-
Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.
Your truck knowledge is missing!
- Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
- We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
- Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
- NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
Problems registering? Click here to contact us!
Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!
***NEED HELP/ADVICE***
- Thread starter Evamv00
- Start date
If it were me I'd unload it to another TRL. Then maybe you can pull the broken TRL to have it rebuilt.
Looks like the TRL is overloaded a good bit from here, maybe a 8-12k TRL.
Sheetrock is heavy...
Sheetrock is heavy...
Thank you so much! I figured that’s gonna be the only way around it
jrsavoie
Recruit
Yep. We all watched a crew throw away a whole skid of 5/8 x 5' x 10' sheet rock on a job site.
Nobody had a way or time to deal with it.
Broke my heart to see it all go in a dumpster
So seems like at pick up whoever loaded me positioned the load wrong
jrsavoie
Recruit
Depends on the load rating of your trailer and how much you had them put on it.
What's the gvw on your trailer?
What's the weight of the skids of drywall?
Ultimately as the driver YOU are responsible for operating a safe vehicle that is loaded properly and NOT OVERLOADED. Not saying you were, but, you shouldn't be asking this question: you should know before you accept the load! A jury will hold YOU accountable if life is lost from an accident under "Gross Negligence" if you are proven to be overloaded. And in Arizona your insurance company will walk away under the "Stupid Law" we passed.
Was there a large pothole or shitty bumpy bridge transition you went over prior to the failure? This can hurt even a properly loaded rig and/or blow tires if they are bad enough.
Looks like a frame failure NOT a hitch failure. Any warranty left on the trailer? This is an insurance claim again as IMO you had to have hit something like a bad pothole/bump.
Poor pictures don't show the entire length of the trailer. But looks front heavy, a loading balance problem. Too much weight on the front of the trailer ahead of the trailer axles. Or you made one of two deliveries and the unloading from the back overloaded (balance really) the front of the trailer. This 2 delivery problem, unloading the back of a trailer at the 1st stop, bit me once and bent a frame and hitch.
Do you have a broker or how exactly are you in this situation? Maybe hauling for your own home? Edit: Your intro says Hotshotting. Your broker may have help available, but, your load will be jacked. Remember the delivery customer is the important person here.
Will L.
Well-Known Member
built and rebuilt multiple trailers similar to yours.
Get the load onto another trailer and get it on its way - ENSURING the trailer & truck are capable of the weight. Put your truck then trailer on the portable scales you own. Don’t own them - now you will. Seriously lucky no one died - and yes YOU will be prosecuted with manslaughter if it happens. Not the loaders, shipper or receiver.
Then get that trailer to a CERTIFIED Truck Equipment shop or trailer manufacturer for the repairs. Expect a few thousand in cost easy and a week if they are not busy.
Get the load onto another trailer and get it on its way - ENSURING the trailer & truck are capable of the weight. Put your truck then trailer on the portable scales you own. Don’t own them - now you will. Seriously lucky no one died - and yes YOU will be prosecuted with manslaughter if it happens. Not the loaders, shipper or receiver.
Then get that trailer to a CERTIFIED Truck Equipment shop or trailer manufacturer for the repairs. Expect a few thousand in cost easy and a week if they are not busy.
Ok as a ex hotshot driver, welcome to TTS... As you can tell the our local (on app )dot officers have voiced there opinions.. not saying they are wrong, but hotshotting is a bootleg profession.. always has been, always will be. Person I would get another truck to come get the load , chain the trailer up good and drag it in for repairs..and consider adding some extra angle iron to her to reinforce it.. honestly I'm shocked she snapped like that even under that load. Future reference, always load heavy over your trailer axles and make sure you have tail weight...
Message me if you're still in a jam. I got friends all over the place that would come get the load . Your other option is going to rent another trailer and a fork truck. But if it were me if it's a brokered load and it's insured let the insurance eat the load...
Message me if you're still in a jam. I got friends all over the place that would come get the load . Your other option is going to rent another trailer and a fork truck. But if it were me if it's a brokered load and it's insured let the insurance eat the load...
dbrannon79
I'm getting there!
For whatever reason that trailer looks homebuilt. you can see the ramps at the back of the trailer in the up position so seeing the axles way back there instead of in a more forward "centering" position of the trailer makes me think this trailer was was ether a specially made specific for a type of equipment or something else. The axles should be positioned just slightly rearward from the center of the trailer. I wonder if maybe this trailer was once a longer frame where someone cut it down and moved the ramps?
@dbrannon79 I've actually seen these before.. there kinda a odd design. Usually good trailers though. The rear axles are only a couple feet forward of the tail..I THINK there made by big Tex but don't quote me on that. My honest first thought is it's not distributed properly all intent and purpose.. but he's nowhere near actually overweight on any set of axles. Because his rear axles are so far back you generally center your weight between trailer and drive axles. Me personally I'd load heavy on the trailer axles anyhow but it effects your braking on the drive axle.
Ya mind expanding on this comment more.... I don't see where anyone has made out of line comments, sometimes the truth hurts....
I can't see the wheels good enough to know for sure but I'd guess they are 6 lug, that makes me think 3500lb axles, and add to that the jack is a light weight puney at best, all this leads me to think even if the load was towards the rear it would still be over weight.
A bundle of 4x8x1/2" weights 2300lbs, and those look like 12ft sheets, 3 on the front and I can't tell what that is on the rear, me thinks it's overloaded by a good bit.
jrsavoie
Recruit
Didn't know they'd put that light of axles on a gooseneck.
Only way to know details, is, if Eva posts more details.
Looks like a hard, expensive, very valuable learning experience.
Nobody got hurt.
The single trailer jack indicates tight pockets when ordering the trailer & / or a light duty trailer.
I have seen heavy duty trailers with light duty jacks.
He also needs to check his tire load ratings against his gvw.
I like to go heavy on the tires. At least load range E.
More like load range F or G.
I've also had better luck with LT tires than trailer tires.
BIGR
Lucky To Be Here
I'm curious about the tow vehicle? If it was single wheels on the rear axle, I bet it's tire ratings were greatly exceeded. Also, probably the axle rating was exceeded.
@Twisted Steel Performance that comment wasn't aimed at you at all. What you said was accurate. Both what probably caused this to happen and your advice on what he should do as far as getting it unloaded and getting his repairs... He very well may have been overloaded, and/ or improperly loaded. We don't have his scale ticket so we don't know that info for sure.
What I was saying is the guy found our site and joined to get some options and advice on getting it repaired. What he got was a couple members ripping into him about regulations, and liability and scales, and manslaughter charges. Yeah technically there right, but that's not what he joined for.. if any one of us on here that own these trucks and actually use them for work say we've never overloaded our trucks, or pulled something we probably shouldn't have , or say we've never done anything sketchy with our trucks, are liars. We've all done sketchy stuff, 90% of us have looked at what we have on our truck or trailer and said this probably ain't a good idea but I don't have time to change it... Hell right down to strapping and or chaining a load. Most of us chain it down the way we know works but I guarantee it's not the way dot says they want it most of the time.
My point is if somebody joins and are looking for help with a problem just give them to help, not being a prick to you at all, but you've been on here a long time, how many members do we have that are actually active now compared to five or six years ago.
What I was saying is the guy found our site and joined to get some options and advice on getting it repaired. What he got was a couple members ripping into him about regulations, and liability and scales, and manslaughter charges. Yeah technically there right, but that's not what he joined for.. if any one of us on here that own these trucks and actually use them for work say we've never overloaded our trucks, or pulled something we probably shouldn't have , or say we've never done anything sketchy with our trucks, are liars. We've all done sketchy stuff, 90% of us have looked at what we have on our truck or trailer and said this probably ain't a good idea but I don't have time to change it... Hell right down to strapping and or chaining a load. Most of us chain it down the way we know works but I guarantee it's not the way dot says they want it most of the time.
My point is if somebody joins and are looking for help with a problem just give them to help, not being a prick to you at all, but you've been on here a long time, how many members do we have that are actually active now compared to five or six years ago.
@BIGR that's a good point . As far as the truck goes he's probably overloaded. She's squatted pretty good.. honestly I don't think this guy was going very far with that load. Most likely a local delivery from home Depot or someplace to a job site. And I'll tell you exactly why I say that.. it's not tarped. Any driver going long distance with drywall is going to tarp it just in case of weather.. Hot shot drivers actually do do a lot of local delivery stuff.
Last edited:
I suspect the OP's currently figuring out how to "recover" from a serious and expensive equipment failure like this. It's an expensive lesson in balance/overloading that may simply put them out of business on the spot.
Overloaded and/or improperly loaded isn't asking one's wife to set their purse off the scale a second: this situation broke equipment that costs money, delays the load harming the OP's income, and posed a danger to the OP and other innocent people on the road near em.
The trailer balance problem I experienced was an oversight with bad roads between the delivery locations making the damage of a front heavy trailer worse.
The rest of the "wow so many problems" repairs I did to the old pickup while hotshotting ended in bitter disappointment when I couldn't get a good engine, blown engine again, for the damn thing.
The main problem I had when hotshotting was using GM's 6.5TD slapped together Asthma Attack turbo on a Light Duty Diesel that has no business being in a 2500/3500+ vehicle esp. for the extreme grades we have. That was an expensive learning experience for me.
Otherwise as we know all to well: "Get Used To It!" The many problems when hotshotting and it's best if they are NOT caused by the driver or improper loading. Lots of hard miles adding up quick towing at full load...