Done something really stupid?

If you think about it, how many times have you seen a camper with the front latches undone/unlatched/broken lifting as a truck heads the other way at 75 mph and they wave when you try to flag 'em down?

I've seen several boat/trailer combos on the side of the highway after either the entire wheel has come loose or it had a flat tire and the driver kept going until there wasn't anything but rim going down the highway.

The hairiest one I saw was coming back from Oregon over the summit into CA while driving an 18' bobtail. We were in the slow lane as our truck was loaded up pretty good and Hertz trucks were pigs anyway....

...so, we are going up a steep grade where it is two lanes on I-5 each way with a guardrail between them. All of a sudden here comes something in the northbound lane which is up against the guardrail. It was an 18-wheeler up against the guardrail (I thought he lost brakes or something but was definitely a runaway). As he flashes past us, we see what is coming next...it was one of those half-house prefab units on a flatbed 48' trailer which is spinning around and hitting the guardrail while the front end is putting up sparks from the pavement. There the southbound lanes are cut into the side of the mountain, but the northbound lanes drop away into oblivion so I know why he chose that option.

I decided that any move we made could be the wrong one but stopping wouldn't work anyway. Then it passed us going downhill in an instant and my co-driver and I just looked at each other with one of those "did that just happen?" looks and kept going.

Aside from flipping an 18' box truck over on its side one time, that's about it, but that time up on the mountain scared us to death for a very fast 5-6 seconds.
 
I second "holy crap!" .... like the scene from "Planes Trains and Automobiles" (Steve Martin and John Candy)
 
PackRat said:
If you think about it, how many times have you seen a camper with the front latches undone/unlatched/broken lifting as a truck heads the other way at 75 mph and they wave when you try to flag 'em down?

I've seen several boat/trailer combos on the side of the highway after either the entire wheel has come loose or it had a flat tire and the driver kept going until there wasn't anything but rim going down the highway.

The hairiest one I saw was coming back from Oregon over the summit into CA while driving an 18' bobtail. We were in the slow lane as our truck was loaded up pretty good and Hertz trucks were pigs anyway....

...so, we are going up a steep grade where it is two lanes on I-5 each way with a guardrail between them. All of a sudden here comes something in the northbound lane which is up against the guardrail. It was an 18-wheeler up against the guardrail (I thought he lost brakes or something but was definitely a runaway). As he flashes past us, we see what is coming next...it was one of those half-house prefab units on a flatbed 48' trailer which is spinning around and hitting the guardrail while the front end is putting up sparks from the pavement. There the southbound lanes are cut into the side of the mountain, but the northbound lanes drop away into oblivion so I know why he chose that option.

I decided that any move we made could be the wrong one but stopping wouldn't work anyway. Then it passed us going downhill in an instant and my co-driver and I just looked at each other with one of those "did that just happen?" looks and kept going.

Aside from flipping an 18' box truck over on its side one time, that's about it, but that time up on the mountain scared us to death for a very fast 5-6 seconds.
Click to expand...
The Siskiyous are always fun... any time of the year...
 
Note to self; hard check ALL 'looks locked but maybe not' utility bed doors plus camper doors on rig walkaround prior to driving off. I just love driving down a busy highway, glancing in the review mirror and seeing a storage door laying open like it's sunning itself. The horizontal storage doors in particular like their freedom...

Lost nothing but I tug every door Every.Time. I.Drive. Call me selfish but my tools and camping stuff are not for road donation!
 
Three guesses as to how those bugs got up there? :eek: :oops: :oops:

full
 
It was a very windy night camping?
Swarm of bugs committed suicide?
Bugs were herded by bats into the camper wall?

;)
 
Left a reading lamp on ?

Someone really needs a shower ?

Bought the 300# struts by mistake?
 
Creative responses, I love it. :)

Still surprised at how tough these campers are. I figure 1 hour at 70 mph did that. I DID notice a bit more wind drag, but not much. 10% drop in fuel economy too. Other than that, no sign of any side effects.
 
Well, normally I have nutin' to say in this thread but..... :sneaky:

Last night putting my truck away after the usual pre trip mania I backed carefully into my building.....with the roof vent open. :eek:

Poop.....spent the better part of the morning straightening the lift arm in order that it function and close correctly....it is a curved arm that was pretty well mangled. :oops:

Oh well....at least I got it into the shop and had a fairly steady step ladder to work from. ;)

David Graves
 
Here's my new lesson - don't put bananas in the fridge. Like, ever.

It wasn't turned on (driveway camp while sorting out a house ) but since I was in an anty area I put all food in the refrigerator.

Is banana smell easy to get rid of - no! It lingers and lingers. Durned fridge still smells like a monkey bar. Not the worst problem in the world, but I gotta say: Bananas vs. Ants = Bananas 1 / Ants ø.
 
This seems like a good thread for me to contribute to.

We were traveling through Yellowstone on our way to our annual Oregon Coast trip a couple of years ago and had little mishap. We got a late start since I worked the nightshift the night before and had to nap a little. Needless to say spirits were high since we were on our way to our all time favorite campsite even if 16 hours of driving were ahead of us.

I was already a little anxious having to travel thru the park at a busy time in the evening (living next to Yellowstone will do that to you) so I may not have been paying attention to things as closely as normal. Anyways we were nearing West Yellowstone and could actually see the gate over the endless line of cars when the back of the truck suddenly dropped hard and it was hard to keep the vehicle in control going about 30 miles an hour. I was able to work over to the narrow shoulder and stop the truck. To my horror I saw the rear tire sticking out about 8" further than normal in my rear view mirror. Seeing a flat tire or blown tire is one thing, but seeing the whole wheel displaced like that was a special kind of sinking feeling.

I had to exit the passenger side because of the rat race of traffic zooming by to get back to the hotels, and of course light was fading quickly. one glance under the truck confirmed my fears, the wheel had come off and all the wheel studs had been shorn off demolishing the alloy rim in the process. The only good news was that the hub had actually landed inside the rim and kept itself off the pavement thus saving the brake and who knows what else. Only about an inch of the hub was still perched on rim though so I had to get a jack under it fast while the endless stream of cars were zipping by my head.

So I got the axle held up on the jack and and AAA was called I could re assess our predicament. I'm going to probably need a wrecker to haul my f350 and Grandby to a shop for new wheel studs and I'm going to need a new rim. Then the phone rings again and It's the park service telling me that since we're technically still in Yellowstone we need to wait at least an hour for a park service wrecker to come from the other side of the park. I could of thrown a rock and hit the entrance booth from where my truck was parked. At that point I really did want to pick up that rock because the wrecker from west Yellowstone was sitting on the other side of the park boundary just idling and the driver shrugging his shoulders in a sympathetic way. After half an hour and another heated conversation with the Park dispatch after being told the wrecker got diverted to a more "serious" situation, they relented and let the West Yellowstone wrecker thru. He was able to hook up and have us to his shop within 10 minutes.

We ended up camping at the shop that night and were in luck since they had a bucket full of Ford wheel studs that they used on their tour van fleet. We were back on the road to tire shop in St. Anthony by 10 AM. After the excitement had settled down that night I realized that I never re-checked the lug nut torque after I got new tires installed a few days earlier. I'll take partial responsibility for the stupidity since all the lug nuts were hand tight around the truck. The tire shop obviously didn't torque them to spec to begin with and I failed to as well. Moral of my long winded story; check for lug nuts often and always carry a full size spare and jack. Oh yeah and don't break down in Yellowstone haha!
 
Just had my tires rotated. I think I'll go get my torque wrench and double check. Well, at least if I broke down in Yellowstone I'd be in Yellowstone! Gotta get out there soon.
 
Great story, thanks for adding it! :)


WyoIDI said:
This seems like a good thread for me to contribute to.

We were traveling through Yellowstone on our way to our annual Oregon Coast trip a couple of years ago and had little mishap. We got a late start since I worked the nightshift the night before and had to nap a little. Needless to say spirits were high since we were on our way to our all time favorite campsite even if 16 hours of driving were ahead of us.

I was already a little anxious having to travel thru the park at a busy time in the evening (living next to Yellowstone will do that to you) so I may not have been paying attention to things as closely as normal. Anyways we were nearing West Yellowstone and could actually see the gate over the endless line of cars when the back of the truck suddenly dropped hard and it was hard to keep the vehicle in control going about 30 miles an hour. I was able to work over to the narrow shoulder and stop the truck. To my horror I saw the rear tire sticking out about 8" further than normal in my rear view mirror. Seeing a flat tire or blown tire is one thing, but seeing the whole wheel displaced like that was a special kind of sinking feeling.

I had to exit the passenger side because of the rat race of traffic zooming by to get back to the hotels, and of course light was fading quickly. one glance under the truck confirmed my fears, the wheel had come off and all the wheel studs had been shorn off demolishing the alloy rim in the process. The only good news was that the hub had actually landed inside the rim and kept itself off the pavement thus saving the brake and who knows what else. Only about an inch of the hub was still perched on rim though so I had to get a jack under it fast while the endless stream of cars were zipping by my head.

So I got the axle held up on the jack and and AAA was called I could re assess our predicament. I'm going to probably need a wrecker to haul my f350 and Grandby to a shop for new wheel studs and I'm going to need a new rim. Then the phone rings again and It's the park service telling me that since we're technically still in Yellowstone we need to wait at least an hour for a park service wrecker to come from the other side of the park. I could of thrown a rock and hit the entrance booth from where my truck was parked. At that point I really did want to pick up that rock because the wrecker from west Yellowstone was sitting on the other side of the park boundary just idling and the driver shrugging his shoulders in a sympathetic way. After half an hour and another heated conversation with the Park dispatch after being told the wrecker got diverted to a more "serious" situation, they relented and let the West Yellowstone wrecker thru. He was able to hook up and have us to his shop within 10 minutes.

We ended up camping at the shop that night and were in luck since they had a bucket full of Ford wheel studs that they used on their tour van fleet. We were back on the road to tire shop in St. Anthony by 10 AM. After the excitement had settled down that night I realized that I never re-checked the lug nut torque after I got new tires installed a few days earlier. I'll take partial responsibility for the stupidity since all the lug nuts were hand tight around the truck. The tire shop obviously didn't torque them to spec to begin with and I failed to as well. Moral of my long winded story; check for lug nuts often and always carry a full size spare and jack. Oh yeah and don't break down in Yellowstone haha!
Click to expand...
 
I actually carry a "torque" wrench with the truck/camper.
I use it as a breaker bar.
Ever try to get the lugs loose after they have been tightened?
Also a deep socket helps.I don't rely on the truck jack or lug wrench.
Thanks for the story.
Frank
 
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