I was driving in an artic down the M1 a couple of weeks ago and a van to my right pulled its window down and he started gesturing. I thought to myself ‘What’s his problem? I haven’t strayed into his lane’ - he sped off and that was the end of it. Then a few minutes later another van did exactly the same thing. I thought ‘Oh it’s not me - it’s the truck!’, so I pulled onto the hard shoulder and put my four way flashers on.
It was raining and there was spray everywhere and I realised it had masked smoke coming out of the side of the trailer. I got out of the passenger’s side to have a look and it was just pouring out of the front trailer wheel of the three at the back on that side. Just looking at it I got the sense it could catch fire - it was quite fearsome and you could feel the energy of it - I’ve seen it catch fire on a bus, and the smell was awful, I got a couple of lungs full. I rang it in and after waiting about 25 mins got rescued. A guy came out and disconnected the brake then we drove to services and he did a proper fix. He said the drum was ‘red hot’ (his words) and got me to put my hand on the middle of the wheel on the outside to feel it in comparison to the other wheels - it was hot!
I don’t know if the cold and wet helped dampen it all down while I was waiting which helped it to not catch flames. I was quite shaken up and asked him how bad it could get in that situation and he said the wheel could catch fire, then the wing, then the whole trailer could go up. He showed me in his van three brakes from trailer failures for just that day. I’m still quite new so obviously will be keeping a better eye out for smoke from now on, and will be more alert to other drivers gesturing that it might not actually be me they’re gesturing at! But say you are driving at night, or for some reason don’t spot it in time - how bad can it get, how common is it for it to develop into something really bad, and has anyone seen or experienced this?
Was the brake “locked” and dragging a skidding tyre along the road?
Or was it failung to release fully so only heating the drum?
Doesn’t sound like the case here but similar appearance when a hub bearing breaks down too.
Grease in wheel-bearing melts…runs onto hot brake surface and ignites…then, as described, the mudwing catches fire.
As a matter of interest, some of the more sophisticated tyre pressure monitoring systems also monitor the temperature within the wheel, and will flag this problem up.
It’s normal for the brake surfaces themselves to get very hot in use, but the hub and wheel act as a heat sink, and the air-flow soon removes the heat. But when a brake is dragging, the heat builds up faster than it can disperse.
I’ve seen them on a night where there’s an orange glow coming from the wheel. I always hope enough people warn the driver that they eventually take notice.
I would imagine that they would keep flammable material to a minimum in that area for obvious reasons, but I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to set the trailer alight.
I stopped a driver last year when i was in my car for a similar thing.
Got on the A14 and saw a fair amount of smoke coming from the trailer, it was raining like it was for you so i guessed he hadn’t spotted it.
Kept pulling out and flashing lights at him and eventually we stopped on an exit slip. Masses of smoke and one hell of a smell coming off the middle axle on the trailer. He disconnected the tractor while i called the fire brigade. They were there within 10 mins or so, started spraying a hose over the axle which created loads of steam and smoke. They said the rain/spray on the road was probably the only reason it’d stay cool enough to not go up in flames.
I left the driver my details in case his boss wanted any info out of me or anything. Ended up getting a thakyou call from them and got sent one of those metal scale models of one of their trucks as a thanks which now sits on a shelf at home!
Once smelt never forgotten, most of the time you can smell a grabbing brake or a slack tyre. I am getting on in years so still have the window open.
The old advice with a tyre fire was keep going and run it off, that has since changed, they suggest you use your fire extinguishers. I wouldn’t go within 50’ of an inflated tyre. Brake fires can happen through maladjustment or bearing failure. Air pressure can drop, shoes or pads become detached.
Thanks everyone for the great replies/insights. So what’s the advice on disconnecting the unit if the trailer has a wheel on fire? Is it risky? Are you better off just running in the opposite direction?
wanderingstar:
Thanks everyone for the great replies/insights. So what’s the advice on disconnecting the unit if the trailer has a wheel on fire? Is it risky? Are you better off just running in the opposite direction?
Depends where the fire is i guess. If the fire is at the back of the trailer you’ve more than likely got time to quickly drop the legs, detached your lines and pull forward. I guess it also depends what you’re carrying. If its something flammable or hazardous like a chemical id sooner just get out of the way and get the fire brigade on the way. It’ll all be covered by the insurance. Depending on who you work for you might get a thanks for saving the tractor, then again if you let it burn you’d end up with a brand new one
wanderingstar:
What about the risk of the tyre exploding? I’ve heard nasty things about that…
Depends which tyre, a front tyre on a unit goes bang you ■■■■ yourself and try not to loose control but if the middle one on the trailer axle goes you might hear it but won’t notice any change in handling.
That hub collapse scenerio is scary! If the trailer is alight is it possible for the tyre to expand from the heat and then pop and cover you in hot rubber and if so, doesn’t this make staying around to disconnect the unit risky?
wanderingstar:
What about the risk of the tyre exploding? I’ve heard nasty things about that…
I had a rear inner tyre blowout on a rigid a couple of years ago. Initially i thought id run something big over, maybe a deer or a stray roadwork cone or something. Speed dropped fairly quickly so i got on the shoulder, grabbed a torch (it was about 2am at the time) and had a look all round the unit. Took me a while to actually spot that it’d blown.
Nothing really happened. Just a bang (125psi makes a big bang!) and a quick, but controllable slow down.
Ive seen some awful videos of trucks losing a front tyre though. Gotta catch one of those quick, and whatever you do don’t touch the brakes, power out of it and try an get yourself over to the shoulder if you can before the thing grinds to a halt.
But, don’t stress about it. Do you walk round checks, half the trick is just giving the tyres a good once over to make sure theres no obvious bulges, cuts or other signs that it needs changing.
GasGas:
Grease in wheel-bearing melts…runs onto hot brake surface and ignites…then, as described, the mudwing catches fire.
As a matter of interest, some of the more sophisticated tyre pressure monitoring systems also monitor the temperature within the wheel, and will flag this problem up.
It’s normal for the brake surfaces themselves to get very hot in use, but the hub and wheel act as a heat sink, and the air-flow soon removes the heat. But when a brake is dragging, the heat builds up faster than it can disperse.
You will find just about every UK built trailer is built down to a price and normally only one axle will actually have the wheel speed sensors.
One of our drivers recently had a twin tyre blow out due to a locked wheel, he didnt notice the brake dragging just called it in and the tyre co attended and stuck two new tyres on, you can guess what happened next, yep two scrap brand new tyres pdq!
The airflow, while you are driving, will often keep it cool enough, but as soon as you stop, the heat builds up and - ■■■■!.
Years ago I stopped at digs oop Norf somewhere that used an open space nearby as a lorry park. I parked and an artic followed me in and, lucky for me, parked some way away. About ten minutes later there was a big commotion; drivers rushing out to move their trucks and sirens from the fire brigade. The trailer was a curtainsider full of car parts all packed in cardboard boxes; there was probably oil in there as well. It mad a merry blaze I can tell you.
When I worked for Blake’s, a driver did a trailer swap at Preston MSA. He forgot to release the trailer brake (an old trailer with the brake on one axle only) and set off down the M6. At some point, people were signaling and he stopped. Unfortunately, he chose to stop under a bridge because it was raining so the M^ and the road above were both closed for some hours. He did manage to uncouple the unit though, so redeemed himself a little.
GasGas:
Grease in wheel-bearing melts…runs onto hot brake surface and ignites…then, as described, the mudwing catches fire.
As a matter of interest, some of the more sophisticated tyre pressure monitoring systems also monitor the temperature within the wheel, and will flag this problem up.
It’s normal for the brake surfaces themselves to get very hot in use, but the hub and wheel act as a heat sink, and the air-flow soon removes the heat. But when a brake is dragging, the heat builds up faster than it can disperse.
You will find just about every UK built trailer is built down to a price and normally only one axle will actually have the wheel speed sensors.
One of our drivers recently had a twin tyre blow out due to a locked wheel, he didnt notice the brake dragging just called it in and the tyre co attended and stuck two new tyres on, you can guess what happened next, yep two scrap brand new tyres pdq!
That’s a good point is you are talking about the ABS sensor…I was talking about the tyre pressure monitoring sensor…the Conti version for one does temp and pressure, and will pick up a dragging brake. Hopefully, there’s one in each tyre, but I suspect only a tiny minority of hauliers have them, which is a shame as just one tyre saved will more than pay for the system.
GasGas:
Grease in wheel-bearing melts…runs onto hot brake surface and ignites…then, as described, the mudwing catches fire.
As a matter of interest, some of the more sophisticated tyre pressure monitoring systems also monitor the temperature within the wheel, and will flag this problem up.
It’s normal for the brake surfaces themselves to get very hot in use, but the hub and wheel act as a heat sink, and the air-flow soon removes the heat. But when a brake is dragging, the heat builds up faster than it can disperse.
One of the main reasons why fuel tankers always had metal wings.
Many, many, many years ago, I was pulling a flat bed up the M1 loaded with Brandy, we had instructions not to stop for anyone, but to drive to the nearest Police station or office. As I was driving down the hill towards the east midlands airport area a car full of blokes came alongside tooting the horn and trying to get me to stop… No f*****g chance, I had a hired F12 and put my foot down, to over 70 mph (this was before limiters came in), they came alongside again trying to get me to stop, I got to over 80 mph and off the clock, I sped into Trowel services and up to the police office and ran to the door, they stopped and one guy said "Are you crazy ? your back wheels are almost on fire
Brake disks can fail easily too, twin disks as fitted to Schmitz are prone to parting company as the forged tabs that separate them can fail causing the brake to lock on. I have had this three times over the last year, twice on the same trailer!
