Is this a sign to get off the road or am I just having bad luck?
Posted by AsphaltPirate74@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 36 comments
I've been driving for 4 years and never had this happen all at once to me before and it all happened within a 1-2 week span.
Got rear ended by another semi in a construction zone and had a tire and wheel completely destroyed, then ran through an almost whiteout blizzard, then went through high winds with a tall pipe load just to get home on time.
After coming off home time, my 2nd day back on the road, I have two trailer tires on the same side and axle rip off along with the drum and hub, at a weigh station, 5-6 truck lengths before rolling across the scale. DOT just told me to get a tow truck and clear their lanes and let me go.
After 2 days of waiting on the trailer to get fixed, the mechanic told me that the shipper sent the wrong hub and I have to wait until Monday for the part to come in, so I'll be sitting for 6-7 days total before I can get rolling again.
They also told me that the studs on the hub most likely cracked one by one over time and it could've happened at any time. I driving up and down through some steep mountains before this happened and he said drivers go off the mountains all the time nonchalantly lmao. He also said it would have been impossible to see the cracks in the studs unless I took the lug nuts off and it's just something that happens in trucking.
All that aside, I feel like the universe is telling me to go local and be home with my Wife and kid lol.
Anyone else have this much bad luck or worse? Is this just another week in trucking and I should quit bitching? Lmao.
Definitely see why guys go bankrupt trying out owner op without proper savings.
machao92@reddit
Your still a baby like me out here. June makes 6 years for me. Still got a lot of trials ahead my friend. Local is fun, but can suck all at the same time. More home time, but the tighter roads and the shitty places you have unload at lol. I do tanker now and man some of these places ive been around chicago are “fun” lol
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Shit man I've done box truck, dry van, flat bed, step deck, low pro step deck, curtainside, moffett and I was a CDL Instructor/Safety Guy and I've hauled oversized loads and equipment.
Local was fun and so was being an instructor but a lot more stress on the daily, I missed the open road, but fuck, now I miss local and being home with my Wife and kid haha.
John9250@reddit
I haven’t had it THAT bad, but I think we’ve all had shit happen one thing after another
aj190@reddit
As a local driver.. I vote local lol especially being able to be with the family lol
I’ve never been an O/O
Home every day though.. IS PRIME lol
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Honestly it can get a little too routine for me being local but fuck is it better than this bullshit, I forgot how good I had it 😂
aj190@reddit
Oh yeah I get that, ive never done O/O but just being away for a bit doesn’t sound fun!
But yeah, doing the same route definitely gets boring as shit lol, I do construction deliveries so luckily it changes up quite a bit, although I go all over my state, so max like 3/3.5 hour drives to and from
driver004@reddit
In my experience, 90% of the time things go good but that 10% of the time tends to happen all at once. My last major mechanical started with a overheating front differential. Ouch but that ain’t the end of the world spent the better part of a week fixing it. Doing my checks once done I decide to go ahead and do a regen why not boom major coolant leak. Not a problem looks like a hose have one here by tomarrow. Remove the hose, and the radiator attachment flange comes with it.
So about a week goes by ok new radiator everything seems to be checking out good good I start driving off the lot get 100 miles out and boom, fucking steer tire decided now is the time, in the middle of fuck all nowhere, to become a untread, resulting in a emergency ditch in the ditch to avoid a four wheeler
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Damn yeah I guess it's not just me then lol. Glad you made it through that
driver004@reddit
Least I wasn’t loaded, I was headed to one of my best customers and I’d hate to break their stuff
DefiantComposer9469@reddit
Nah that’s just a brutal stretch, not a “get off the road” sign. Stuff like that can stack up fast in trucking, especially when you mix weather, equipment wear, and bad timing. If anything it’s a reminder how unpredictable it can be, but plenty of drivers hit weeks like this and bounce back fine.
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
True
Ok_Bug_6470@reddit
Yeh if you were able to get out of that at a scale then you have a gift
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Haha thanks
SOROKAMOKA@reddit
If you are OO maybe its time to get some new equipment
If you are company its time to go with another outfit that doesnt run old rigs
Or if you wanna go local there is never really a need for reason there
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Just a company guy, too risky for me to be O/O right now
Surprisingly all the trucks are leased and the oldest is a 23, but the trailers are up to 10 years old possibly all the way to brand new ones
Yeah I never had problems as a local guy, but I missed the open road, and here we are lol
Ok_Application_2292@reddit
More likely a wheel bearing seizure or lock but came loose. Lock nut keeps hub assembly on axle.
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
That would make sense too if it was the bearings
ArmpitNoise@reddit
DOT saving the day?
Whatever conversation you had to get out of that makes you a fucking pro.
Roll hard!
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Haha thanks!
PartySausage69@reddit
This is exactly how my luck plays out. I'll go on a long streak of everything working out wonderfully. Then it all happens at once and I really start to wonder what the hell did I do wrong in a previous life. Just push through it and it'll eventually all work out.
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Hahaha right? It feels like I'm being punished for god knows what. Thanks!
ArmpitNoise@reddit
Only Zuul..
Ayrria@reddit
I had 3 years of amazing luck. No accidents, no animal strikes, no tire blow outs…
My ex husband and I switched companies, and we worked there for a year. In that year: • steer tire blow out in Memphis • hit a deer in Wyoming and in Alabama • non-preventable accident in Shreveport, Louisiana. (Would yall believe me if I told you the 4wheeler claimed 100% fault?!) • all the tire blow outs.
Then, nothing. Again, for years.
I moved, got a new job, and then in a years time, I: • slid on black ice and ended up in the median in Wyoming (didn’t hit anyone or anything yay) • hit 3 deer in a 4 month period (Wyoming, Missouri, Arkansas) • had a 2 inch piece of metal block go through a tire (Memphis lol)
A string of bad luck and then years of nothing. Stuff happens. It just sucks when you’re in the middle of the bad streak, lol.
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Glad to hear it isn't just me haha. That is a lot of stuff to have to deal with, glad you're safe driver.
Yeah I guess I'm just going through the bad streak right now lol.
Ayrria@reddit
You’ll get through this! Just keep doing what you’re supposed to do, and it’ll eventually go back into a good streak!
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Thanks! Stay safe driver!
rig53official@reddit
Wheel-off at a scale instead of halfway down a grade is the kind of thing you don't process for a couple weeks. The mechanic's "it just happens" line is supposed to be reassuring but it's the part that keeps you up. Take the home time and don't make the local vs OTR call until your hands stop shaking.
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
I knew it was a dangerous field, but I've been driving so long and felt so comfortable with the truck, something like this definitely just gave me a little bit of a reality check. I've sped through mountain passes empty and gone faster than others while loaded too, because I know my truck's limits.
On top of everything else I already said, I've hit animals, and my trailer's been t-boned to where if I had slammed the brakes too soon I would've killed 2 elderly people and then a pickup rear ended me at the same time and the trailer scraped off the whole driver side of that pickup like a can of sardines. I've had a couple load shifts and a lot of near misses. I've slid on ice and snow and gotten stuck in it, but got myself out and I've done plenty of sketchy driving as a local driver through the mountains of the PNW.
In fact, before this trailer incident, I had 5 near misses with 4 wheelers and other semis being stupid too, like it was building up to this.
But this, just how you said it, is what I've been thinking. "It just happens" and the fact it didn't happen down a mountain pass, has been in my head all day. Sometimes it makes me feel like there is a God, because everytime I should've been dead or have something terrible happen, I somehow come out ok like this.
Packingheat248@reddit
Stick with it bro, just some karmic shit going on for you. You'll get through it! When it rains, it pours!
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
I think so, maybe the universe is giving me an ego check haha and yep, sure seems that way! Thanks!
Packingheat248@reddit
Three years ago: I got arrested, girlfriend dumped me, got fired from my job, my car broke down, and friends ghosted me. All in the matter of 1-2 weeks. Overcame it all eventually.
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Damn, glad to hear you pulled through, that's a lot. Just one day at a time right?
Zealousideal_Wave760@reddit
That’s the way she goes, just keep on plugging along driver. However if you can get a local gig I’d definitely suggest that. fuck OTR
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Thanks and yeah, I've dabbled in local jobs but missed the open road. I definitely am leaning towards local again haha
Mikey_BC@reddit
Think of it as getting all your bad luck over with early.
AsphaltPirate74@reddit (OP)
Haha that's a good way to look at it.