carlotpilot

Carlotpilot,your post about old trailers with air operated emergency systems, brings us to the next episode of "Adventures in car hauling" When I first started hauling cars I had an old Bankhead 6car without maxis.Was driving a 69 f 750 with a 391 Ford engine,both single axle.I was taking a "shortcut" to Cumberland down rte 160 thru Berlin pa home of the potato chips.This has to be a 9 percent grade!  Also " windy" After a mile or two I noticed the brakes weren't slowing me  like they should at the same time the pressure gauge is heading towards 60,the buzzer comes on and a little metal flag is swinging from the headliner,( remember them) S..T! I'm  waiting for the nonexistent max is to lock up! I'm also approaching a blind right turn at about 40mph! Skipped,2or3 whole gears with it " flat on the mat" the 5000redlined tach goes around twice! And I "put it on the hillside" In slow motion the whole  right side of the rig leaves the ground probably by 2 or 3feet! And it teeters for a second,and crashes to the ground! My wallet which was on the dash went out the open window and was on the pavement! A tree branch on the hillside is in the right window and leaves are in my face! I  got out collected my wallet, and checked the truck.Had a full load of big cars and pickups. Not a scratch! Amazing! Prior to taking this job I drove mostly late model equipment with maxi brakes. We found out later I had blown a diaphragm on the trailer the air tank probably delivered air to the brakes and it leaked out immediately.Five years later I thought I'd " try 160 again" Had a brand new five axle rig with only three pintos on! At the bottom of the hill my brakes were smoking! I guess it was as steep as I thought! Ironically a B model mack wrecker towed me to the shop for repairs at 15 mph! I got the  Cumberland drops off and was on my way to Wva. And the 391 puked !,guess they're not designed to turn 10000rpm lol