Using The Runaway Truck Ramp

Okay, that sounds good. All of Knight's flatbed work is a dedicated account, but Prime is more like a true flatbed job. Knight usually requires that you live within a certain proximity to their customer, so it's a little tricky getting in on their program. Turtle is a flatbed driver with Prime, along with several other members in here.

Thanks you for the information I’m looking to stay with prime

Dont worry about Old School he's a van driver now. I think he likes the dark side.

Dont worry about Old School he's a van driver now. I think he likes the dark side.

Yep, pretty soon he'll be on here complaining about sticky tandems not sliding so he can scale out legally.

Thank you all...all the info i get from here. It's very helpful... Thanks again all...

Have any trucks ever over shot a runaway ramp? What material is generally used, sand? gravel?

I did see a runaway ramp out east that seemed pretty short and had almost a vertical drop at the high end. Scary.

Sand, pea gravel, and water are common materials that are used.

I took the ramp on northbound I-5 near Lebec CA (Grapevine) in 1996. It was pea gravel and I was pulling a 48' double drop flatbed with glass at close to 80K lbs gross. It was 2AM so traffic was light. Hit the ramp at about 60-65 MPH. Rig stopped straight in about 250-300 ft. CHP came out. No ticket. Wrecker cost $600 to pull it back onto the paved drive along side the gravel trap. A broken spot mirror on passenger door was the only damage, and a pair of underwear:). The double drop trailer helped slow rig fast because there was only about 6" of ground clearance. It was plowing gravel as soon as it went in the pit. I had to sweep all the gravel off the frame before taking it back on the road.

Have any trucks ever over shot a runaway ramp? What material is generally used, sand? gravel?

I did see a runaway ramp out east that seemed pretty short and had almost a vertical drop at the high end. Scary.

Buckaroo B has experienced a runaway ramp..,

I took the ramp on northbound I-5 near Lebec CA (Grapevine) in 1996. It was pea gravel and I was pulling a 48' double drop flatbed with glass at close to 80K lbs gross. It was 2AM so traffic was light. Hit the ramp at about 60-65 MPH. Rig stopped straight in about 250-300 ft. CHP came out. No ticket. Wrecker cost $600 to pull it back onto the paved drive along side the gravel trap. A broken spot mirror on passenger door was the only damage, and a pair of underwear:). The double drop trailer helped slow rig fast because there was only about 6" of ground clearance. It was plowing gravel as soon as it went in the pit. I had to sweep all the gravel off the frame before taking it back on the road.

Interesting. Not sure if I recall anyone coming through the forum with this experience. Harrowing.

So help us understand what events lead-up to the bailout? Not an everyday occurrence, almost always caused by a serious issue. Curious how after all that your truck was road worthy. There is many time collateral damage to the undercarriage, brake chambers are especially vulnerable.

Just curious...

I was hauling glass from Laredo to San Jose. The glass was large plate glass sheets approx. 30'x10' and about .5-.625" thick. I climbed out of the LA basin and from Santa Clarita until the crest I could only manage 15 MPH. It took me 30-40 minutes to climb it. When I crested the hill I up shifted and tapped the brake just to make sure everything was good.

The pedal felt soft and I looked at air gauges. The pressure was low around 75-80 PSI. I hadn't used the brakes in probably an hour so something was wrong. I immediately pulled onto the shoulder and applied the brakes to stop. Since I had crested the hill and now was on the downhill side I managed to get my speed to 5 MPH but could not get the truck to stop. It was a helpless feeling. I held the pedal instead of pumping so I wouldn't lose anymore pressure but there wasn't enough air pressure to push the shoes against the drums hard enough to stop the truck. I slowly started building speed. I thought about running the truck off in the ditch but wasn't sure if this would work. I let off the brake pedal and pulled back onto I-5.

I had a 3406B Cat and max RPMs was around 1800. With jake brake on full I would let the RPMs climb to 2000-2100 and double clutch and ram the shifter into the next higher gear so I didn't get caught in neutral. This was the only way I could control my speed. I stayed off the brakes because my air pressure was not coming up and I didn't want the parking/emergency brakes to set with no way to release them. Emergency brakes engaged only on two axles was not going to help my situation and could lead to a fire and/or tire failure. I continued down the mountain and got on the CB radio to announce my predicament. I can remember calling out "I'm a northbound runaway please stay out of right lane". It was 2AM so there wasn't much traffic.

By the time I saw the 1st sign for the runaway ramp, about 3 miles down, I was thinking I might be able to make it to the bottom. But, I had lost more air pressure and the emergency brakes had set and were smoking. I was up to 60 MPH and still building speed. I monitored vehicles around me and as I closed in on the ramp I looked around again and there were no vehicles around so I moved into left lane so I could square up with the ramp better. Jackknifing in the ramp was a big concern since the 9700 International cabover only had 144” WB and a set-back steer axle. I drifted across middle and right lanes and straight into the ramp. It was an awful noise. Gravel showered the bottom of the truck and the headache rack. It seemed like a long time but it only lasted about 8-10 seconds. It was a hell of a ride.

Then a giant cloud of dust and brake smoke enveloped the cab. The truck came to rest in a straight line. CHP showed up within 10-15 minutes and a wrecker an hour later. They winched the rig backwards onto the paved access road next to the ramp. It was 4-5 AM by this point. Road service showed up at sunrise. I had lost an outside tire on the rear axle of the trailer and there was a broken airline damaged from the tire blowout. The trailer wheels were not the standard 22.5" or 24.5" size. They were 18.5" as I recall.

The service truck had to send someone to LA area to get the tire. While we waited for the tire, I asked the service guy what cause me to lose brake pressure. He thought the broken airline caused by the blowout of the tire was the reason. I didn't 100% agree with that because I think the tire blew on the way down the mountain, not on the way up. 2PM I was back on the road. Delivered load a day late and deadheaded back to Laredo without any issues. None of the glass was broken but the kicker blocks nailed to the trailer floor were knocked out and the glass shifted forward 4=6”. Don't care to go through that again.

I immediately pulled onto the shoulder and applied the brakes to stop. Since I had crested the hill and now was on the downhill side I managed to get my speed to 5 MPH but could not get the truck to stop

Man, you should've pulled the parking brake right there and then, eh? That would've stopped ya.

Glad to hear it ended so well though. Wow. I would've expected the truck to get torn up. I've seen the front axle ripped right off the truck in one of those emergency ramps.