Pulling doubles

[bluehdmc]

Once I saw a truck pull one 26 footer with a dolly on the back of it. never seen any feeder driver do that before..

We do that sometimes, either to move the dollies around, or drop 1 trailer in 1 location, or for the dolly pay.
I find it hard to believe the driver didn't notice, maybe this was his way of resigning?
He should have lost the air for the rest of the rig, of course maybe he did, stopped, shut the valve off and kept going?
Wonder how far it was from when the set was put together, maybe there was a 5th wheel malfunction on the dolly?
The whole story seems strange.

 

[Old International]

Once I saw a truck pull one 26 footer with a dolly on the back of it. never seen any feeder driver do that before..

That's not all that unusual. I do it every night. I need the dolly back at my home center, so I tow the dolly back 175 miles. Only during peak do I pull two back.

 

[lazydriver]

In our center even our feeder manager dropped his trailer off the fifth wheel. I have seen and known about 10 veteran drivers drop kites in the yard, on I95, on NJ turnpike, I495, I95 around Philly. I have also seen runnaway dollies and lost dollies on the highway. On older ups trailers there used to be a brake release valve like on the dollies so you could move them around without supplying air to the system.

 

[JimJimmyJames]

I guess he didn't check his mirrors every 5 to 8 seconds.

Also, I always double check my connections. How anybody could not is beyond comprehension.

 

[over9five]

I guess he didn't check his mirrors every 5 to 8 seconds.

Also, I always double check my connections. How anybody could not is beyond comprehension.

Me too, After I couple, I check it both times I pass it while pretripping the set.

 

[pickup]

for what it's worth(and it ain't worth much), here is a link to a somewhat updated version of the story. I think it was written a day later. Same "newspaper" , same writer, pretty much same story. Just the last sentence indicate that as of saturday evening, whereabouts of driver still unknown.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090802/NEWS01/908020326/1002/RSS01

 

[feederdriver06]

Once I saw a truck pull one 26 footer with a dolly on the back of it. never seen any feeder driver do that before..

this is very common actually

 

[feederdriver06]

This is a crazy story. Its amazing that with the emergency line detached he could just keep right on going. I had the emergency line pop off of my dolly before and it locked up the dolly tires immediately and I knew something wasn't right. But to loose a trailer and be able to just keep on rolling is making me wounder

 

[spif91]

I dont don't see how it is possible........not with the equipment we pull. I lost an airline several months ago on a rough part of I-40 off my second dollie in a set of triples. Shut me down completely in a couple 100 feet and I had to drag the three trailors off onto the shoulder in granny gear to get to a safe place to put the gladhand back on and continue......Black marks are still on the highway 4 months later......No way the guy keeps going without knowing something was missing......Sorry not buying it.

 

[pickup]

I dont don't see how it is possible........not with the equipment we pull. I lost an airline several months ago on a rough part of I-40 off my second dollie in a set of triples. Shut me down completely in a couple 100 feet and I had to drag the three trailors off onto the shoulder in granny gear to get to a safe place to put the gladhand back on and continue......Black marks are still on the highway 4 months later......No way the guy keeps going without knowing something was missing......Sorry not buying it.

The original story was published on aug 1, over a week ago. Wish I could find more information about this.

 

[hondo]

Hearsay from another forum: the pup came off the dolly's fifth wheel, and the driver reportedly stopped and called in the missing trailer about 200 miles away. Still no word on how he/she kept rolling with the loss of air. Or if it was a YRC driver/casual/supervisor/non-union subsidiary/shiny wheels. Reminds me of this guy:[video=youtube;bkagikFUDy4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkagikFUDy4[/video]

 

[Highwayman]

I double check mine as well.

 

[slaveof18wheels]

In theory it would be possible with UPGF equipment but it would require a lot of extreme coincidences. 1st the kites spring brakes would not be working (ie-caged or improperly adjusted). 2nd on the dolly either leave the drain valve open or the regulator not functioning would allow the dolly to free wheel. 3rd leave the valves closed on the heavy there by keeping all the air in the tractor and the heavy. 4th throw in a bad hook from the dolly to the kite such as a bad fifth wheel or a "high" hook. 5th no PRETRIP! Add one dip in the road and you have a recipe for disaster. Pup dislodges and slides off and since everything is in free wheel mode from the heavy back it wouldn't bleed the tractor system.

 

[JimJimmyJames]

It is said man evolved from molecules so I guess anything is possible .

 

[Covemastah]

pick up phone..dispatch 1 or 2 in ??
driver...... 2
dispatch ... lead ?
driver....... er crap..make that single lol lol couldn't happen,,no one could be that friigen retahded!!!

 

[pickup]

Just a related link as the linked article makes a analogy between the driver losing half his load and Yellow losing half its revenue in one year's time.

http://www.glgroup.com/News/Is-YRCWs-On-Road-Disconnect-A-Metaphor-For-Their-Business--42238.html

It is just an article from a business journal, and not written by anyone who has anymore info about the incident than you or I.


However the link briefly suggests something that really hasn't been mentioned before : union discontent. I wouldn't necessarily go that far, but this might be a case of a driver that became increasingly discontented he watches his pension, wages, and probably, his job disappear. Not using this as an excuse for his actions. Just a possible explanation. If he had really lost it on a highway at highway speeds, that back trailer would have flipped over and would have destroyed the trailer and dumped the contents. How did he keep going on without "noticing"? How did his equipment allow him to continue on?

I might be looking in the wrong direction on this one, but it would make a lot of sense if the driver did everything on purpose.

 

[feeder53]

This story brings up a number of questions, I have pulled doubles for years and would like to see the whole story.