Load kills truck driver

[creekbend]

So sad.

 

[MasseyWV]

"The tow chains used were all over the road, and looked way to small to hold such a heavy load. the snapped like tooth picks."

That may very well be the answer. If the chains were too small, it's not hard to imagine the truck coming to a stop, causing the load to lurch forward, snapping the chains and allowing the load to continue rolling/sliding up and onto the cab.

 

[Hay Dude]

My old man happened upon a tractor trailer that slammed into a bridge embuttment carrying rebar on back.
Rebar broke loose went through the back of his skull and back out through his face and chest, through the windshield and out into the concrete of the bridge.
Gotta be careful out there.
I had a haygon with about 250 bales of hay break lose from my truck while towing it to a customers barn. Safety chains saved me from a disaster. Turns out my pin hitch bottomed out over a rut in the road and broke the hairpin holding the hitch pin. Chains saved my ***.

 

[Bigfoot62]

It's a tragic accident. I hate it for the driver and his family.

Looking at the photos, it's obvious that the driver stopped suddenly. That's the only explanation for the load shifting that far forward. We'll never know for sure, but I would guess that there was a reason he had to stop quickly. Most likely, someone pulled out or stopped in front of him. I own and operate a semi truck. I've hauled loads like that. Even if you do everything right, things can still go terribly wrong.
It's all speculation, and so are my comments. Regarding the security of the load, it's mostly for show. Four chains won't stop that machine from moving. TEN chains probably wouldn't have either. Working Load Limit is 6600# for 3/8 chain. As far as loading the machine on the trailer with the bucket facing the rear, that's normal. It's easier to load that way, (on a drop-neck trailer) and it pulls better. (less drag)
Again, purely speculation, but it's possible that the parking brakes were not set on the machine. That should have helped.
Someone suggested a headache rack, but that wouldn't have stopped the machine either.

JMHO, from a truck driver.

 

[aczlan]

It's all speculation, and so are my comments. Regarding the security of the load, it's mostly for show. Four chains won't stop that machine from moving. TEN chains probably wouldn't have either. Working Load Limit is 6600# for 3/8 chain.

Per Ritchiespecs the operating weight of that machine is 27,405#
4 1/2" grade 70 chains at each end (derated to 70% for a 45 degree pull) would give you a WLL of just under 32,000# in each direction.
If you used 6 3/8 grade 70 chains at each end (at a 45 degree angle) you would have a WLL of 27,887#
So, it is possible to tie down something like that and make it so that it wont move. It would just take someone tieing it down properly.


Aaron Z

 

[dodge man]

Aczlan, those are just numbers, who knows what force any tie down chains he had on it were subject to. Could have been a millions pounds for a brief period of time.

 

[MBTRAC]

Per Ritchiespecs the operating weight of that machine is 27,405#
4 1/2" grade 70 chains at each end (derated to 70% for a 45 degree pull) would give you a WLL of just under 32,000# in each direction.
If you used 6 3/8 grade 70 chains at each end (at a 45 degree angle) you would have a WLL of 27,887#
So, it is possible to tie down something like that and make it so that it wont move. It would just take someone tieing it down properly.


Aaron Z

In my experience hauling machinery chains & straps do let go irrespective of whether they're within the WLL - tie down points on trailers & machinery also fail too from abuse, fatigue & insufficent rating for the potenital load forces.
Given the potential inertia & exponential torsional loads exerted by a 27,000lbs machine in the event of sudden decelaration (by hard braking or an accldent) a 27,000lb chain is also insufficent for the task (as a min. a WLL 3 times the load is required )..............& generally any so called tie down points on the trailer & machine will fail well prior to the chains due the static rating being exceeded by dynamic shock loadings...........

We can all speculate as "bush engineers" as to the cause & solution, unfortunately the fact remains the driver paid the ultimate price for possible failings in work methods &/or equipment &/or even maybe just plain bad luck.......let it serve as a "wake up call" to all of us who haul anything be it mowers, CUTS or 100T dozers ...etc....secure your load & stop to check the load regularly.

 

[Hay Dude]

Did the guy have any dunnage in front of the tires?
It's effectiveness is very underestimated.
Ever try to drive a tractor over a concrete curb?

 

[MasseyWV]

We can all speculate as "bush engineers" as to the cause & solution, unfortunately the fact remains the driver paid the ultimate price for possible failings in work methods &/or equipment &/or even maybe just plain bad luck.......let it serve as a "wake up call" to all of us who haul anthing be it mowers, CUTS or 100T dozers ...etc....secure your load & stop to check the load regularly.

:thumbsup:

 

[Mace Canute]

Since we are speculating...I think it might have been a possibility that he had driven over a very rough spot some undetermined distance back and the loader "bounced" on the trailer...meaning the weight of it made the tires squat enough to make slack in the chains and on the rebound, the shock load on the chains when the slack was taken out snapped them. This shock load could be very large and easily exceed the breaking strength of the chain. It wouldn't have mattered if it were the front set of chains or the rear set...if the front set, that would have allowed the loader to roll backwards a bit under acceleration and introduce slack into the rear set which would have likely snapped under hard braking when the loader rolled ahead again. He might have driven quite a distance like that until he braked hard enough to start the loader rolling at a fair speed. By the time the loader hit the gooseneck, the difference in speed between it and the constantly slowing truck/trailer was enough to cause it to do what it did.

All speculation of course...

 

[bulldogshotgun]

I've pulled a JD644G a lot of miles.(38000lbs roughly same size machine).
snapped several 1/2" chains on RR tracks etc.
whiile unloading once had the state patrol tell me to back up 50 ft, already had chains undone while backing had the loader roll back into neck on the dropdeck, it hit the neck and stopped luckly.
my boss and i never saw eye to eye on how to chain it down. we both used 4 chains but i had 2 to keep it from coming forward and 1 to keep it from going back 1 for bucket. he did the opposite.