Things that tick you off!

[Bushbasher]

Today we met an empty logging truck coming down a hill towards us on a skinny road between Ben Lomond and Blessington. He veered into our lane to avoid a dead wombat. To avoid a head on I peeled off onto the rough of the almost non existent left verge. All at 100km/hr. He obviously wasn't listening to channel 40 as I gave him some choice advice.

[Mattfunk 120]

Things that tick you off!

AJ 100% agree that is where you would expect it to break.
we actual spoke about the HAZ and cracking during the GTG just before you taught me how to use a shovel
looking at the second pic the rusted material on the left an top appears to indicate an existing crack.
the left hand side and from what you can see of the bottom are a clean break.
We have investigated structural failures at work and seen similar rusted areas then a clean break where it finally failed.

Matt, great to hear your folks are OK.

Hi Fred , a lot of this rust was apparent after the fire . This car & van were imaculately kept . Check out stuff like the gas bottles. I didn't realise but the Towie pointed out how stuff like this can rust in a day after fire. I know how anal my folks are about keeping their vehicles spotless .these were shiny the day before IMG]http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/14/8ad916b6072191dd2f3466be642287ae.jpg[/IMG]
Cheers Matt

[Fred63]

AJ 100% agree that is where you would expect it to break.
we actual spoke about the HAZ and cracking during the GTG just before you taught me how to use a shovel
looking at the second pic the rusted material on the left an top appears to indicate an existing crack.
the left hand side and from what you can see of the bottom are a clean break.
We have investigated structural failures at work and seen similar rusted areas then a clean break where it finally failed.

Matt, great to hear your folks are OK.

[AJ120]

Yes very lucky to walk away from that one unscathed, and as for the Prado and Van, well that's what insurance is for, so they are relatively easily replaced.

The way the tow hitch broke is about what you might expect, the area next to a good weld is usually the weakest point, its the HAZ or heat affected Zone.

Being on the road for work everyday I see near misses all the time, its surprising to me that we don't see more of these accidents.

Cheers Andrew

[Mattfunk 120]

Thanks guys. Not one sore neck or back or anything . Incredible. Here's a closer look at the tongue. As you see the weld held up fine and was the steel tube that snapped clean off

[Rusty62]

Matt
Glad your folks are OK.
Seems the tow hitch broke under extreme load. It doesn't look like it was a Weight Distribution Hitch as the tube is hollow and the WDH i have is solid.

I hope they have a speedy recovery and can get a new car and van to get back on the road.

Rusty.

[r4ndll]

Well I picked up the folks today , went to the tow yard & got to talk to the police about what really happened. Caravan was hit. Prado & caravan airborne. Rear of prado hit power pole sending an entire section of the pole flying into the paddock , while the top bit with the wires fell on top of van which held them off the car until the flames burnt the wired thru , then were resting on the prado( folks out by this stage). On impact on the van separated as the HR tongue snapped. Luckily somehow no impact on front of car & extremely lucky no one else involved was seriously injured or worse. All from an impatient driver trying to overtake , realised not on , shunted a bike , then a ute which lost control & hit my folks
Before[IMG]http://images.

Jeezus Matt. That's very lucky. Glad to hear the folks are ok which is all that matters in end I suppose.

The forces involved in these accidents are incredible.

[DGW]

Wow, glad your folks are OK.

[Ian Reid]

What a mess. Could have been much worse. Glad your folks are ok Matt.
Like you say you need to watch what everyone else is doing. We have had a few wide eyes on the windy roads here when people coming the other way realise my lane is full and they need to get back over their side of the white line pronto


Sent from my iGizmo using Tapatalk

[Mattfunk 120]

Things that tick you off!

F$$wits who have road rage. Just spoke to my old man who about 3pm today was driving near Woodburn NSW when he noticed a bike and ute having a altercation travelling in the opposite direction. Bike hit the ground , ute started fish tailing and missed his car but hit the front of his van . They ended up in a ditch on the side of the road. Mum & Dad both ok but by the time they got out of the car the van was already on fire & upside down . Gas bottles blew up and now nothing left of the van but some charred remains . They have nothing left but the clothes they are wearing.Prado was able to drive up onto the tow truck but is a write off. They have a motel for tonight but we are going down in the morning. Materials can be replaced & that is what insurance is for but 1/2 a second earlier and that f$$wit would have hit the prado. Apparently he was worried he would lose his license & this would cost him a lot of money when talking to the police afterwards cause the prado hit a telephone pole , and when my parents got out the electricity cables were laying on the prado. People like that unfortunately don't have any good karma coming their way ever. At least my folks are coming home tomorrow. Scary shit people.

Well I picked up the folks today , went to the tow yard & got to talk to the police about what really happened. Caravan was hit. Prado & caravan airborne. Rear of prado hit power pole sending an entire section of the pole flying into the paddock , while the top bit with the wires fell on top of van which held them off the car until the flames burnt the wired thru , then were resting on the prado( folks out by this stage). On impact on the van separated as the HR tongue snapped. Luckily somehow no impact on front of car & extremely lucky no one else involved was seriously injured or worse. All from an impatient driver trying to overtake , realised not on , shunted a bike , then a ute which lost control & hit my folks
Before
And after
The prado

And the van

Local rag
http://m.northernstar.com.au/news/ca...powe/2805167/#
Please take care on the road everyone as you never know when someone else's actions may affect you

[AJ120]

We could have had another demo from AJ on how to change out the alternator but he chose to eat a meat pie and we all drank coffee whilst the auto electrician did the work for him. I managed to pick up a couple of tips in preparation for my own replacement.

It was a nice meat pie! and I did help him, a little bit anyway

Cheers Andrew

[Bushbasher]

That's a terrible story but glad they are okay. just goes to show that anything can happen out on the road these days.

[gumboot]

F$$wits who have road rage. Just spoke to my old man who about 3pm today was driving near Woodburn NSW when he noticed a bike and ute having a altercation travelling in the opposite direction. Bike hit the ground , ute started fish tailing and missed his car but hit the front of his van . They ended up in a ditch on the side of the road. Mum & Dad both ok but by the time they got out of the car the van was already on fire & upside down . Gas bottles blew up and now nothing left of the van but some charred remains . They have nothing left but the clothes they are wearing.Prado was able to drive up onto the tow truck but is a write off. They have a motel for tonight but we are going down in the morning. Materials can be replaced & that is what insurance is for but 1/2 a second earlier and that f$$wit would have hit the prado. Apparently he was worried he would lose his license & this would cost him a lot of money when talking to the police afterwards cause the prado hit a telephone pole , and when my parents got out the electricity cables were laying on the prado. People like that unfortunately don't have any good karma coming their way ever. At least my folks are coming home tomorrow. Scary shit people.

That's not good Matt, the most important thing is that they are OK mate.
The other stuff can be replaced.
Cheers

[Fred63]

We could have had another demo from AJ on how to change out the alternator but he chose to eat a meat pie and we all drank coffee whilst the auto electrician did the work for him. I managed to pick up a couple of tips in preparation for my own replacement.

Perhaps you could wait until the next GTG and you could do a demo

[Bushbasher]

I do, thanks for your professional training during the GTG.

We could have had another demo from AJ on how to change out the alternator but he chose to eat a meat pie and we all drank coffee whilst the auto electrician did the work for him. I managed to pick up a couple of tips in preparation for my own replacement.