Robert Rausch

A few years ago I had been traveling down Ventura Blvd, in Los Angeles on my way to a job. That street has 2 lanes going in each direction as well as a central turn/delivery truck lane, and it also has parking lanes on each side, so in total it is 7 lanes wide. I was in the far right hand lane, it was raining a little bit that day, and I was stopped at a light behind about 5 other cars. I looked out my pass side window at a shopping center, trying to see if they had a certain store I wanted to go to, when I heard the sound of the cars in front of me and beside me taking off--evidently the light had turned green. I just touched my gas pedal, and turned forward just in time to crunch into a 1990 Toyota that was sideways on the road directly in front of me--I couldn't stop in time. I found out later that this guy had been parked on the other side of the street, facing the opposite direction, and had decided to turn across all 7 lanes of traffic in order to enter the parking lot to my right. So we pull into the parking lot to exchange information, and he is royally ****** off. You cannot believe how mad he is. He was a citizen of Mexico, and just knew I'd run into him on purpose. So we exchanged insurance info, (thank goodness he HAD insurance!). Soon his sisters pull up in another car, and they began to curse me out in Spanish under their breath. They'd look at me and mutter under their breath--I was glad it wasn't dark--those girls looked dangerous! So my stock front bumper was pushed inward, just touching the A.C. condenser, but my hood was fine and my fenders were fine. I couldn't have been going more than 2 MPH when I hit him. Both doors on the right side of his Toyota are evenly dented in--he had been at true 90 degrees in front of me. Well, my Ins. company assigned 25% of the fault of the accident to me, and 75% to him. I got a check for about $1,700 to fix my truck. So instead of putting a stock bumper back on, I ordered a UTE Bull Bar! It took about 3 months to come from Australia, but the wait was worth it. I had to pay an addition $3-400, but again, it was worth it. Thank you Senor!



After that accident I really wanted to drive carefully, because it was the first accident I'd had in 40+ years of driving, and I wanted to keep my good driver's discount. But sure as snot about 3 months later I was in the left hand lane of a similar street (multiple lanes), and a concrete truck was in the turn lane on my left. We were both stopped, we were facing the same direction. He began to make a left turn and as he turned left that steerable trailer thingy (support for the chute?) that some concrete trucks pull behind them swung right and the right tire of his trailer nailed the rear of my bed below the belt line right behind the tire. He pulled over, and I pulled over and man, you cannot believe how sad this guy was. By the look on his face, he knew he was in for it from his boss. Maybe he'd even get fired, he looked that upset. Anyway he has his driver's license out, and I kneel down and look at the dent in my truck--it's about the size and shape of half a football. And I just couldn't ruin the guy's day and maybe get him fired for that dent. So I said, "Oh hell, I'll fix it myself, lets just go on our way!" And man alive he smiled from ear to ear. I got no argument there! So I drove around with that dent for about 10 days, and finally I parked in a friends driveway, intending to visit them, but they weren't home. And on the way back to my truck I lay down on the concrete and looked at that dent to see how hard it was going to be to take out. I pushed on the back of it AND IT POPPED RIGHT OUT! If I hadn't been laying down I would have fallen over! No paint was disturbed and no sign of a dent was to be seen. It was like the accident never happened. That was a few years ago, and the paint is still good there.

Hodge

You're a gentleman. Many folks would not consider, regardless of who's at fault, how things affect the other person. you judged the situation correctly, and in the end, was blessed with a non-issue! It took care of itself, and who knows what your actions said to the truck driver! Blessings to you!

cbrahs

rowj has one on his truck. very nice bumper.

Robert Rausch

It's a great bumper. It's aluminum. Supposed to be deer proof up to 65 mph. Haven't had to test that claim yet, thank goodness. I got tired of shining it, and let it oxidize--it looks almost like polished S.S. when it is really shiny. The thing I like about it is that it only weighs about 160 pounds or so--not like some of the steel bumpers which can weigh 300#.

grouch

I load trucks for a living and we get a LOT of drivers who don't speak much, if any, English. Generally, they'll try to work with me so I don't have a problem. One guy only spoke Spanish and was getting pretty rude about it. I started talking German to him. In perfect, unaccented English he replied "I cannot understand a word you're saying." I don't speak much German anymore but I still retain enough to mess with people who don't speak any.

96_12V

Nice looking bumper - and...
Thank you for making that truck driver's day...that was awesome of you!

Very few people understand what a truck driver (or any larger type) goes through daily.

As to the steerable axle, I may be mistaken, but I believe it's a weight balance for when the truck is full of concrete. There's a lot of physics going on there, between all that load up so high and rotating. Even with the engine in front, it's probably not quite enough to balance out the whole rig.

The one I really want to drive (someday) is a rear-engine Oskosh Concrete truck. The driver sits under the concrete hopper - and is fully centered in the veichle! How neat must that be for visability!

SIXSLUG

That thing on the back of a cement mixer is called a booster axle, "booster" for short. You lucked out, those are known to completely go over the hoods of the smaller cars!
The Oshkosh mixers (pushers, front dumpers) are kinda cool to drive but are pretty tight becasue the drivers cab is only for one guy. We used to have an old Mack that had a 1/2 cab. It was a conventional hooded truck but only cab and glass on the drivers side. Great visibility though.

That bumper looks really nice on your truck, Robert Rausch!

Kurt

Robert Rausch

Thanks guys. I have had a lot of questions about that bumper while at trick stops over the years.

And it makes more sense to me now that I know what that axle is called--I'd seen them swing out before, and I was sure surprised that day to get bonked with it.

wyododge

Cheers Mate!!!

Carma is a wonderful thing.

Grit Dog

What I want to know is WTH kind of trailer is that?
Can you actually tow that at highway speeds? Looks like a hay wagon, all over the road?
Oh and good on ya for not crappin on the mixer truck driver. I'm not a truck driver, but working in construction for a big company, you'd be surprised how everything is the "professional's" fault.
Had a loaded rock box, just pulled off my site in downtown Denver, ran over a new Bimmer SUV! Broad tried to sneak in a right turn when the trucker was pulling a wide right. Both sets of duals right over the hood. Cops ended up ticketing him for improper right turn or some ****. He needed 2 lanes to turn and had his signal on. He got fired (maybe more to the story, but he did nothing wrong in this case). I've hit someone or been hit a few times in my company pickup and it's always MY fault when the other party contacts our insurance. I'm talking no tickets issued or anything.

Robert Rausch

Yuppies! They sure get ****** when their Beamers get run over and they have no recourse! I've formed the conclusion that Yuppies driving BMW's are some of the worst drivers there are.

I try to cut all professional truckers some slack. In my opinion the guy with the load should be shown a lot of road courtesy.

My trailer is an old 2-horse, inline horse trailer. I think it's from the late 1950's. I rebuilt it a few years ago, with new springs and bearings in the rear, and new bushings on the front torsion axle. All new wood inside. It makes a nice utility trailer, and I've also used it as a hillbilly RV--set up a cot inside and you can be snug as a bug in a rug.



Since this picture was taken I've replaced all those brown-primered protector panels with quilted aluminum, and put some nice old Chevy hubcaps on it. Paint is Safety Green from NAPA. It tows great. I got it on ebay a couple of years ago. The guy said he towed it at 70 mph most of the time. I don't get it above 65 though. But it's very stable--I've never had a single problem towing, and I've put 7,000+ miles on it--twice from Mo. to Cal. and back, and lots of local trips to the lumber yard. I can get 16 footers in it with the door shut.

Backing it is a problem, and I am too slowly learning how to back it. So far it's been easier to scope out the area ahead of me so that I don't have to back up. Once I had to unhitch it and push it backwards about 30 feet by hand. I've got a front mounted 2" ball on the front end loader of my tractor and using that I can put the trailer just about anywhere I need to on my place. Plans are to take it out to Cal. again this coming August.

Before I rebuilt the front torsion axle, the tires cupped somewhat. Upon disassembling the front susp., I found the (bakelite?) bushings, that fit over the top of the 2" solid axle were just about gone. I replaced them with bronze bushings, switched tires front to back, and the next trip to Cal. showed no cupping at all.