I went back into the office last night to catch up on some work and saw a really bad accident right down the street from my shop. I am in an industrial area in North Austin and we have wide streets and a lot of mechanics in the area. A couple of them took a customers very late model shiny black 4x4 F-250 Crew Cab and did not make the turn at the end of the block. The truck rolled several times before crashing through a big chain link fence upside down. One guy seemed OK but the fire department had to cut the other one out of the truck and he looked rough. Truck is destroyed and one life may be too. Spoke with one of the guys whose place was hit and he said that it is going to be a mess, they don't know if the mechanic shop had insurance to cover this, who the truck belonged to, and because there might have been alcohol involved, who they were going to have to deal with. Guess the lessons on this are trucks will flip on level ground before they start hitting stuff, and you never know what goes on with your vehicle when you drop it off to get worked on. I have heard of several cases lately where shops have either wrecked or "lost" vehicles so I am going to call my insurance agent and find out how this is handled and make sure that I am covered if some minimum wage tire monkey drops my car off of a lift and they have not paid their insurance premiums on time, or even worse, injures someone with my vehicle.

Wonder if way taller late models from all OEM's to appease the fashion statement crowd contributed to this?Much higher...therefore higher CG...so tip over easier

Yes it is a good idea to know what your insurance agent will do when the worst happens. Basically it 'should' work like this. You bought a contract with your insurance agent that if your truck is destroyed in a collision, it will get replaced. They should be replacing it with a like year and like condition, so not a truck that had the frame untwisted and a cheap paint job, but a truck that had not been in a accident before, with similar mileage. One insurance company claims on the commercials that they will replace your totalled car with one that is a model year newer and about 15,000 less miles on it. That is 'Making it like it never happened'.Now your insurance agent has a signed contract with you to replace your truck should it get damaged during the next 6 or 12 months. They will own the wrecked truck, and try to sell it and recoup some money. The engine, transmission, and 3 tons of steel are still valuable. IF the damage was due to the mechanic, they will go after that company to recover their loss. You do not need to worry if that insurance company will cover the loss of your insurance company. In the case of a drunk driver, they probably will also go after that guy as well. And a insurance company can 'step away' from covering certain things in the case that you operated the vehicle while drunk, but still needs to cover a un-authorized driver who might have driven it drunk.I did see pictures posted - taken by a guy who was driving past a RV repair place. It was a RV that had slid off the lift, and one of the jacks was sticking through the sidewall of the RV. It looked pretty bad.Good luck!Fred.

Seriously? You are actually worried about a full size truck "flipping"? Then go out and buy nice low riding sedan and let me know who fares the worst when your 3000 lb car collides with an 8000 lb truck. I know what I'd rather be in. Also, I've never left my rig with any minimum wage anybody. Develop some skills and ability to work on your own vehicles. If you are silly enough to leave your rig with a bunch of knuckle heads, then I don't feel too sorry for either the drivers that damaged the rig or the owner in this case.BTW, track cars can flip if they catch an edge between sections of concrete. Curbs are even better at flipping vehicles. It's best to avoid hitting them in the first place.

Adam R wrote:Seriously? You are actually worried about a full size truck "flipping"? Then go out and buy nice low riding sedan and let me know who fares the worst when your 3000 lb car collides with an 8000 lb truck. I know what I'd rather be in. Also, I've never left my rig with any minimum wage anybody. Develop some skills and ability to work on your own vehicles. If you are silly enough to leave your rig with a bunch of knuckle heads, then I don't feel too sorry for either the drivers that damaged the rig or the owner in this case.BTW, track cars can flip if they catch an edge between sections of concrete. Curbs are even better at flipping vehicles. It's best to avoid hitting them in the first place. I am not worried about flipping, just reminding folks that it can happen on flat ground. As far as leaving a truck with knuckleheads, have you ever had new tires put on yours? Or put it in the body shop to get hail dents taken out?

"A couple of them took a customers very late model shiny black 4x4 F-250 Crew Cab and did not make the turn at the end of the block.........there might have been alcohol involved,,,,,"Enough said :S

3/4 Ton Trucks Will Flip | Good Sam Community

45 Replies

Farmerjon
Explorer
May 07, 2015
AngryBert-63 wrote:
Thread title is idiotic. I can 'flip' any make, model, or year of any truck you provide. Or not.

Two words. OPERATOR ERROR.

Three words. IDIOT BEHIND THE WHEEL. (get it?)

Exactly. It has nothing to do with type of vehicle. nothing is safe from rolling. Some vehicles are more Prone to rolling and COG has something to do with it, but drunk or sober joy riders have been destroying other peoples vehicles for a very long time and it really doesn't matter how much per hour they are paid.
Although I would avoid valet parking with my lamborghini if I had one:B
Winnebago_Bob
Explorer
May 04, 2015
Thread title is idiotic. I can 'flip' any make, model, or year of any truck you provide. Or not.

Two words. OPERATOR ERROR.

Three words. IDIOT BEHIND THE WHEEL. (get it?)
Adam_R
Explorer
May 04, 2015

I am not worried about flipping, just reminding folks that it can happen on flat ground. As far as leaving a truck with knuckleheads, have you ever had new tires put on yours? Or put it in the body shop to get hail dents taken out?

Yes, and I watch them like a hawk. My vehicle never leaves my sight.

Adam
Adam_R
Explorer
May 04, 2015
pulled the wrong quote, see below.
Passin_Thru
Explorer
May 04, 2015
Oh Yes! They never rolled over before 2008. Just looked like it. We are using up gravity as you must know. In the 50s we couldn't put people on the moon.
Grit_dog
Navigator
May 03, 2015
Love reading old guy arguments! Lol.
Btw, NTrouble you're correct. And if anything, for the roughly same dia tire, a larger dia rim will actually help handing due to less side wall flex.
And I went to dubs on my Dodge recently from the old OE 17s. Trucks is not more prone to a follow er.
Man I love this forum!
Bird_Freak
Explorer II
May 03, 2015
Who would have ever thought a drunk could roll a 4X4 truck. :S
mich800
Explorer
May 03, 2015
Hannibal wrote:
If you T bone a pickup truck traveling 35+mph with a Honda Civic traveling 35+mph, there's a good chance the pickup truck is going to roll.

Not if the truck has 20" wheels. The civic would just drive right under it. :D
gmcsmoke
Explorer
May 03, 2015
Powerdude wrote:
DirtyOil wrote:

Load range E 265/70R18 General Grabber AT2 O/D 32.6"

Load range E 265/60R20 Goodyear Wrangler AT O/D 32.5"

very little difference in height between 18" and 20" WHEELS

The reason there is little difference, at least in that case, is because the number after the slash tells you the percent in aspect ratio height of the sidewall.

So, on a 265 tire, it is 265 mm wide, and 60 % of 265 is 159 mm in sidewall height (in the case of the 265/60R20)

If the number is 70 %, indicating, the sidewall height will be bigger (185.5 mm in the case of the 265/70R18)

Any tire below 65% sidewall to width height is generally considered a "sporty" tire, usually for racing ricer wannabees or those who generally have a wish for a firm ride.

There is absolutely no reason on a tow vehicle to have low profile (lower than 65%) tires. If you wanna get babes, there are much less expensive ways to do that.

I hope those guys who flipped that truck get sued for all they are worth (which is probably not much).

You ought to let GM and Ford know of you're infinite wisdom in designing HD truck tires.
tegu69
Explorer
May 03, 2015
As far as hoping that the guys who took the truck get sued, probably they will be the ones who will sue.