Might sound daft, if I’m on a deserted motorway at night with no street lighting, pulling a tri axle trailer, how would you be able to tell if you got a puncture on the trailer? Would you feel it pull/lean to one side?
Also, in the event of a puncture, what would you do with the tacho, POA/break or OW?
how would you be able to tell if you got a puncture on the trailer
I doubt that you would know unless you were lucky enough to see or hear bits coming off.
Most drivers find out about trailer punctures on the move by other drivers telling them.
As far as tacho is concerned, once I had phoned for assistance my tacho would be on break and I would be on bed.
I pulled up in the hard shoulder the other night as I thought I had one, turned out to e nothing. Must of been the road surface or summat.
You may see smoke, or hear it - but it sounds the same as driving on that crappy bit of the A180 and other similar places - or other drivers may tell you if they notice it in their lights.
Unlikely you’d feel anything off 1 flat tyre tbh unless it was the steering tyre 
I had one once and felt anything, I just look in the mirror and thought I had a black bin bag caught, when I stopped in a layby I saw it was the tyre flapping about.
I just stuck my hazards on and limped into a garage a couple miles down the road.
I was on the M80 near ■■■■■■■■■■■ on Monday and thought I could smell burning rubber. I pulled onto the hard shoulder thinking I had a puncture as there was only me and a couple of cars on my side of the carriageway. Got out and everything was fine so it must have been a cokeing plant or something I could smell 
When you start to notice it’s getting a bit warm in the cab, have a look in the mirror - the trailer’s now on fire. 
This is one of the reasons why you should ‘Keep an Eye’ on the vehicle/tyres throughout the day, each time you stop just a quick check to make sure all the tyres are still inflated & not running nearly flat with 20 lbs of pressure in them.
If a super single blows & you’ve got your window open, there’s a good chance that you will hear it & it will probably produce a few sparks as the metal wheel grinds itself into oblivion !
Also- keep an eye on the trailer tyres on roundabouts or when cornering, if you notice something funny-pull over & check it out (better waste a few minutes checking, than getting up to 56 & having one let go !)
While we’re on the subject- why do car drivers ‘Dawdle’ past wagons ?. 3ft from a super single at 56mph is the last place I would spend more than a couple of seconds !!! (We’ve all seen the amount of damage it can cause to a mudguard & light cluster !)
If it blows out you will definitely hear it even with your music blasting. I was on the M25 between the M4 and the M40 and a truck going the other way had one at the precise moment we passed and it was enough to make me jump and there was still a good 8 lanes and a central reservation between us, I did have my window half way down though.
Never had a slow puncture that I haven’t noticed before I’ve left so I can’t comment.
And lastly it would be on break and I would be sunbathing up the bank.
martinviking:
While we’re on the subject- why do car drivers ‘Dawdle’ past wagons ?. 3ft from a super single at 56mph is the last place I would spend more than a couple of seconds !!! (We’ve all seen the amount of damage it can cause to a mudguard & light cluster !)
Absobleedinlutely! This never fails to amaze me. Is it some kind of death wish? We’re all used to timing our overtakes to gaps in the traffic only to have the manoeuvre foiled by some gonk that’s hooned up to you only to dawdle past causing you to either brake or come off the cruise to maintain a safe distance. 
the maoster:
martinviking:
While we’re on the subject- why do car drivers ‘Dawdle’ past wagons ?. 3ft from a super single at 56mph is the last place I would spend more than a couple of seconds !!! (We’ve all seen the amount of damage it can cause to a mudguard & light cluster !)Absobleedinlutely! This never fails to amaze me. Is it some kind of death wish? We’re all used to timing our overtakes to gaps in the traffic only to have the manoeuvre foiled by some gonk that’s hooned up to you only to dawdle past causing you to either brake or come off the cruise to maintain a safe distance.
That’s the good thing about scania’s, the side repeater is low enough so it flashes in their face normally enough to wake them up so they put their foot down and get out of it.
FarnboroughBoy11:
If it blows out you will definitely hear it even with your music blasting.
+1 to that…
It was a sunny day when I had my first blow out (3 in total in as many months), I had the music on loud with loud music, AC on and windows closed, I definitely heard ‘Something’ and felt the trailer wag, looked in the mirror and there was smoke, dust, rubber and cars everywhere… 
I’m guessing someone on the side of the tyre would definitely need a new set of undercrackers when he/she got home…
One of afore mentioned cars was nice enough to stop 50 meters up from me on the hard shoulder to leave my tread on the road which must have landed on their car
I was once pulling into Portsmouth Dock when a Scanny had an air bag on the trailer go BANG!!! Coming out the dock. The security lads ■■■■ their selfs and ducked down thinking someone had fired a gun off! My under crackers had a slight tinge of brown down the back I can tell you
I was in a quarry one day and just walking across to the weighbridge when a bulker started to climb the road out when his trailer air bag blew, I was about 12 ft away from it and i very nearly hit the dirt! absolutely ■■■■ meself!!
dle1uk:
I was in a quarry one day and just walking across to the weighbridge when a bulker started to climb the road out when his trailer air bag blew, I was about 12 ft away from it and i very nearly hit the dirt! absolutely [zb] meself!!
We had one of them in the yard a few weeks ago sounded like a frigin bomb, if you where right next to it when it happens it could damage your hearing!
i always thought the saying ears ringing was a myth until that day…
Years ago,when I was doing recoveries,I got a call to go to Townhead st in Lockerbie to uplift an old Datsun. When I got there,I saw all the windows on the off-side were smashed. I thought it was vandalism,but it turned out an artic bulker was going past when it had a blow-out. It was cheaper for the bulkers owner to buy the car than the excess on his insurance…