Was in the local truck repair shop a week ago, needed a new spring for my tag trailer, when I got out I could smell hot brakes, to point of it reeked something awful, glanced at the back of the shop and could see blue, black smoke coming off the back of a liquid pressure tanker trailer that stuck out past the end of the shop as I walked in. Walked in and asked everyone at the counter, who's brakes are on fire, since every mechanic was at the counter getting parts, the owner asked, where at, told him, out back, he said nobody has come in here yet, an couple seconds of conversation I asked its a liquid pressurized tanker out back on fire, was told the only one back there just pulled in was anhydrous ammonia and he was loaded but called in about an engine issue not a brake issue, I asked where the hell is he then.................nobody had seen him yet. I then asked, there is a loaded anhydrous trailer out back on fire and you guys are just standing here in the office waiting for parts, as they say that got everyone's attention and the owner asked me, are you serious, told him dead serious and would like to stay alive long enough to get my parts, so out back we went, and sure enough the trailer brakes were on fire, loaded with anhydrous ammonia and the driver was completely clueless his brakes were on fire.
The shop owner ordered the driver to pull up closer to the shop and yelled at his guys to bring out a hose, his brakes shoes were literally on fire and the flames were up around the inner tires and heating the tank valves of the tanker as the shop owner sprayed water on the brakes to put them out. It took about a half hour to get the brakes cool enough so they quit steaming, I have no idea why the tires never blew or lit up, but got hot enough to blister the paint off the inner rims. The brake drums were so hot they were cherry red, it melted the axle cover seals out the end of the axle and oil dripped out the end onto the outer rims. When it was all over, the shop owner thanked me for saying something, he too had no idea why the tires never blew or why they never lit up.
I asked the shop owner to recap the whole ordeal, so I understood, the driver had no clue his brakes were on fire, had brake issues at all, never looked back to see the blue back smoke pouring out the back of his trailer, pulled a loaded anhydrous tanker into town, out back of the shop, still clueless to anything, and otherwise he'd have pulled his loaded tanker, by then axles fully engulfed into the local coop and up next to two 15,000 gallons a piece anhydrous tanks to offload his load, also in town and been clueless to the whole deal, was told I got it right and fully understood the situation.
I told the shop owner to call the coop, once the trailer is offloaded, to order it back to his show, to put all new drums, shoes, inner tires and rims on the trailer and do a complete inspection before it ever rolls down the road again, and next time have a different driver sitting in the seat of the truck, that was beyond stupid.
Fortunately in my state, liquid anhydrous ammonia which is a deadly pressurized farm fertilizer, and is considered hazmat, is not governed by any DOT rules, they can run unlimited hours, have no log books to abide by and no hours of operation to abide by either, they are exempt, so any driver can run 24/7 all season long day in and day out and be perfectly legal, all they have to do is pass a written test for hazmat and a liquid tanker endorsement. Ironically, the truck/trailer and driver were perfectly legal to go back out on the road again, even without going into the shop for a complete inspection and brake job, after all its anhydrous ammonia season and time is money but the shop owner is also a fireman and he told me he'd not let the trailer back on the road till was at least safe to run, the driver on the other hand, he'd be given another truck and trailer and be back on the road 15 minutes later.
The whole ordeal started with how compressed liquid tankers are filled, they have a park brakes system that connects to a valve cover, if you've never seen an anhydrous tanker before, in order to fill the tank, you need to hook up two hoses a fill hose and a vent hose, but in order to do that, you need to flip down the cover locks, which set the trailer brakes, so the truck and trailer can't roll with the hoses hooked up, once the trailer was full, you just flip the cover locks back up, which release the park brakes on the trailer, but at the plant the driver was at, they flipped the locks up, but they never latched, and the driver never did a walk around to check, he just drove off and down the road, once on the road and after hitting enough bumps, the cover lock bounced down and engaged the trailer brakes, the driver was clueless at any of it, all he knew was he needed to downshift two gears to get into the shop, thinking he had engine trouble, never looking back to see the smoke or flames, but he told me personally he was tired, he'd been behind the wheel four days straight with no sleep, it was the plants fault for not locking the safety valve in place?? Feel safe on the road, this guy is still hauling anhydrous even today, sure with the rain we just had, he's clocking in major hours to get caught back up again probably without any sleep, but with enough caffeine and nodoze he'll be good for another few weeks.
The shop owner ordered the driver to pull up closer to the shop and yelled at his guys to bring out a hose, his brakes shoes were literally on fire and the flames were up around the inner tires and heating the tank valves of the tanker as the shop owner sprayed water on the brakes to put them out. It took about a half hour to get the brakes cool enough so they quit steaming, I have no idea why the tires never blew or lit up, but got hot enough to blister the paint off the inner rims. The brake drums were so hot they were cherry red, it melted the axle cover seals out the end of the axle and oil dripped out the end onto the outer rims. When it was all over, the shop owner thanked me for saying something, he too had no idea why the tires never blew or why they never lit up.
I asked the shop owner to recap the whole ordeal, so I understood, the driver had no clue his brakes were on fire, had brake issues at all, never looked back to see the blue back smoke pouring out the back of his trailer, pulled a loaded anhydrous tanker into town, out back of the shop, still clueless to anything, and otherwise he'd have pulled his loaded tanker, by then axles fully engulfed into the local coop and up next to two 15,000 gallons a piece anhydrous tanks to offload his load, also in town and been clueless to the whole deal, was told I got it right and fully understood the situation.
I told the shop owner to call the coop, once the trailer is offloaded, to order it back to his show, to put all new drums, shoes, inner tires and rims on the trailer and do a complete inspection before it ever rolls down the road again, and next time have a different driver sitting in the seat of the truck, that was beyond stupid.
Fortunately in my state, liquid anhydrous ammonia which is a deadly pressurized farm fertilizer, and is considered hazmat, is not governed by any DOT rules, they can run unlimited hours, have no log books to abide by and no hours of operation to abide by either, they are exempt, so any driver can run 24/7 all season long day in and day out and be perfectly legal, all they have to do is pass a written test for hazmat and a liquid tanker endorsement. Ironically, the truck/trailer and driver were perfectly legal to go back out on the road again, even without going into the shop for a complete inspection and brake job, after all its anhydrous ammonia season and time is money but the shop owner is also a fireman and he told me he'd not let the trailer back on the road till was at least safe to run, the driver on the other hand, he'd be given another truck and trailer and be back on the road 15 minutes later.
The whole ordeal started with how compressed liquid tankers are filled, they have a park brakes system that connects to a valve cover, if you've never seen an anhydrous tanker before, in order to fill the tank, you need to hook up two hoses a fill hose and a vent hose, but in order to do that, you need to flip down the cover locks, which set the trailer brakes, so the truck and trailer can't roll with the hoses hooked up, once the trailer was full, you just flip the cover locks back up, which release the park brakes on the trailer, but at the plant the driver was at, they flipped the locks up, but they never latched, and the driver never did a walk around to check, he just drove off and down the road, once on the road and after hitting enough bumps, the cover lock bounced down and engaged the trailer brakes, the driver was clueless at any of it, all he knew was he needed to downshift two gears to get into the shop, thinking he had engine trouble, never looking back to see the smoke or flames, but he told me personally he was tired, he'd been behind the wheel four days straight with no sleep, it was the plants fault for not locking the safety valve in place?? Feel safe on the road, this guy is still hauling anhydrous even today, sure with the rain we just had, he's clocking in major hours to get caught back up again probably without any sleep, but with enough caffeine and nodoze he'll be good for another few weeks.
