Author Topic: ( Very ) Near death experience today.... Unbelievable, but true..! (Read 2484 times)

Spanner 1 · « **on:** November 05, 2009, 09:20:09 PM »

So I'm driving my '95 Isuzu Trooper on I-40 today, coming back from a 140 mile round trip towards Knoxville when in a flash I came soooo close to leaving the Earthly Forum ..!!
I'm doing 70 and have just passed an 18 wheeler hauling bundles of 60 foot ( yes ) rebar and have turned gently back into the inside lane, in front of the truck, when , no warning the back axle ( or differential ) SEIZED and I spun 180 degrees, rear wheels locked solid and screeching on the dry pavement with a view of the front grill of the big-rig 6 feet behind my front bumper ( I'm going backwards now at about 50mph )....somehow, some way the truck swerves onto the hard shoulder and I come to a stop within the inside lane still facing backwards and against all oncoming 70-80 mph traffic....just happened today, not over it yet.......never heard of a back-end seizing like that, OMG.... stopped within 18 inches of the side of the truck, had to squeeze out the door, but the two vehicles did not connect at all ..!!
Anyone believe in gaurdian angels?

bill440cars · « **Reply #1 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:30:28 PM »

Quote from: Spanner 1 on November 05, 2009, 09:20:09 PM

So I'm driving my '95 Isuzu Trooper on I-40 today, coming back from a 140 mile round trip towards Knoxville when in a flash I came soooo close to leaving the Earthly Forum ..!!
I'm doing 70 and have just passed an 18 wheeler hauling bundles of 60 foot ( yes ) rebar and have turned gently back into the inside lane, in front of the truck, when , no warning the back axle ( or differential ) SEIZED and I spun 180 degrees, rear wheels locked solid and screeching on the dry pavement with a view of the front grill of the big-rig 6 feet behind my front bumper ( I'm going backwards now at about 50mph )....somehow, some way the truck swerves onto the hard shoulder and I come to a stop within the inside lane still facing backwards and against all oncoming 70-80 mph traffic....just happened today, not over it yet.......never heard of a back-end seizing like that, OMG.... stopped within 18 inches of the side of the truck, had to squeeze out the door, but the two vehicles did not connect at all ..!!
Anyone believe in gaurdian angels?

Absolutely!!!!!!!! And it sounds like YOU had several with YOU, during that ordeal!!!!!

Sure am glad that you are here to tell about it as well!

Lenny55 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:30:57 PM »

Holy #$%*!!!! Not sure if I believe in them, but I bet you do

Spanner 1 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:37:37 PM »

Thanks Bill, thanks Lenny......I know I was extremely lucky...but what I can't get out of my mind is the back axle/ diff./ don't know yet completely seizing solid, no warning...WTF.....never heard of that ever in my 53 years...has anyone ?

Magpie · « **Reply #4 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:45:24 PM »

Yes, not to me but a pickup I was following. I was towing my boat on a straight stretch of hiway and pulled out to pass a pickup in front of me. It was a 4 lane highway so there were 2 lanes on my side and I could do a leisurely pass. As I got beside the truck there was a lot of banging from it and then his rear wheels locked. He slid off to the side of the road away from me. I was glad I was not behind him!! Hard to believe.
Cliff.

mick7504 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:50:55 PM »

Could be the crown wheel or pinion has shattered to suddenly lock up like that.
Centre bearing on the tailshaft siezed or a brake lining may have come adrift and locked a wheel up.
I think I'd be going out to buy a lottery ticket.
Glad you're ok.

Spanner 1 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:56:58 PM »

Both back wheels are locked-up, watched them skid all the way up the wrecker as he winched the car unto the bed...then we came back to my house and the wrecker driver oiled the bed of his truck to 'slide' the car off !!... worked good !!

bucky katt · « **Reply #7 on:** November 05, 2009, 10:00:57 PM »

Spanner, thank god you got through this scary incident without a scratch. Someone was sitting on your shoulder looking out for you man.

GoatBaSS · « **Reply #8 on:** November 05, 2009, 10:58:15 PM »

Quote from: Spanner 1 on November 05, 2009, 09:20:09 PM

Anyone believe in gaurdian angels?

Yours!!!!

Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er · « **Reply #9 on:** November 05, 2009, 11:04:52 PM »

Glad you're with us. Changed your underwear?

When I got taken out head-on on my Fat Boy on my 51st birthday in 2002 I lay on the ground unconscious. One of my riding buddies thought I was gone. That was until my gaurdian angel, my daughter who was 5 years old at the time, told me "wake up daddy" and I opened my eyes. She was 425 miles away at home.

My life sure changed at that moment. I'm sure the experience you've had will make a difference too!

Welcome back!

Steve F · « **Reply #10 on:** November 06, 2009, 03:22:39 AM »

Quote from: Jerry Rxman Griffin on November 05, 2009, 11:04:52 PM

One of my riding buddies thought I was gone. That was until my gaurdian angel, my daughter who was 5 years old at the time, told me "wake up daddy" and I opened my eyes. She was 425 miles away at home.

OOOOOOOO...that's freaky. Got chills up my spine!
Spanner, glad to see you're able to be typing to us today! Close calls are there for a reason.

Rocking-M · « **Reply #11 on:** November 06, 2009, 03:23:10 AM »

as everyone has said, glad your okay! I've had a lot of mechanical failures in
my line of work but never a rear end completely lock without warning.
It wasn't your time and glad your still with us.

azuredesign · « **Reply #12 on:** November 06, 2009, 03:58:57 AM »

Damn, I've thought of many effective ways to keep from falling asleep on long trips, but that's one I hope to never use. I hope whatever force intervened on your behalf here stays with you for a long long time.

clarkjh · « **Reply #13 on:** November 06, 2009, 04:30:59 AM »

Glad your OK. These type of things make you realize what is important in life.

James

andy750 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 06, 2009, 04:42:50 AM »

Quote from: clarkjh on November 06, 2009, 04:30:59 AM

Glad your OK. These type of things make you realize what is important in life.

+1!

Johnie · « **Reply #15 on:** November 06, 2009, 05:00:52 AM »

Wow Spanner...so glad you escaped that close one!!! And yes, guardian angels are around each one of us. But it is up to each person to decide if they chose to use them. As for me, I use them all the time. My family and I were rear-ended by a drunk driver on the expressway 5 years ago. The crash reconstruction team figured he was traveling in excess of 100MPH on impact. We rolled the van 4 times and ended up on the roof with my wife, son and I all dangling from our seat belts. Minimal injuries thanks to our guardian angels. It could have been much worse...

74cb750 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 06, 2009, 07:48:28 AM »

Damn! There are some stories here.
Spanner, thank your lucky stars/angels/etc etc as I've seen this happen before
but with worst results.
peace,
michel

Rocking-M · « **Reply #17 on:** November 06, 2009, 07:53:40 AM »

Okay, enough of that congrats stuff,
now let's get to the repair cost.

You'll need a rear end it sounds like,
and I imagine,

a new drivers seat since I'm sure that one has such a crease in it,
it's beyond repair.

Spanner 1 · « **Reply #18 on:** November 06, 2009, 09:04:24 AM »

Wow!, thanks for all the very nice sentiments, guys..... and yes, nothing focuses your mind on what's important in life ( and what we take for granted ) than a ' very close call ' !

Steve F · « **Reply #19 on:** November 06, 2009, 09:28:48 AM »

Once you get it apart, let us know what happened?

ColinMc · « **Reply #20 on:** November 06, 2009, 09:44:12 AM »

Happened with my explorer at a low speed (30mph) turns out the rear diff had run dry and i couldn't hear the noise of the grinding of metal on metal inside the diff because of my noisy rotting apart exhaust and loud valvetrain lol. It was a winter beater. The heat welded the differential and everything all together...BAM seized, driveshaft snapped at the u-joints too from trying to twist and turn the diff. Scary stuff even at 30, I can't imagine at 70!!!

Sam Green Racing · « **Reply #21 on:** November 07, 2009, 03:15:17 AM »

All good people have someone looking out for them Ray, glad you're safe, see ya soon.

Sam.

Markcb750 · « **Reply #22 on:** November 07, 2009, 04:19:42 AM »

Life is a series of random events that move by us as we chose the way observe the movement.

Some times the movement and chosen observational direction brings us observations that our memory does not provide explanation for.

Some chose to place supernatural cause on these unexplainable events.

Some chose to point out that a chaotic event triggered by following a chosen path is just fundamental randomness expressing itself for us to observe.

Who knows which explanation is correct.

Hopefully you learned something from these events and you will not put 60 ft rebar on a 18 ft top heavy POS again.

I have been in a Land Cruiser when the front differential locked up, interesting stop from 60 mph.

736cc · « **Reply #23 on:** November 07, 2009, 05:36:21 AM »

whew, that sounded like a sudden hairy situation u had there, alls well that ends well.
3 years ago on my 1969 cb750 that i had just rebuilt, i was cruising down a 2 lane hwy at 50 mph when the rear wheel locked-up w/o warning. i skided to a halt in the middle of the lane, and because wheel was locked, had to use all my strength to safely get the heck outa the road, had to drag it sideways, not ez, and it took more time than i was comfortable. luckily, nobody was behind me, and cars fly on that road. turns out there was a missing internal spacer for the axle, and it was my negligence in leaving it out.

Spanner 1 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 07, 2009, 08:17:05 AM »

Markcb750...!!! LOL.....the 18 wheeler was hauling the 60 ft. re-bar on it's 53ft.flat bed ( 2ft. over the front and 5ft. flagged over the rear )
I wasn't hauling anything except myself.....

mrbreeze · « **Reply #25 on:** November 07, 2009, 10:29:08 AM »

Back in the early 90's,we had a Chevy truck come in on the hook that locked the rear diff. The guy said he was tooling down the highway and all the sudden locked. He said all he could really do was ride it out....it happened so suddenly. Turned out the bolt that holds the spider gear pin had backed out letting the pin fall out.That makes for lots of rock hard metal suddenly floating around where it shouldn't be.
Glad to hear you came out OK

.

grumburg · « **Reply #26 on:** November 07, 2009, 10:33:16 AM »

Glad you're OK! FYI, OxyClean is great for cleaning cloth seats. Just throw your shorts away.

News:

Author Topic: ( Very ) Near death experience today.... Unbelievable, but true..! (Read 2484 times)

Rocking-M

Rocking-M

Markcb750