the hop and the rear-end to misbehave. I had more on the pedal so I sped up out of the wobble.

It happened on the ditch side which is somewhat a better side to have this happen on as apposed to the traffic side, it was also already late at night with less cars on the road. Another 'plus' somewhat. Found only 1 wheel about 1KM back in the ditch.

Thanks, I don't expect to be out of work for long. Not waiting around for these guys to make up their minds. We're done!

 

[M4rk]

Glad the wheel didn't come off and demolished some i4 econbox pos. Sucks to hear about the job situation, point the finger at the retard mechanic? Edit: my bad, didn't read above posts.

I think you need to come down South a few 100 km and find work here

 

[05 LS8]

Big,

Sorry to hear that man. Maybe better things are coming your way.

Don't be too hard on yourself!

 

[Robot]

550 Kms into the trip the wheels came off. Not sure what you mean by the above. I had a small drop-off in Cottage country on the way out and there wasn't an issue at that time.

You know how you're supposed to do a walkaround whenever you get out of the truck.

That's what you say in court.

 

[RigsLS]

Take notice of the second last picture posted, see the top side brake shoe ?
compare the bottom and top shoe where the pivot pin is all the way seated outwards compared to the top one, which is in further ... they did brake work on this along with some other work, which was never explained to me. Who's to say, they didn't put that part on correctly, they also couldn't torq on the wheel fasteners on correctly ? was the apprentice kid operating the torque wrench even trained and certified in wheel installations ? what is the calibration procedure on the torq wrench, how often and when was it done last ? Are these studs used or new and if so were they possibly cheaper knock-off brands that don't even meet standards ? ... all sorts of things could have gone wrong here.

the 100KM retorq requirement is a preventative measure put in place to attempt to limit the amount of wheel-off incidents on commercial vehicles, it's not a safe proof method of ending wheel-offs.

our version of the DOT is called the MTO for our province, they are they ones that arrived on scene and nailed my *ss to the wall, she was easy on the eyes but that served me no purpose. I was actually awaiting the Road Services for his second visit to me in a Truck Stop parking lot the next day where I overnighted it. My dispatcher the night before, instructed me to drag it off the hiway and hide it in that parking lot.
Neither here or there, someone tipped of MTO that a disabled truck n trailer was sitting in a lot with a set of wheels missing. and I hid it in the back of the lot in the dark trust me on that. (as instructed)

Anyhow, there are a few things that went wrong here, trucks go miles and miles without wheels coming of, retorqed or not. BUT ... the biggest problem I have here personally is the fact I FAILED my part on getting the on-route required retorq completed in a timely manner, 450KM too late.

if over-torqued during service, a retorq would have revealed nothing other then a first click on the wrench when it could have been already putting too much stress on the studs.

7 out of 10 studs sheared of clean, not what you would call a loose lug nut situation if you ask me, you can see how the remaining 3 bored out the holes in the rim and then came off as well.

Doesn't matter, I'm screwed because I failed my part ... don't get me wrong, I pretrip the entire thing before putting it in gear, during that pretrip inspection, that wheel looked good, lugnuts present and hand tight ... even had so much new clad trim coat white paint on it, it all looked good to me.

But it blew up on me, had I gotten the on-route retorq done like I was supposed to have done and then the wheels came off, it would have been a story of me insisting on a bonus check for keeping the thing out of the ditch.


I can't undo, what's already been done but rest assure this won't happen to me ever again,
at least not at my expense as I will make damn sure in the future to never forget a retorq requirement ever again. I will put sticky notes all over my dash or tattoo it on the top of my hand somehow.

I could have covered my own *ss but I f*cked up.

 

[chris2523]

well that's ****ty.

doesn't sound like your fault. but, good luck proving that.

 

[mlara1129]

holy crap dude, when I got your PM about the grille I had no idea this was going on.

I hope you get everything resolved and it doesn't affect you negatively too much.

I can understand how you may feel betrayed, but if somehow they offer you your job back I'd say take it and keep it until you find another one. As a poor unemployed college grad I can tell you the current job market (at least here) is rough.

GL brotha.

 

[RigsLS]

holy crap dude, when I got your PM about the grille I had no idea this was going on.

I hope you get everything resolved and it doesn't affect you negatively too much.

I can understand how you may feel betrayed, but if somehow they offer you your job back I'd say take it and keep it until you find another one. As a poor unemployed college grad I can tell you the current job market (at least here) is rough.

GL brotha.

Yeah, after the wife explained the "she thought it was her new boots" story, I laughed a little more then I had all trip I was gone, this incident happened the same night I left town, on November 15th. I also came back with a terrible cold, not sure if you know how butt f*ck cold it gets up in Moose Jaw but it's enough to freeze your stash' in a few minutes wandering outside.

Got home and me and the wife emptied the truck into the garage quickly.
Had a few toys in the truck, had to rip out some electronics in a hurry.
Snapped my Sat antenna cable connector from the antenna is was so cold and brittle. took me a while to get my two seat cover-all covers off to. 65$ a pop I wasn't donating those. I ended up only donating some dirty floor mats and airfreshner, got everything out fast and that included my CB, antenna load matcher, cabling, my Kenwood Head unit, two 6X9, my Bazooka 10' pre-amped sub, PS3, TV, DVD player and a ton of 12 volt accessories. all my clothes, food, tools, postcards from all over, books, movies .... Fn everything out and I was so damn tired as my last leg was 1142KMS that day with a terrible cough n cold ... I knew it was over.

Didn't get to unravel your shipment of the Mclaren Grille until the next day.

It gave me joy for sure, thanks M !




I already got something in the works out of near where the M4rk is from area.

Might be running to Cally and back with Produce for a large supplier of foods for around here in a 2012 Pete at better pay even. There is also some lane work from Montreal to Toronto I might be interested in. Also my wife can get me in as a linesman with the local Hydro company. Straight truck but big dollars.

We'll see .... don't worry, this cat don't sit still for long.

 

[blwnbyu]

Glad to hear you or anyone else didn't get hurt.. I hope you can find a better company to work for. Losing your job sucks but they sound like *******s to throw you under the truck like that

 

[RigsLS]

I had nasty thoughts of ramming down the gate when I was returning the truck n trailer to the yard that late Sunday night but .... Naaaaaa

Thanks man !

 

[DANRS112]

If you're a company driver I think it's wrong that maint. falls on you. If it's the company's tractor/trailer, they decide where/when you go at a predetermined Rate per mile it should be up to them to make sure their equipment is kept up to par.
If you were owner op It's your responsibility for sure.

If I were you and with how high freight rates are right now I would seriously consider buying my own equipment.

Glad you're okay. It has to be scary to have something like that happen while on the road.