5 Ton Wrecker Vs. Flower Shop

[acrane]

Ken, the paint wasn't even scratched on the truck. Everything still works on it (except for the breaks!)

 

[madsam]

I know this is old, but I had not seen this. I can just imagine the feeling of doing that in my 816... Your description is grate.

 

[pa.rich]

You did the rite thing looping to the side to save the people downhill and appears the a/c units stopped the truck bed from pushing the brick wall in. Glad no one was hurt and the truck is o.k. The a/c units? Thay are scrap. and the building can be fixed easily from what I could see in the pictures. Sorry for the crash, let us know what happened. Brake line burst?

 

[saddamsnightmare]

June 15th, 2008.

To repeat Recovery 4X4 above: BOY, were you ever lucky, but I suspect that a pretrip brake inspection would have caught the compromised brake system..... NEVER trust those puppies on E-BAY!!!! Given that it is a 5 ton with one hydraulic brake system, it has all the weaknesses of the deuce and a great deal more weight..... I would suggest, if you are in a hilly area and are going to drive the truck off property, to consider either replacing/rebuilding all the brake system components (air & hydraulic), or more certainly, consider hunting up the parts to do an ESP program split type brake system, to at least give you some wiggle room in the event of a failure..... opcorn:
This goes back to my discuission back in January that we need to consider converting the units to split brakes, and if we can't get the parts stateside to do the conversions, check and see if that South Korean truck company that's doing parts for the M35's would consider engineering a new brake system valve and air pack to adapt the brakes......
Manufacturere's Liability????
Uncle Sam took himself off the hook when he sold the truck(s), and we put ourselves and the insurance companies on the hook when we buy and run them..... You were very, very, lucky this time, so the money would be well spent upgrading or changing the system so there's no next time.... These trucks (cargo) were and are used as loggers trucks in W.Va., and they are respected for the damage they can do when something goes wrong....
Nice shots of the truck, just shows you that no matter how nice the paint is, a demon can be lurking on her somewhere....

Sincerely,

Kyle F. McGrogan

1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Wo/W "Saddam's Nightmare" Desert Storm and Vietnam Veteran truck
1968 Johnson Corp M105A2 Cargo Trailer
1967 Hercules Gas-Gen Set APU MEP023A
1963 Swiss Army Cargo Unimog, S404.114 MB

 

[bulldog_mack13]

Looks like it wasnt too bad , thanks to some quick thinking by you looks like, Jay

 

[OPCOM]

Are you going to speak with Mr. "runs good, everything works." and see what his comments might be?

 

[APM215]

Sounds like the stuff that happens to me.
I try to do things the right way but bad things keep happening.
some times I think I should just pay someone to just do it for me
and save me the money it will cost me when it all goes wrong.

 

[Alredneck]

Man thats crazy, good thing there was a building there to stop ya , no telling how far you would of gone if there wasnt At least the truck wasnt hurt, who needs flower anyway go pick then in a field. Well a lil brake worke and you will be set to enjoy your new rig, and have quite a few more adventures!

 

[timntrucks]

glad you didnt hurt anyone else. we should all take a look at how fast a big truck can get going. sorry your first day with truck will be remembered for many moons to come

 

[uh60]

Wow a cut and capped brake line good thing the DOT did not find it! Im glad things did not turn out alot worse.

 

[pyrogod117]

I just saw this today - linked from another post. Wow. I laughed my ass off at the damage that truck did to the AC units and roof with hardly any momentum. If you hadn't turned... god I don't even want to think how many cars you would have pancaked. 36,000 lbs (or is it more?) going backwards gaining speed must be ridiculously scary... I'm glad nobody got hurt though.

BTW What did the ebay seller say?

 

[markmontana]

Now you know why they call them 'wreckers'...

---

 

[timntrucks]

i know just how heavy... sinks like a anchor in LA gumbo

 

[ivantruckman]

so im guessing he got some negative feedback, i think i was looking at that truck. yikes

 

[velociT]

My truck didn't have brakes either when I got it.

The truck driver did let me know before he even got it unloaded, though.

 

[sirmrtow]

Very lucky you are
glad no one was hurt

 

[hoopsoft]

Amazing it didn't do more damage to the flower shop. Wow you ever got tanks with it, that would be a bonus explosions. I bet all the haggarty insurers are thinking, great there goes our rates, and we're gonna have even more restrictions now..

 

[bevanet]

The emergency brake in my 5-ton is quite good, but I never tried using it with any speed. I'm glad I read this because I use it on some steep hills. I'm usually in a low gear, but I didn't realize these were a "one leak and you are screwed" system. I think I'll look closely at the flex lines!

 

[Stan Leschert]

That is the wrong Camo pattern to hide in a floral shop. I'm glad that you, the civvies and the truck are OK. The flowers were already in the non-living mode.

 

[fireball]

He just hasn't heard from the lawyer that represents the flowers inside the shop. I hear that post tramatic stress for a african violet can be very pricey.