| Author | Message | ||
| Johnny (67.242.221.189) Rating: N/A |
And unfortunately, proving it destroyed 3 perfectly good tires.  One of the other drivers at work was on a run, when it happened: a bicyclist made an apparently suicidal turn in front of his 10-ton bus. He couldn't stop nearly fast enough, so he did the only thing he could: nailed a 6" curb with the right-side tires at ~25MPH. The front tire (a brand-new Goodyear!) was popped off the bead (and will be replaced as a precaution because of the huge impact), & both right rear duals were destroyed (4" gashes) by hitting a steel storm-drain cover. A road service guy showed up, swapped the right inner dual with the left outer dual, reseated the front tire, & the bus was DRIVEN (slowly and carefully) back to the garage. It got 2 Bandags to replace the blown tires, and the mechanics gave the entire bus a looking-over. Total damage: 3 destroyed tires, steering alignment slightly off-kilter. AND THAT'S IT! In fact, I drove it all afternoon, and it seemed none the worse for it other than a slight steering pull. Now I see why there are so many of these still in service in Canada. I have no doubt that impact on a cutaway Econoline or a medium-duty Freightliner-chassis bus would have required a flatbed, at the least, & probably a trip to the scrapyard. Oh, yeah: the dork on the bike never even looked back. | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong) (24.127.74.29)
Rating: N/A |
Hmmmm, Johnny. . . Looks like you've got a little more respect for how well GMC built these things, eh? How do you think your skoolie would have survived the same incident? Enquiring minds would like to know! 8^) RJ PD4106-2784 Fresno CA | ||
| Johnny (67.241.166.194) Rating: N/A |
Considering it's on essentially the same chassis as a class 7 truck (F-700, complete with 22.5" 10-lug Budds), I'd say similar results: blown tires, steering out of whack...maybe some steeirng linkage damaged. |