Posted by Nick [99.100.212.49] on Sunday, February 16, 2014 at 23:13:54 :
In Reply to: WM down :) posted by Sterling [99.98.76.231] on Sunday, February 16, 2014 at 19:48:41 :
reminds me of throwing the front driveshaft in my four wheel drive fire engine. But I was coin 65 mph, down hill in a curve. After the exact bomb sound you described, I thought it was a blown tire. I looked in the mirror on my door and saw some kind of flying object LAUNCH from the engine. I thought it was the tire. Firefighter were like your puppies, scared $#!*less. After I slowed and pulled over, I had them get out to see what tire it was while I told dispatch we were out of service and to start another engine to the call we were going to. One fire fighter came back and he was white as a ghost. I asked what it was, he says "Hey Capt, We don't have a front driveshaft anymore". When I looked underneath, there were 6 dents under the cab, in the drivers side compartment and the passenger side compartment. The dents under the cab were about 12" from the rear seat ff's legs.
After a long investigation by the department and International, (i was the second engine that happened to), they decided it was a design flaw as the departure angles of the driveshaft were too steep. They put CV joints in. And in a different model of the four wheel drive engine they put locking hubs on to prevent the U joints from excessive wear.
The really scary part of this whole story, the first engine that had this happen, it was a sister engine to mine. At the time it happened, it was covering Phelan Station in San Bernardino, going down Cajon Pass to a fire in Lytle Creek on the 4th of July. He lost control of the engine and crashed over the side. The driver was nearly killed, and both ffs were seriously injured. All three never came back to work. My event: I was covering Phelan Station in San Bernardino, going down Hwy 138, two miles from Cajon Pass, going to a fire in Lytle Creek, ON 4th OF JULY. I could see the crash site from where I stopped to see what the problem was. Luckily no one was hurt, either in the engine or by the flying driveshaft, which ended up 200 ft from the first chunk in the road from it hitting. I was praised by the Dept for not over reacting and causing a crash, like the first guy. I just said it was my truck driving experience kicking in. I thought it was a blown tire, no big deal