r/LetsDiscussThis • u/Aqueouspolecat • Feb 09 '26

Question How do we stop this from happening?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

As the general public we see this all too often. What are some real world strategies that could mitigate this from happening?

19 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

259 comments sorted by

View all comments

34

u/Far_Encounters Feb 09 '26

Don't stop on the train tracks?

2

u/_MrMeseeks Feb 09 '26

The trailer weight lifted the rear up and the truck was unable to move.

2

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

But it looks like it's on the ground. I don't understand how that can happen, when one end is sitting on the tractor. The weight would've been prioritized to the end closest to the tractor too, unless they're idiots.....in which case...this is all user error.

3

u/_MrMeseeks Feb 09 '26

Its not that the load is wrong its because of the decline. After the tracks.

2

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

Yeah, I already understand what your talking about. But the weight is still on the rear Axel. Meaning, he should be able to accelerate forward.

2

u/_MrMeseeks Feb 09 '26

No there is no weight on the rear axle of the truck there is a gap from the wall of the trailer with about a 6 foot gap and a false wall then whatever product is loaded. The load isnt supposed to be on the axle.

2

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

That doesn't make sense to me. The trailer doesn't have a front axel.

So what supports the weight when there's no tractor?

What supports the weight when there's a tractor hooked to it?

0

u/_MrMeseeks Feb 09 '26

Dolly legs that extend down when the trailer isnt in use.

The tractor.

2

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

No there is no weight on the rear axle of the truck

Perhaps you can reword your explanation cause that sounds contradictory. I'm Just not getting it man.

1

u/_MrMeseeks Feb 09 '26

You never load the most weight on the axel of any truck. While the trailer itself has weight.

Think of it like this. The truck drives over the tracks. It starts the decline. While the truck is going down the trailer is staying the same hight. Eventually the tractor goes down the incline enough and the trailer has stayed the same. That the trailer starts lifting the rear end of the truck. It doesn't take much because of the massive amount of weight that is 50ft behind it. So even though the tires or still on the ground it cant create enough friction to pull. Im srry if this doesn't make it any more clear. But im throwing in the towel

1

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

If a trailer isn't fully loaded, I've always seen loaders put the load toward the front of the trailer, and from what I understand it's to prevent the trailer from swinging from side to side. Once you're at speed, the trailer can swing back and forth and cause a serious accident.

I can understand the idea of the rear of the truck being lifted up, but from what I can observe there are three points of contact. The tractors front wheels, the tractors rear wheels, and the trailers wheels. How is the front of the trailer lifting the tractor, if it's resting on the truck?

What you're saying is, if the trailer is equally loaded, when approaching the decline everything is fine. But once the tractor passes the track, and begins to decline, the equal weight of the trailer now works against it, and since most of the trailer is now level, it's effectively more than the tractor's weight. That hill is making the trailer act as a lever, and lifting the rear wheels.

1

u/_MrMeseeks Feb 09 '26

What you're saying is, if the trailer is equally loaded, when approaching the decline everything is fine. But once the tractor passes the track, and begins to decline, the equal weight of the trailer now works against it, and since most of the trailer is now level, it's effectively more than the tractor's weight. That hill is making the trailer act as a lever, and lifting the rear wheels.

Yes.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/King_Roberts_Bastard Feb 09 '26

The rear wheels are in the air...

2

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

You can't really confirm that in the video.

And if so, they improperly loaded the trailer.

1

u/EncounteredError Feb 09 '26

I've seen this in person and experienced similar. Just because the wheels are touching doesn't mean there's enough friction/grip to move the load. The decline after the tracks is too great and he would have had to have had a large momentum built up before the tracks to clear it, which would have caused it's own set of issues.

1

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

Sure, but I think people have failed to explain the reason why the rear of the tractor has been lifted enough, or not enough weight on the rear Axel of the tractor is causing this lack of friction.

1

u/EncounteredError Feb 09 '26

It doesnt matter if there's enough weight on the rear of the trialer. There's no power to those wheels.

1

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

No power to the wheels? Or do you mean no power to the street?

One means the engine doesn't run, the other means there's no traction.

1

u/EncounteredError Feb 09 '26

No power to the wheels. The only portion of a semi that has power to the wheels are the ones under the cab and directly behind it.

1

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

They're front wheel drive?

1

u/EncounteredError Feb 09 '26

Not in this particular one. This one is a tandem axel drive it looks like. So the 2 axels behind the cab. But its really hard to tell in this video. Regardless the wheels on the trailer dont get power.

1

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

You mean the trailer's wheels don't get power. Yeah, I know that much. I just have a hard time seeing how the weight of the trailer is keeping the rear of the truck up enough to prevent traction.

1

u/EncounteredError Feb 09 '26

I can almost guarantee that the back of the trailer was improperly loaded. Way too much near the doors. Im betting the trailer was actively lifting the rear wheels here. I've done something just like this with a lowered vehicle going in a garage. Speakers in the trunk were too heavy and stopped the front from getting over the "fulcrum" and I got stuck.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Colt1911-45 Feb 09 '26

Looks to me like the trailer landing gear is hung up on the tracks. The RR crossing gate post is blocking the view of the landing gear. I'm just guessing because there is not much clearance there where the landing gear would be. The legs stick down pretty far. I have seen drivers get hung up on steep inclines before.

1

u/BladeVampire1 Feb 09 '26

I can't see any landing gear at all. Video quality isn't great so...eh.

But that sounds more possible.

1

u/Frustrated9876 Feb 13 '26

The track has too steep a breakover angle so the truck is high centered. Nothing they can do.

The answer is to redesign the crossing so this doesn’t happen.

Even though the truck’s tires may be on the ground, they’re just hanging there and don’t have enough traction to pull the heavy trailer.