Eco-Roamer - F650 based Expedition Vehicle
- Thread starter jayshapiro
- Start date
Ford Prefect
Expedition Leader
Heck I was a professional driver for many years, and I can tell you that even in a dump truck that road would have been hard to stay in the lines, and in a passenger bus, that is similar in length, impossible. I am sure any camper of similar length would have equal probelms, and heck at least Jay pulled over the let the guy pass.
jesusgatos
Explorer
I dunno man, that looks pretty bad (crossing over the line & all the swaying back/forth).
cwsqbm
Explorer
Ok, except
(1) he's way over the line on straight sections too.
(2) the corners aren't that tight and the front is nowhere near the end in corners.
Its either bad driving, or something was wrong with the truck (in either design and/or manufacture.) Given that it broke not long after, I'd lean toward the later, but that doesn't really matter if you're one of the guys in on coming traffic. I've driven my share of bad-handling oversized vehicles, and its not something I do for fun or on mountain roads if I can help it.
Let this add fuel to the fire of how big is too big.
Capt. REDBEARD
Observer
best part of the video:
"he should have duallys on the back 'a that thing"
"he should have duallys on the back 'a that thing"
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shovelbill
Observer
wow......that video is plain scary. what happened with the rear suspension? did someone design a proper setup for that.....that......beastasaurus?
check these guys out if you haven't already: http://alcanspring.com/products.htm do it once, do it right.
check these guys out if you haven't already: http://alcanspring.com/products.htm do it once, do it right.
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dwh
Tail-End Charlie
That truck belongs to an ExPo member - there's a thread about it somewhere around here.
Oh gee, look! This IS that thread!
Go back a few pages and you'll see what happened to the rear suspension.
shovelbill
Observer
i saw the pictures. they show the end result, not what caused it. i wanted to know if he found out the actual cause of the failure. that's not very common. was it just overworked, axle wrap....what? good to see you know what thread i'm talking about :Wow1:
perhaps i missed something, but the gvwr of an F 650 is 26K....an optioned F750 is 33K.
perhaps i missed something, but the gvwr of an F 650 is 26K....an optioned F750 is 33K.
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dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Yea, dunno. I think the last he posted said it was in the shop, but nothing yet about what caused it or what the super-beefy fix will be.
lllateralus
Observer
I've driven that road in beautiful, awesome Northern Arizona all to many times. It is a small, narrow road. (Like most small narrow roads everyone is familiar with)
That is a big, huge F650 based truck as we all know.
Considering he was probably trying NOT to go super slow, (as indicated by pulling over first chance he had) I would say that I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Its a big heavy truck on a small, curvy 2 lane road. :smilies27
That is a big, huge F650 based truck as we all know.
Considering he was probably trying NOT to go super slow, (as indicated by pulling over first chance he had) I would say that I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Its a big heavy truck on a small, curvy 2 lane road. :smilies27
Scott39
Adventurer
People don't know *******, especially the fools in the video. I've driven the most narrow roads of Colorado with a 48', sometimes a 53' semi trailer, and when you come around a corner or even in the straights, you might cross over the yellow lines to relax a bit before you try to keep it in the lane again before the next corner or car comes along.
"That thing should have dauls on it" I guess this fool has never heard about Super Singles?
"That thing should have dauls on it" I guess this fool has never heard about Super Singles?
dzzz
™
I've never been comfortable with the idea that this truck was designed well enough for super singles. But it's hard to tell if the sway is pushing the truck from that video. There is certainly ample evidence of an inadequate back in that truck. Hopefully it breaking has caused enough concern to get it fixed by an expert.
Whatever is going on the truck is going too fast. The safe speed is the safe speed, even if it backs up traffic.
Interesting world we're living in. Ya can't even make an ugly drive down a mountain highway without it being opened up to worldwide critique.
I've never been a professional driver. I agree that crossing the line is expected on this road. But the two places where the truck is jerked back from oncoming traffic indicates a lack of control and is not good enough to be safe. Whether the issue is truck or driver the only short term solution is to slow down and drive a more consistent line. Most of us have been behind plenty of longer class A RV's on windy roads like that and I've never seen that kind of threat to oncoming traffic. It's likely most class A drivers have never driven professionally.
Whatever is going on the truck is going too fast. The safe speed is the safe speed, even if it backs up traffic.
Interesting world we're living in. Ya can't even make an ugly drive down a mountain highway without it being opened up to worldwide critique.
I've never been a professional driver. I agree that crossing the line is expected on this road. But the two places where the truck is jerked back from oncoming traffic indicates a lack of control and is not good enough to be safe. Whether the issue is truck or driver the only short term solution is to slow down and drive a more consistent line. Most of us have been behind plenty of longer class A RV's on windy roads like that and I've never seen that kind of threat to oncoming traffic. It's likely most class A drivers have never driven professionally.
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shovelbill
Observer
perhaps you should go back and read post # 455.......you are correct to an extent, but nothing will change the fact that the rig is top heavy and is about 8K lbs beyond the load limit for that chassis.
a recipe for disaster is not made up of one thing. overloaded, improper suspension, body/cab/chassis mounting system, sidewall flex, WIND, fatigue, etc all contribute to a potential scary ride.....for the driver AND observers. i'm not nit-picking the build, just stating that some things need to be addressed for safety. i don't believe a properly configured F-750 would have been adequate for this platform. it's under built, plain and simple........there is no safety margin. imagine if that spring let loose on that road? thank sweet Jesus he has the opportunity to correct the problem and can continue roaming about in the future.......that's just my $.02.