Catastrophic Hankook failure on the freeway...nasty

skippythedog

Observer
Was tiddling along last night on a 2 lane freeway at about 60mph when my left front tire (Hankook 37x12.50x17) had a catastrophic failure. The event that ensued was pretty violent. My initial thought was that someone had hit me in the right rear. The truck veered violently to the right. The rest was a blur but I know that at as the truck violently skewed, twice I was at a 45 degree angle on only two wheels, finally crashing into the jersey barrier and sliding for about 40 yards against the barrier. The tire peeled off and was found under the back of the truck with a huge vertical gash/blowout. The axle is knocked back, rim destroyed, shock bent, bump stop gone, gear shift all floppy and more. The whole even encompassed about 150 yards.

One thing I can tell you. I was alert, paying attention, had a grip on the wheel. The event was entirely uncontrollable.

A 2 mile tow to the dealer was $925. The dealer (a large one with 2 locations) is pretty useless, has no real relationship with any shop that can do the bodywork. They suggested I have it taken to a Freightliner dealership. I don't know about that....probably totaled anyway....I may have some misc stuff for sale: 4 super single wheels w/ tires and a complete set (4) of unused gnarly chains etc....Heartbreaking; spent 2 years looking for the truck and 2.5 years getting it done exactly as I wanted it......
 
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Amesz00

Adventurer
Far out man, that's hectic! Glad you're ok, could have easily ended much worse.
Just the other day I was talking to a towie after I had a minor stack with my car. Dunno if you seen pics of that fancy earthcruiser U400 mog they did. Well it was at the Perth 4x4 show a couple months back. Apparently after that the owner was driving it back east, couple hundred km other side of Kalgoorlie had a tyre go. Can't remember if it was front or rear. Truck flipped and by the sounds was basically destroyed. Poor bugger broke his back, had to be flown to Perth. Apparently he's gonna be ok.
 

Greenbarn

Member
Wow, that both terrifying and frustrating. Get the truck the way you want it and have that happen, at least you walked away. I am in the early stages of my build and am not far away on Vancouver Island if you are selling any parts keep me in mind.
Cheers, Dan
 

Czechsix

Watching you from a ridge
Holy Toledo Skippy, that sucks. Glad no injuries though.

Amesz00 - I'd like to find more info about that Aus U400 crash, got any links? Can't find anything via search engines.
 

Amesz00

Adventurer
Op, what makes you think it's a write off? Is the damage that bad? If it is that's really crap, I know how hard it is to find a good truck you like.

Czechsix, I tried too but couldn't find squat. Only found out about it coz when I went to thier yard they got a traytop mog they use for offroad recoveries, we got talking about it. Then he told me bout this crashed one. His company has an office out at Kal so they got the job to go bring it back. From what he said it was pretty totalled.
 

kerry

Expedition Leader
Holy Crap. Glad you're ok. Are you sure it's not worth rebuilding? Busbee's should have used parts. Do you plan to post photos? Just a reminder to everyone on front tire blowouts--put the pedal to the floor immediately then slowly attempt to recover.
 

kerry

Expedition Leader
One question: With a left front blowout, I'd expect the truck to veer strongly to the left not the right? Did it ever veer left or did it pull to the right? If so, I think it requires some further thought to figure out why that happened.
 

Czechsix

Watching you from a ridge
Huh, I find that kinda interesting Amesz00, I'd think a wreck in a rig that expensive would have better news coverage, and lots of folks trying to figure out what happened. I'd sure like to find out what happened, might prevent me from having the same issue. Not to mention others.
 

Buliwyf

Viking with a Hammer
I wouldn't rule out mechanical failure causing the tire to fail. The truck went the wrong direction IME.

I had a sway bar mount rip off the frame one time. Would cause the car to swing back and forth with the throttle. Sway bars shouldn't do that much, but that one sure did.
 

kerry

Expedition Leader
By the way, there is one pin in the shifting mechanism on my 99 which, if it falls out, turns the shifter floppy and useless. It’s a 10 minute fix
 

skippythedog

Observer
Wow, that both terrifying and frustrating. Get the truck the way you want it and have that happen, at least you walked away. I am in the early stages of my build and am not far away on Vancouver Island if you are selling any parts keep me in mind.
Cheers, Dan
Will do on the parts....have to wait and see what adjuster says....scuttlebutt is that it's fixable.........Also, there was a white, bare frame FG for sale up on the North end of your island about 2 years ago...Was that yours or were you aware of it or it's disposition?
 

skippythedog

Observer
One question: With a left front blowout, I'd expect the truck to veer strongly to the left not the right? Did it ever veer left or did it pull to the right? If so, I think it requires some further thought to figure out why that happened.


The truck lurched down in the front left (my initial fleeting thought was that I had been hit in the right rear, kind of like a pit maneuver by a cop on a fleeing perp)....Then it pulled hard right....Frankly the next few seconds were a blur...but my abrupt reactionary steering to the left was probably an over correction and the truck was up on 2 wheels at a 45 degree angle on alternate sides.....as the vehicle slowed somewhat, it acted as you would expect, dragging me to the left and into the barrier, scraping along for 30 yards, the tire ending up right underneath the truck at the rear.....Trooper and I agreed, tire blown from the inside, couldn't see a puncture due to mud/asphalt debris, local power outage, howling wind, rain and traffic whizzing by 5 feet away.....Haven't been to the yard yet to see it....It does definitely require further inspection. I was totally alert, not distracted and had a good grip on the wheel. It was violent and uncontrollable. The Trooper mentioned that the 8-10" drop off of that tall tire is pretty substantial especially when coupled with that short wheel base........Not that it matters, but I've been to the old Bob Bondurant School of HIgh Perf Driving and also attended the WA State Patrol Driving Academy as part of my job w/ a different agency....
 

skippythedog

Observer
Huh, I find that kinda interesting Amesz00, I'd think a wreck in a rig that expensive would have better news coverage, and lots of folks trying to figure out what happened. I'd sure like to find out what happened, might prevent me from having the same issue. Not to mention others.

I will report of course once I've established a bit more, particularly if we fix it....Aside from other resources, my best buddy is a retired cop/ accident investigator/reconstruction specialist....his examination, particularly of the tire (in the absence of any obvious mechanical failure (like the mentioned swaybar) will weigh in as well.
 

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