"The trailer may have been too heavy"

[webwrangler]

I thought this was interesting from an RVer's point of view. Can't tell if it's a TT or a cargo trailer from the photo. Teton Pass is steep, with 11% grades in places, but I think I would have noticed something wrong before my TV caught fire...

Vehicle fire closed Teton Pass

[1320Fastback]

Transmission fluid will burn, brake fluid too. I've had both flash fire before when spilling on hot exhaust in my more careless younger years.

It is totally plausible the transmission was pushed to a extreme fluid overheat condion where fluid was misting/spraying out of the fill tube and lit off.

[nohurry]

SailingOn wrote:
When my car caught fire several years ago, several people came up with handheld extinguishers. They had to get very close to use them. Effect on the fire was nil.
Eventually a fire truck arrived, pointed a truck-mounted nozzle in the general direction, and whoom, the fire was out.
I'd stop for a good think before I approached a truck fire with a handheld extinguisher.

Ditto this. If you don’t have a large extinguisher of the proper type, and get it on the fire quickly, the odds are against you. The little extinguishers most people carry haven’t been maintained or even touched in years. Get what’s important to you, and get away.

[bguy]

Depending on where the truck lives heat shields could have been missing. Around here it's quite common to see them laying in the road or hear them rattling on vehicles in drive troughs.

[SailingOn]

When my car caught fire several years ago, several people came up with handheld extinguishers. They had to get very close to use them. Effect on the fire was nil.
Eventually a fire truck arrived, pointed a truck-mounted nozzle in the general direction, and whoom, the fire was out.
I'd stop for a good think before I approached a truck fire with a handheld extinguisher.

[CavemanCharlie]

blownstang01 wrote:
3/4 ton truck, doubt that TT was too heavy. Cats get hot on long hills catches carpet on fire all the time, even when not towing.

I think if the cat caught on fire that you would hear it screaming. 😛

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

There should be enough baffles and insulation between the exhaust and the floor to keep the carpet from catching on fire. I can't imagine a manufacture building a vehicle that would not have those safeguards in place. Maybe back in the 70's when they first started building vehicles with them. But, not since then.

[miltvill]

Good idea to have a fire extinguisher that's easy to get to. They could have lost the TT also.

[Lynnmor]

Should have thrown the rock collection overboard before the pass. 😄

[RinconVTR]

time2roll wrote:
Too heavy? No, I don't buy that.

Nope. Me either. No amount of stress an owner can put on an un-modified vehicle should ever result in a fire.

If anything, fail safe measures should shut down the event when excessive temps are present...like the Ecoboost motors and most (if not all current) diesel engines.

At the very least, if the driver didnt have any idiot lights flashing or red-lined gauges, the failure and resulting fire was beyond the drivers control.

[blownstang01]

3/4 ton truck, doubt that TT was too heavy. Cats get hot on long hills catches carpet on fire all the time, even when not towing.

[BB_TX]

Next time you take a long drive on a heavily traveled highway, count the blackened, obviously burned, vehicle sized dark spots on the highway shoulder. Common occurrence.

[azdryheat]

Doesn't matter the cause, insurance will buy him a new truck

[KD4UPL]

If he thinks his truck caught fire because his trailer was too heavy he really is a moron. Or, he knows what happened but he's trying to hide something.

[time2roll]

Too heavy? No, I don't buy that.

[Chris_Bryant]

Going uphill, the transmission heats up and pushes transmission fluid out the fill onto the exhaust.

[newman_fulltime]

Weekend warrior toy hauler more like he stayed on his brakes and they caught fire