Have a look at this idiot. With a failed axle on what is supposed to be a 34 wheeled B-Double truck with a GVM of 68 tonnes, the driver chained the axle body to the chassis and just kept driving.

Fortunately the police saw the truck on the Newell Highway and intercepted it before another tragedy could evolve on our roads.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/police-stop-b-double-truck-with-chained-axle-missing-tyres-as-operation-shield-targets-big-rigs....

Is this bloke serious or what? This in addition to failing to keep a correctly completed log book and missing compulsory rest breaks. The bottom brake shoe doesn't look like it has much meat on it either. The whole truck should be off the road.

Unfortunately we are blessed with other mobile morons of similar ilk.

Marc

I didn't realise there were comments left on that page until I went back for a second look when testing my link.

I can't believe so many people are saying that situation is okay and claiming to be truckies themselves.

Whilst the axle damage has only taken out one pair of wheels and whilst the truck in its current state may well have made it to Dubbo some questions have to be asked:-

1. Where the hell is the set of wheels that fell off? Together and with the brake drum, the outer bearing and the portion of the stub axle that is no longer with the truck you are probably looking at 100-150kg of a potential missile that would kill whatever it hit instantly.
2. Why does the inner bearing look so dry? Was it packed with high temp grease when installed or did a backyard boy just put a light smear of standard grease there? I should add that the bearing shows excessive wear.
3. Why haven't the brake shoes been replaced or relined? Surely there'd be similar wear on the remaining shoes.
4. Whilst not a quick fix, this repair could be carried out in the field, saving the risk to the lives of other road users.
5. What would happen if the truck scored a tyre failure on the same side of that axle group. The next sweeping right hand bend would provide some new challenges.

My bet is that if the highway patrolman was standing next to the truck when the driver patched things up and resumed driving he wouldn't have bothered doing so.

One of the commenters on that page said he used the F3 Freeway all the time and is a witness to the cowboy antics of some of the truckies that use that road. I've witnessed the same things at times - the speed limit is 110km/h and the number of trucks that pass me easily whilst I drive at that speed is amazing, considering their speed limiters should kick in at 104km/h and bring them back to 100. There is tailgating, hogging of the right lane and taking it in turns for members of convoys to slingshot each other to keep momentum up. It makes me wish I was a copper at times because I reckon every time I inspected a tachograph it'd show the driver being in the naughty zone for at least a third of his journey.

Of course there are car drivers who play up too but at least when you honk or flash your lights they will generally give way or otherwise correct their behaviour. A rogue truckie in the same situation would just ignore it and keep at it.

I can't believe so many people are saying that situation is okay and claiming to be truckies themselves

They might as well be saying 'Yesterday I was a truck driver. Today I'm a mechanical engineer.'

I'm very glad to see police and RMS blitzing these cowboys.

The lack of the wheel is interesting. The fact that there is a load on is the issue. Dependent on how the actuators on the brakes work, relates to whether you loose all the brakes or not.

On some dual axle trailers that have had bearing issues & they have to be ferried a great distance to be repaired, the hydraulic ones usually need a drum on the axle, or both brakes disabled on that axle.

That would explain why both wheels were removed, but the load needed to be reduced, before it went any distance. If the bearing fails they are apt to shed the wheel or catch fire.

"Speedo tampering"? I wouldn't go there...

Not sure if my nuts and bolts would fit in that speedo.