Monday, Apr 04, 2016 at 23:01
This is a true story, related to me by a best mate who was travelling from Bunbury to Moree about 1983.
He was halfway across the Nullarbor when he noticed a scrape mark in the bitumen on the LHS, that seemed fairly fresh.
The scrape mark went for 10-15 kilometres - and was still there, when he finally sighted a caravan ahead in the distance. The caravan was only doing about 75kmh.
As my mate got closer, he saw the 'van had a definite tilt to the left. Even more concerning, there was a steady shower of sparks coming from the LH rear axle of the (tandem axle) van!
Upon approaching to within 100 metres, he could see that the LH rear wheel was gone, and the axle was dragging on the bitumen!
The caravan driver was still keeping up a steady pace, though!!
My mate overtook the van (which was being towed by a fairly new 60 series Landcruiser) and pulled up level with the drivers window.
He could see an old bloke at the wheel - a really old bloke! He reckoned he was in his early 80's.
My mate gesticulated and yelled and tried to get through to the old bloke that he should pull up!!
The old bloke took a minute or two to realise this madman alongside him was trying to get him to pull over - so he finally decided to do so!
My mate stopped ahead, got out and walked back and told the old bloke he was missing a wheel!
The old bloke was astounded! He said, "I thought it was pulling a bit heavy! - but I thought it was the headwind!!"
They went back to
check the damage, and my mate said it was unbelievable what the old fella had done!
He'd towed the 'van for so long with the left rear wheel missing, that the hub had disintegrated and totally disappeared - the end of the axle had dragged for so long on the bitumen, it had lost about 200mm of length off the end! - and the axle had got so hot (to red heat), it had transferred the heat to the spring leaves, and the spring leaves had sagged with the heat, until they were bent downwards!!
My mate was completely stunned by the damage - and by the fact that the old fella hadn't noticed anything wrong - apart from a bit of extra throttle required!
You'd think he'd at least have seen the shower of sparks! It's a wonder he didn't set the country alight!
It just goes to show that there's an age where people are past their prime, and they really should give up long-distance driving, because they aren't up to the level of concentration required.
It turned out the old bloke was 85 - and my mate was of the opinion he was
well past the ability to safely tow a van across the long paddock.
Cheers, Ron.
AnswerID:
598201
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Monday, Apr 04, 2016 at 23:22
Monday, Apr 04, 2016 at 23:22
A lesson to us all Ron, and I do not see this as age related in any way, to stop and
check if something seems amiss, or at least keep an eye on the caravan in the rear vision mirror. We both do this, and if anything seems not quite right we stop and
check; to find nothing wrong at all which is the best result.
Yes, we have had gears changing more often than usual.
#1 was in a very strong and dusty headwind, and we were looking for somewhere we could get right off the road and get out of the awful driving conditions. As soon as we did, we discovered we had lost a spring hanger on the caravan and the spring had been dragging on an unsealed road - for 32 kilometres :O.
#2 On unfamiliar roads you do not know the terrain, and a few more gear changes than usual are not uncommon. In this case the breakaway pin had pulled while driving, and we were towing with brakes full on :O.
FollowupID:
867351